Northwest of the town of Velký Šariš, not far away from the town Sabinov, is in the forested volcanic hills at an altitude of 570 m concealed ruins of the castle of Šariš.

A little bit of history on the start

Castle hill was already inhabited in the Paleolithic time. Šariš castle is one of the oldest castles in the Slovak Republic. Originally called Tubul, Zarus, and as the Sarus castrum remembers back in the 1245. At the time, but the castle had already been a long development. From 11 century was the royal castle, which served to protect important trade Torys routes. From 13 century became the administrative centre of Šariš district. During the Tatar invasion, the castle was destroyed, and so built a new stone castle with a massive square tower, whose walls reached an impressive 440 cm. End of the 13th century, ceases to be a royal castle and gradually it becomes property of various noble families. In the 15th century castle came into the eternal present genus of Perényi.

Because they were people from one independent district, the castle became the parish seat. Šariš castle and the adjacent area is well managed to magnify them. They built the several economic, residential buildings and fortification. After the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, however Perényis in the struggle for the Hungarian crown built on the "wrong" side of Jan Zápoľský, so they began to besiege the castle army of Emperor Ferdinand, who in 1537 succeeded Šariš castle to conquer. Thus again the castle acquired a new owner. When in 1642 the castle became the property Rákociů. In 1660, an accident contributed to the explosion of gunpowder in the powder mill blew a large part of the castle in the air. Its dilapidation helped the then captain of the castle. The end of the 17th century castle damaged buildings on fire. Thus began the second part of the less famous Šariš history of the castle, which he remembers only as ruins.

Today the owner of the castle is town of the East Velký Šariš, who with the assistance of money from euro foundations trying the ruin with walls preserve. From the Šariš castle they try to make popular tourist destination for domestic as well as cross-country visitors. Already today there you can see a lot of work.

How the ruins Šariš castle looks today and what town should offer to the tourist in the future, you can read next time.

Text/photo: O. Maňáková