Strečno Castle
The Strečno Castle (Slovak: Strečniansky hrad)(also called Strechun, Strechyn, Streczen, Streczan alebo Strežín) is a reconstructed ruin of a medieval castle of an irregular plan located in northern Slovakia, 12 km east of Žilina.
The castle stands on a 103-metre-high (338 ft) calcite cliff above the international road E50 and village Strečno.
Along with the Old castle (Slovak: Starhrad) constitutes a significant landscape landmark of the Upper Váh region.
A strategic location of the cliff massif rising 103 meters high above the river Váh and above a strategic road located in a narrow strait of the Strečno col was an important prerequisite for building a fortified guardian building.
The oldest part of the castle called small castle, object of the polygonal shaped floor plan of the area of 400 m2 approximately, that consisted of a prism watch tower, a water cistern, a courtyard and a small residential building located in the north eastern corner of the fortification.
Later, at the beginning of the 15th century, the northern palace, the chapel and 88 meters deep well on the main courtyard were built during the Barbara of Cilli´s ownership.
After a period of expansion of the castle, a decline occurs in the early 16th century as a result of frequent changes of the owners.
This fact posed a security risk to the emperor Leopold I who, after reconquering the castle, ordered its demolition in 1698.
September during the World War II., there were Fight in the Strečno Gorge (Slovak: Bitka v Strečnianskej tiesňave) - an important fight of Slovak National Uprising between German Ohlen and Jung´s group and The first Czechoslovak army commanded by J. Dobrovodký and E. Perko along with partisans led by col. G. de Lannurien.
A bad condition of the object endangering high-road below resulted in a discussion about the acute importance of reconstruction in the 1960s.
A lot of monolithic concrete and built constructions have been used, which changed the previous romantic character of ruins.
The light passes into the object through two original gothic windows located in the eastern part of the chapel, behind the altar.
The entrance was located at the second-floor level through the Gothic pointed-arch-shaped portal accessible through the small wooden bridge.
It is a two-floor object located in the north part of the castle, with a cross vault on the ground floor and a wooden ceiling on the second.
On the second floor, the palace was equipped with a medieval toilet (garderobe) placed outside, nowadays partly preserved.
Považské múzeum Žilina, Hrad Strečno, AKKA 1994 ISBN 80-967176-0-X BÓNA, Martin; PLAČEK, Miroslav.
Žilina : Žilinská knižnica, 2005 https://www.pamiatky.sk/ KOČIŠ, Jozef; Od Čachtíc po Strečno (1989), Martin: Osveta, 232 s. ISBN 80-217-0053-X Martina Bernátová; Diplomová práca.
Obnovený hrad Strečno – pendant Starého hradu – a jeho srovnání s památkově zajištěnými objekty
