Uzhhorod Castle

Uzhhorod Castle is a monumental fortification structure whose history dates back to the 9th century, when a wooden fortress belonging to Prince Laborec stood on Castle Hill above a settlement of White Croats. Following the Hungarian conquest, and especially after the Tatar invasion of 1241, active construction of a stone stronghold began here. In 1312, the castle passed into the possession of the Italian aristocratic Drugeth family, who held it for over 350 years and carried out its radical reconstruction. By the late 16th century, the castle took on the appearance of a mighty defensive structure in the late Renaissance style, characteristic of northern Hungary. In plan, it forms an irregular quadrilateral with diamond-shaped, Old Italian-type bastions at each corner, providing an almost impregnable defense. The palace building, which serves as the castle's citadel, is austere and rectangular, featuring square towers at the corners and walls up to 3 meters thick; it was surrounded on three sides by a deep moat with a drawbridge. Following the defeat of the war of independence in 1711 and a fire in 1728, the castle was handed over to the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Eparchy in 1775 to house a theological seminary. Since 1947, the castle has been home to the Transcarpathian Local History Museum, and its architectural complex—including the Church of St. George (the site of the Union of Uzhhorod in 1646) and sculptures in the courtyard—stands as one of the main attractions of Uzhhorod.