"Bojnice and its Castle" Top 5 Page for this destination Bojnice by GentleSpirit

The most popular sight in Bojnice is without doubt the beautiful Bojnice Castle, likely the most popular single tourist sight in Slovakia, and easily one of the prettiest castles in Europe (if you have seen a few.) The restoration was magnificently done by its last owner Jan Franticek Palffy, making the existing castle into a luxurious residential castle modeled on the ones in the Loire Valley in France. Sadly, Palffy didn't live to see its completion. (note- funny how these noblemen loved to copy each other)

If you love the romance and mystery of castles, you will absolutely love this one, it has plenty of both. The setting is pretty, the exterior is impressive to say the least and the interior is magnificently restored.

I got to Bojnice by car from Zilina (about 60 km south) you can also get here from Trencin (65 km west) and Bratislava(128 km). Bojnice has an extensive transportation network is shares with Prievidza, which is 4 km away and is fairly easy to get to from most major places in the country.

Bojnice was first mentioned in 1113 as a wooden fortress. Since then it was owned by several powerful people including the King of Hungary Matyas Corvinus, his illegitimate son, the very wealthy Thurzo family. The Thurzos, one of the wealthiest noble families in the northern Kingdom of Hungary (what is now Slovakia) started a major reconstruction of the castle in 1528 once they gained ownership. By then the need for castles as exclusively military fortresses had changed. Now the nobles wanted to live in the castle and its purpose was more residential than anything else. Accordingly, the Thurzos remade Bojnice into a Renaissance castle.

From 1646 on the Palffy family, another very wealthy family of Hungarian nobles, owned the castle. The last owner, Jan Franticek Palffy (1828-1908). Palffy was apparently a very talented man as he was the architect and graphic designer for the project of completing the restoration of the castle into a romantic palace. Palffy was also a recognized collector of fine arts, which shows beautifully in the decoration of this castle.

• Pros:one of the most beautiful castles in Europe
• Cons:the tour is a bit rushed
• In a nutshell:I am grateful to VT member Katamorgana who helped me choose from so many good options- this was unforgettable! Dakujem moc!