HISTORY
Sárvár Castle had been royal property since the Middle Ages when in 1411 it was given to Filippo Scolari (Pippo Spano, Ozorai Pipo) by Sigismund of the House of Luxemburg. From 1424 the castle was owned by the Kanizsai family; then the Garai family took possession before it became the property of the Kanizsai family again. By the end of the 15th century the building had developed into one that enclosed an internal courtyard, with the wings of the castle-palace surrounded by ramparts.
By the 16th century it the Nádasdys owned the property through a marriage between Orsolya Kanizsai and Tamás Nádasdy (1498–1562), and it even became the centre of the Nádasdy estates (1532). Tamás Nádasdy made Sárvár and the castle one of the centres of Hungarian Lutheran reforms, and founded a printing house in the castle and a school in Sárvár. János Sylvester, an outstanding figure of Lutheran reforms in Hungary, worked in Sárvár from 1534.
The medieval castle underwent several reconstructions and modifications over time, with those of the early 16th century mainly of a military nature; the fortifications of the castle including the five Italian bastions were built as protection against Turkish attacks.
Italian stone carvers and sculptors were working in the castle as early as the 1520s. We know the name of the Márton Master from the accounts of Hungarian craftsmen that worked with him. The fortress, surrounded by ramparts, was further developed under Tamás Nádasdy. The Nádasdys invited other Italian masters to Sárvár one again between 1588 and 1615 (Pietro Spazio, Pietro Orsolini, Donato Grazioli) who renovated the ramparts of the palace using the technical innovations and artistic experience of Italian military architecture.
The pentagonal outer castle, with bastions in the Italian style, was built at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries, as well as the Renaissance gate-tower leading into the castle-palace; an outstanding monument of Hungarian Late Renaissance military architecture. The facades of the castle-palace were largely restored and modified in the 19th century.
Following the death of Ferenc Nádasdy II, the “black bey” – a famous triumphant military leader in battles against the Turkish conquerors in 1604 – his widow, Erzsébet Báthory, lived in the castle for a short time.
The Baroque building period of the castle relates to Ferenc Nádasdy III who reverted to Catholicism after his wedding and banned protestant preachers from his estates. The rich stuccoes and ceiling frescoes of the banqueting hall were created around 1635. After Ferenc Nádasdy was decapitated and his property seized by the treasury for having participated in the anti-Habsburg conspiracy of Wesselényi, the Nádasdy collection, one of the most important in Hungary in the 16th century – including gold artefacts Italian and German paintings, a numismatics collection, 141 wall carpets and Turkish rugs – was transferred to Vienna.
Miklós Draskovich purchased Sárvár Castle from the treasury and it later became the property of Ádám Szily. Szily commissioned István Dorffmeister to paint the side walls of the banqueting hall and the tower room in 1769. After the Turkish thraldom was over, the fortifications of the castle became less important, and the castle underwent further alterations including filling in the outer moat. During the Rákóczi Revolution the castle fell into the hands of the anti-Habsburg kuruc organisation. It then became the property of the Esterházy dynasty. The Pallavicini family of Genova owned it from 1787 and then Prince Ferdinand of Este and Modena from 1803 (who renovated the building). From then until the end of the Second World War the Bavarian Royal Wittelsbach family owned the castle.
ARCHITECTURE
The Late Renaissance pentagonal outer castle with Italian bastions was surrounded with a moat to protect it against Turkish attacks (this area is now a park). The casemated bastions are located on the edges of the pentagon. The entrance bridge was built in the 19th century. The multi-level Late Renaissance, decorous gate tower, with a rock-faced gate and Gothic sitting chambers, was erected by Donato Grazioli in around 1589. There are two more Renaissance gates in the courtyard dating to around 1650.
The first-floor banqueting hall, the most outstanding creation of the Baroque building period of the Sárvár Castle, is accessible from the entrance hall. The amazing wagon-roofed hall is rich with stuccoes and frescoes. The richly coloured stucco decoration framing the frescoes – formed of putti holding arms, war trophies and other ornamental elements – is the work of the Italian master Andrea Bertinelli. The monumental frescoes and secco paintings commemorate the battles of the 15-years' War. Nádasdy commissioned Hans Rudolf Miller, a painter from Vienna, to paint the seven battle paintings in 1653. In the middle of the wagon-roof is a representation of the Battle of Sziszek (Sisak) of 1593 (signed and dated: “HRM pingit Anno 1653”), on the side walls (in chronological order) are representations of the Siege of Tata in 1597, the Siege of Pápa in 1598, the capture of Győr in 1598, the capture of Székesfehérvár in 1601, the unsuccessful Siege of Kanizsa in 1601 and the unsuccessful Siege of Buda in 1602. As Géza Galavics' research has revealed, the paintings are historically accurate, based on engravings by Hans Sibmacher for the Chronicles of Ortelius and a series of engravings made by Antonio Tempesta (Georgio Vasari's pupil in Rome) relating to the heroic acts of a Roman hero Aemilius Paulus. Miller replaced the ancient Roman garments seen in the original engravings with contemporary Hungarian and Turkish costumes and represents the bloody battle scenes of the Turkish-Hungarian Wars against topographically accurate landscapes. At the same time, the paintings eulogise the Hungarian soldiers that fought to protect their homeland and indirectly praise Europe, Hungarian Christianity and the whole Nádasdy family as well, by depicting the heroic act of Ferenc Nádasdy II the “black bey”, who was the ultimate hero of the battle. The architectural and artistic additions made by the Nádasdy dynasty are commemorated by the Nádasdy coat of arms held within a memorial plaque in the courtyard.
In 1769, Ádám Szily selected scenes from the lives and acts of the heroes of the Old Testament to be painted on the side walls, for which he commissioned István Dorffmeister. The scenes are perceived not only as parallel to the heroic acts of the Hungarian soldiers and the Nádasdys represented on the ceiling and on the walls but in addition are there to emphasise them. The nine Old Testament scenes are designed to be read from left to right at the entrance. They express acts of bravery, betrayal and brutality. There is an original Neo-Classical/Late Baroque (Zopf) stove in the banqueting hall.
The Dorffmeister frescoes in the tower room depict allegories of the Sciences and Arts.
CURRENT SITUATION
Today, Sárvár Castle hosts various exhibitions and is known as Nádasdy Ferenc Museum.
Source: [http://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;hu;Mon11;20;en&cp]
