Location: Simontornya Map
Constructed: 13th century
Simontornya Castle is located in Simontornya in Hungary. It was constructed in the 13th century. Simontornya Castle name is literally translated as Simon's tower. Simontornya Castle got this name name apparently after its original owner. The citadel was captured by the Ottoman Turks and turned into a seat of a local government for sandjak, but in 1686 it was recaptured by Louis William, Margrave of Baden- Baden. In the early 18th century Simontornya Castle was used as a military stronghold by the Kuruc rebels who fought against the Habsburgs under leadership of Prince Francis II Rakoczi. It was besieged by the Austrian forces and taken in 1709. Simontornya Castle was briefly used as military barracks, but military improvements made it obsolete. Citadel was turned into a barn for cattle. Only in the middle of the 20th century reconstruction of the building have begun.
History
Sió meandered on the northern edge of the Tolna hills
in the Middle Ages, forming a wide swampy valley, on one of the
islands of which the floodplain was erected in the 1270s by Simon,
the son of Solomon of Döröcske. Until the end of the 13th century,
it was only accessible by two bridges. The former naming tower no
longer exists today. Initially, it was only listed as a private
castle built with royal permission to protect a larger estate, which
the king was free to give to his beloved followers in the event of
the owner's death or infidelity. For nearly 200 years, it still
played the role of a small castle hidden among the swamps.
Its first written mention dates from 1324, in the diploma by which
Károly Róbert donates "castrum seu Turrym siue possessionem
Symonthurnya vocatum" to János Hencfia. In 1347 it was inherited by
the Lack sons. The Transylvanian voivode of István Lackfi and his
descendants have owned and continued to build and shape the castle
for half a century. In 1397 it became the property of the
Kanizsaians. It was acquired by Pipó Ozorai in 1424, by exchanging
estates (for the castle of Sárvár and in addition for 1,500
forints), and after 1427 it became the property of the Garai family.
At this time, the castle is further expanded, which is connected to
the name of Judge László Farkas from Buda. According to a charter
from 1448, palatine László Garai pledged the castle to him, and when
he redeemed it years later, he paid him 400 gold forints for "pro
edifycys new and reformacionupuparum et defectuum eiusdem Castri
..." It was then that the outer protective belt of the castle was
built, which in the shape of an irregular ring surrounded the
rectangular building of the early castle, with walls with buttress
pillars crowned by a partisan abyss. The remains of the outer
perimeter walls around the castle, although in a very dilapidated
condition, can still be seen today. In 1482, with the extinction of
the Garai family on a son's branch, the castle became the property
of the crown again and became the property of Queen Beatrix until
1500, when the queen left Hungary. In 1508 it became the property of
Mózes Buzlay, who was known in the court of Ulászló as a royal main
doorman and an educated diplomat and from the medieval castle he
established an upscale aristocratic seat here following the Italian
Renaissance taste. Buzlay's reconstruction will bring the castle to
its heyday. According to the surviving architectural details, he
completed the construction with the masters of the royal
constructions of Buda in 1508. The medieval walls are broken through
on the south side and a new block of the gate tower, old tower and
staircase is built from the foundations here. The old palace wing
that remains attached to it will be remodeled, another floor will be
drawn on it, and a columned, arcaded loggia will run in front of it
along its entire courtyard side. A castle chapel is being built on
the northern wing, even with the structures and forms of the late
Gothic, the details of which show a relationship with the castle
chapel of Siklós. The whole building was decorated with doors,
fireplaces, coats of arms, etc. adorned with extremely fine
Renaissance carvings, which testify to the highest standards of
Jagiellonian Renaissance architecture. In 1536 it became the
property of the chief court master Gergely Pöstyéni, who received
the castle from King John I as a reward for his bravery. He was the
last Hungarian castle of the years before Turkish rule.
The
Simontowers of the castle were the "accessories" until 1560, among
others; Miszla, Dég, Igar, Soponya, Hatvan, Besnyő, Bikád, Dorog,
Kesző, Hidegkút, Borjád, Hőgyész, Pincehely, Némedi, Felső and Alsó
Egres, Újfalu.
In 1543 it was occupied by the Turks and
became the seat of the Sandzak, like all major Transdanubian
castles. In the initial times, the Turks provided strong guard for
the castle, the number of infantry (Janissaries), cavalry and
infantry guarding the castle reached 191, artillery was commanded to
Simontornya by the end of 1543. The first Turkish commander was
Yusuf Dizdar (castle commander). At the end of more militant times,
a strong military presence became redundant, by 1558 the armed
personnel of the castle were reduced to 137, and by 1565-70 to 125.
By the 1630s, the staff had been reduced to 35. The head and
governor of the whole district is the Begon of Simontornya. Ranking
immediately followed the begler's leg in Buda. We also know the
names of several Begs: Ahmed in 1557, Iskender in 1565, and Omar in
1588. Ascended from the slave line, Ahmed Szejdi was a beggar from
Simontornya around 1650, who became a pasha in Buda in 1660, but was
killed in Timisoara for a year. In 1668, Ahmed was notable for
issuing a strict decree to the common people in order to maintain
pure public morality, religiosity. Although Simontornya did not fall
into the main road leading along the Danube, it was close enough to
the strongholds of Veszprém and Várpalota, which were in Hungarian
hands, at the break of the line between Fehérvár and Pécs, and this
required an increased military presence.
