HISTORY
The Prónay Castle in Alsópetény is part of Hungary’s built heritage, as it belongs to the very much damaged group of noble residencies. Instead of pompous Baroque palaces, the buildings in the region are former residencies or manor houses of the squirearchy due to the articulate landscape of Nógrád County.
The Prónay Barons acquired the estate at the beginning of the 19th century after the Gyurcsányi family died out. The Prónay-family and its certain branches owned several residencies in different villages with some other historical monuments also belonging to them in Nógrád County. Their first known representative received Tót-Próna as a gift in 1279. The first Prónay Baron, Pál Prónay was the representative of County Nógrád from 1725 to 1741.
The Prónay-family soon became most influential in the county with a number of family members in high public positions, such as town clerks, police presidents, notaries, county representatives or prosecutors, over many decades. Family and social relations were mainly connected to this county with noble families of similar backgrounds representing for them the typical milieu and social network in their everyday life.
In the 20th century, the most prominent member of the family was Mihály Prónay. In 1906, he became the lord lieutenant of Nógrád County. He and his wife, Felícia Batthyány were the last inhabitants of the Castle before World War II.
Powerful landowners, especially at the beginning of the 19th century, were families of high society; as such, the Prónay-family itself was probably encouraged to build this Castle as a sign of wealth and power. After World War II, the Castle was confiscated from the Prónay-family and the destruction of some of the buildings also started. The Castle was occupied by different owners and fulfilled various purposes, such as emergency dwelling, workshop, school building, medical center, industrial works, warehouse, office building, miners’ club and so on. This intense use led to an increasing erosion of the building complex, leading to the decrease of its historical value.
The Castle became private property again in the 1990s, which led to a second restoration. The buildings were changed into dwelling houses again, while the Grand Castle gave home to various events. The renovation in the 1990s started to correct some of the mistakes of the 1970s with special regard to required monument protection specifications; at the same time, however, it also altered other features of the complex with low quality buildings and unhistorical additions. The restoration of the historical value, therefore, was not entirely successful.
In 2009, a company dealing with software development and IT solutions bought the Castle. Their plan was to restore the entire historical monument complex and to transform it into a Castle with modern functions. The restoration offered the possibility of some parts becoming open for the public. Reconstruction took place under the watchful eye of the monumental preservation office.
For reconstructing and protecting the Castle as Hungary's built heritage, the owner, Dr. József Molnár has been given the Podmaniczky Award.
CURRENT SITUATION
We knew that we would introduce the castle as an event venue, however, we were not planning the continuous operation of a hotel. Our purpose was to create a venue for events where the guests by exclusive availability could retreat easily, surrounded with their family or co-workers.
It is essential for us to inspire our guests to familiarise themselves with the county of Nógrád, therefore we have collected all the sights and programs of the area which we are happy to recommend for those who arrive at us.
As for the breakfast we strive to include our own and local craft food products. We make our marmalades and lavender syrups of the lavenders planted in the garden of our Levendula Guesthouse located in the village. In the old days Alsópetény was also a wine region but after the destruction of the phylloxera, grapes were not replanted, so the wine recommended for you is not from Nógrád but it is also a self-produced delicacy, bottled as a result of the work of the castle owner’s daughter Molnár Júlia Dóra. Do taste the award winning wines from the Csendes Dűlő Vineyards of Badacsony!
