This article was prepared for an edition of the Spectacular Slovakia travel guide and was published in the travel guide Slovakia.
Trenčín Castle was built as a royal lookout fortress over an old Slavic Bronze Age settlement.
At the time of the formation of the Hungarian Kingdom, it became a royal district castle. The current castle’s origins go back to the 11th century, when its structure was comprised only of a residential pre-romanesque stone tower and a stone rotunda that possibly dates back to the Great Moravian Empire.
At the end of the 11th century, another stone tower (donjon) was built. Standing at the centre of the castle complex, its unique roof makes it the most visible part of the city’s skyline.
Known as Matthew’s Tower, it affords beautiful views over the Váh River watershed.
Trenčín Castle (Source: Jana Liptáková)Other buildings around the tower were created for defensive purposes, but some were also used as administrative offices, as well as housing.
The oldest palace, built in the 14th century during the reign of the most powerful Hungarian magnate, Máté Csák, was called Matthew’s Palace.
Trenčín Castle (Source: Jiří Kučírek)