Lajos Bádeni recaptured Simontornya on September 27, 1686
(September 26, according to some sources). 300 Turkish prisoners of
war were dropped, 35 gunpowder gunpowder and 1,200 grenades were
looted. The command left 200 soldiers here and they also sent
reinforcements from Veszprém. According to descriptions, the castle
of Simontornya fell practically intact into the hands of the ruler
of the Earl of Baden. The castle was taken over by the military
council, and in addition to the guard placed here, the people of the
area also performed military service.
During the seven years
of the Rákóczi War of Independence, the castle changed hands several
times. In the autumn of 1704, Heister occupied the castle with an
Austrian general siege, which was then recaptured by János Bottyán
(November 11, 1705). Until 1709, the castle was a kuruc base. He was
kept in a "demléc" under the gate tower until the traitor Bezerédit
was executed. The fortress, which withstood several serious sieges,
loses its significance after the fall of Rákóczi's war of
independence. After the War of Independence, the castle started to
be destroyed, it lost its military significance, it was also used as
a warehouse and a residential building.
Its heyday can be
dated to the first decade of the 16th century. It was then that the
chunky old tower was erected from brick, next to it the new gate
tower, but the palace wings also received a Renaissance façade,
adorned with a puppet railing. It was planned to be blown up in the
early 18th century, but was left intact at the request of the
Habsburg-loyal Styrum-Lymburg family. The castle was also inhabited
by two counts of Styrum, as no other habitable house was available
to them at that time but after the construction of the new castle,
converted into a granary, it is used only for economic purposes.
In the 1930s, the castle became a tannery warehouse. The
restoration of the castle began in 1960 in parallel with the
archaeological excavations. It is surrounded by the remains of
demolished external protective walls, which were supplemented in
some places by smaller masonry during the restoration. The additions
are distinguished everywhere by the different, thin red brick
masonry. On the corner next to the staircase, the original shape of
the defensive walls was reconstructed in a short section from the
remains found with the partisan abyss. Of the former buildings of
the castle, on the south side, the block of the gate tower, old
tower and staircase, and on the east side, the former palace wing
has been restored to this day. A modern fortification building was
built over the remains of the completely destroyed north wing. The
image of the north façade today shows only the huge consoles of the
former upstairs enclosed balcony, which were found crashing into the
moat and restored to their original location. We reach the castle
courtyard through the ground floor guard room of the gate tower, the
vault of which is decorated with terracotta shoulder brackets. The
simple fireplace in the guardroom was reconstructed from the
fragments found. On the east side of the courtyard rises a section
of the loggia that once ran its entire length, which is also the
result of restoration. This detail not only testifies to the former
high architectural standard of the castle, but also gives a picture
of the completely destroyed arcaded facades that decorated Mátyás'
palace in Buda, the castles of Siklós and Esztergom. A permanent
exhibition in the halls of the palace wing presents the history of
the castle. Remains of the former knight's hall can be seen in the
defensive building of the north wing. Here is an exhibition
illustrating the stone storehouse and the process of restoration.
The upstairs room of the gate tower preserves the most beautiful
fireplace of the castle, which is unique in today's Hungary. Such
fireplaces of Tuscan origin stood in the royal palaces of Buda and
Nyék and in several other aristocratic castles. The room on the
first floor of the palace wing was divided into three separate parts
during the Renaissance, but today it is the only large room
illuminated by cross windows. Around the middle of the room we can
see one of the Gothic twin windows, excavated and restored on a
medieval level, a little lower. The stone benches on both sides have
also survived. The permanent exhibition "Noble Ancient Galleries in
Tolna County" was located here. Most of the fine art collection
owned by the county museum is the noble, commoner family galleries,
18 -19. century portraits. The earliest dated image is a
representation of Antal Jeszenszky from 1746. The portrait of the
former owner of the castle, Count Károly Styrum-Lymburg, from the
end of the 18th century is not only significant from the point of
view of art history. In addition to the portraits, some of the
collection's paintings on other themes, mainly from the 19th
century, are also on display. The second-floor room of the old tower
is also decorated with a restored fireplace, whose late Gothic-style
frame stones were dismantled in the 18th century and used as masonry
material to transform the south window of the hall into a porthole.
The third floor of the old tower was built on the occasion of the
18th century fortifications, originally with a flat roof and
partisan design similar to the towers of the castles of Gyula and
Nagyvázsony.
Nowadays, temporary or permanent exhibitions are organized, and
in its surroundings, games that are very successful in the summer
and are now famous all over the country are held.
Unfortunately, the castle was not included in the National Castle
and National Castle Program, although its renovation and
preservation would be important for posterity, as it is one of the
best preserved Renaissance castles in Hungary today.