HISTORY
Bojnice castle is one of the oldest castles of its kind in today's Slovakia. It is built on a travertine monticule and at first was a wooden castle that evolved from an older wooden fort. The first written record of it comes from 1113 presummably at the order of Kazimír right after the Tatar invasions.
At the end of the 13th century the lord Matúš Čák Trenčiansky got a hold of the castle until mid 14th century and after that the ownership changed between the Gilleth, Leustach and Noffry families. During this time the castle withheld the attacks from the Hussites.
In 1489 King Matej Korvín gave the castle to his son Ján Korvín and after that the caste was inhabited by Štefan Zápoľský until 1526 when king Ferdinand I. gave the castle to Alexej Turzo. It was at that time that the castle was rebuilt into a comfortable renaissance manor after its originally gothic style.
After the Turzo family line died out, the castle was owned by some of the most famous Hungarian noble families with one of them being the well known Pálffy family. Count Ján Pálffy had the castle reconstructed in the 19th century by the architect Jozef Hubert inspired by the french romanic castle style of Loire or the pope palace in Avignon. It is believed that lord Pálffy himself drew out and architected many of the works. However, he didn't live until the finishing of the works and without any direct heirs and his death sparked many conflicts over the inheritance of the castle. In 1923 an aggrement was reached between the inheritors of count Pálffy's estate and the first Czechoslovak state about the auction of several art collections.
In 1939 the castle and the lands was bought by the well known entrepreneur in the shoe business, Ján Antonín Baťa, the owner of Baťa shoe company. After the II. world war the property was confiscated by the Czechoslovak government and became the sear of several state institutions. In 1950 a fire broke out and was severly damaged. The government issued repair works that removed the damages and general reconstruction was made. At the same time a museum was opened at the site, which is a part of the Slovak National Musem. In 1970 the castle was announced as National Heritage site.
CURRENT SITUATION
An extensive park and landscape park are the inseparable parts of the castle area. The 600-year old lime tree of Bojnice of the King Matthias with 12.5-m trunk circumference stands in front the castle entrance. The park also contains the Bojnice Zoo, the oldest and one of the most visited zoos in Slovakia.
The museum established inside the castle offers two kinds of tours. The Castle Tour takes visitors through the rooms of the Bojnice Castle. The Gallery Tour shows visitors interesting art collections in the form of a gallery exhibition. Apart from those a Night tour of the castle is also available and likewise various art exhibitions organized all around the year.
Another attraction is the performance of the local group of historical fencing Bojník and that of Aquila, the association of falconers.
