Location: Baranya county Map
Constructed: 13th century
Siklos Castle is a medieval citadel located in Baranya county in South Hungary. Siklos Castle was constructed in the 13th century. In 14th century a small chapel was constructed. In 1401 king Sigismund was imprisoned here for five months by the nobles. In the 17th and 18th centuries Baroque complex of Siklos Castle was erected within medieval walls. In 1955 Siklos Castle was nationalized by the communist government.
History
The first mention of the castle dates
from 1294. Its oldest parts of the building were excavated in the
basement of the southern wing by archaeologists, which may have been
the core of an early castle built by the descendants of palatine
Gyula Kán, mentioned in the former charter. After their possession,
they were inhabited by a noble family calling themselves Siklós,
along with its servants. Siklós can also be considered the
birthplace of the great post-Tartar era. It could form a significant
fortress, because in 1316 even the troops of the Kőszeg clan could
not take it under siege.
In 1387, the Siklós family
confronted King Sigismund of Luxembourg, who ascended the Hungarian
throne, and therefore declared them unfaithful and confiscated their
castle estate from them. A few years later it became the property of
the powerful family of Barons of Garai, who significantly expanded
its territory, but even surrounded the market town below it with a
stone wall. In 1401, the nobles of the country revolted against the
rule of Sigismund, who was kept in the castle of Siklós after
Visegrád. However, as the barons could not reach an agreement, he
was eventually reinstated in his dignity on the advice of the local
landlord, Miklós Garai. Sigismund did not forget his noble
supporter, with whom he entered into a league, and then, to seal
this, the king and Baron Garai married two daughters of Lord Cillei.
By 1440, its fortifications had been built, which the
Transylvanian voivode János Hunyadi, who strengthened the camp of
King Ulászló, could not take in either. After the extinction of the
Garai noble family, King Matthias handed it over to Prince János
Corvin of Liptov, but already at the beginning of the 16th century
the buildings of the Perényi aristocratic family lived. Imre Perényi
remodeled the castle in Renaissance style and completed the
construction of the castle chapel with Italian sculptors. In 1543,
Sultan Suleiman's huge army marched into its walls after barely
three days of fighting. In 1686, during the campaign of the Habsburg
army that recaptured Buda, it was liberated from the occupation of
the Ottoman Empire, and it lost its military significance only after
the Rákóczi War of Independence. It was not blown up because of its
imperial owners, but its internal residential buildings were
significantly remodeled according to the signs of the Baroque design
world.
From 1828 it was owned by the Batthyány family, then
bought by a lawyer from Bratislava, Lajos Benyovszky. After his
death, he was inherited by his son, Count Móric Benyovszky, who
played a significant role in public life. He was elected Chief
Lieutenant of Baranya County and Member of Parliament three times.
After the count's death, his widow, Mrs. Lenya Benyovszky Batthyány,
sold the castle to the Honvéd Treasury.
During World War II,
English, American and Polish prisoners of war were held here. After
World War II, he was orphaned for a decade, and only then received
his current role after archaeological excavation and restoration
began in 1955. The successive owners of the castle have rebuilt it
into a magnificent castle, in accordance with the castle
architectural requirements and style trends of the age. Within its
walls, which have seen great historical times, a castle museum, a
hotel and a restaurant have been set up.
The castle is from
the beginning of the 21st century
Today, only the museum is open.
In 2009-2011, it was partially renovated with the help of the
Norwegian Financial Fund and the Southern Transdanubia Operational
Program. The east and south castle courtyards have been renovated
and a visitor center has also been set up. The museum currently has
several exhibitions, Renaissance 17-18. Exhibition of furniture,
medieval weapons and city history of the 19th century, Captain
Tenkes' Panopticon, exhibitions of painters Kálmán Istókovits and
Béla Simon, as well as temporary exhibitions of fine art can be
seen.
The castle of Siklós is one of our most beautiful and
unified historical monuments. The overall picture we see today is
the result of a gradual and ongoing development. Its spectacular
elements were laid in the Middle Ages, but almost every period of
Hungarian construction history has left its stylistic mark on it.
The castle consists of several parts: the core of the ensemble
is the castle. The castle is surrounded by high castle walls and
fortifications, semicircular towers and bastions. There is a castle
district around the inner castle. Here stands the monumental
ensemble of the former Franciscan monastery and church. Historical
values and curiosities are connected to the monumental ensemble.
The Romanesque castle
The castle was the center of the estate
and the seat of the most important aristocratic families of the
Hungarian Middle Ages. The name of the settlement appears in our
diplomas in the form Suklos, Soklos and others. It is first
mentioned in a charter of 1190. According to the data, since the
beginning of the 13th century it has been the property of the
palatine branch of the Suklós family of the Khan genus. The castle
itself is mentioned at the earliest in 1294, when Gyula Siklósi was
its owner. Nothing was visible from this Romanesque castle before.
The excavation of the southern castle wing helped with physical
evidence. In the basement, a row of four Romanian-era funnel-lined
windows and a space-covering wooden ceiling beam chair were found.
The gothic castle
King Sigismund confiscated
the castle from the Siklós people in 1387 and donated it to the
Garai family after a short change of ownership.
The Garais
erected new wings and levels in the area bounded by the castle wall,
meaning that the courtyard at the top of the castle hill was built
on three sides into a huge castle and the ensemble was surrounded by
a new protective ring, a gorge.
The most significant
monumental remnant and spatial experience of the Gothic castle of
Garaiak is the chapel. The high-rise single-aisle interior, with
curtained windows, ends in a pierced, meticulously profiled late
Gothic sanctuary. A Gothic window was found above the entrance
marked by the snake coat of arms of the Garai family. The two booths
of Kegyúr were also unearthed, decorated with murals from the first
half of the 15th century.
Renaissance castle
The Garais
owned and developed Siklós Castle for a century. In 1482, the
palatine branch of the family became extinct with Job Garai, and the
castle became a royal estate. It was given by King Matthias to his
son, John Corvin. In 1507, Imre Perényi besieged the castle.
The Perényi people reorganized the approach to the castle,
modernized its resistance and defense capabilities, and made the
castle palace more inhabited in the Renaissance spirit, taking into
account the military and settlement development. The renaissance
stone carvings of the Siklós castle testify to the unbroken building
spirit of the Turkish menace and the understanding and creative use
of the Italian-educated, noble and simple world of form. (Imre
Perényi and his second wife, Dorottya Kanizsai, spent most of their
lives in Siklós.)
Siklós Castle was occupied by Sultan
Suleiman's army in 1543 after a three-day siege. The Turks kept a
large number of armies in the castle at all times and considered it
a significant base for 150 years. Nevertheless, we know of almost no
Turkish-related construction. It is probable, however, that at that
time depictions of people, which were forbidden according to the
Muslim religion, were removed from the statues of the chapel.
Siklós was taken back only when Buda was taken back. The castle
was given to the Imperial General by Count Caprara Eneas, who began
to build the castle, but with his death the work was interrupted.
The completion of the castle is already named after the
Batthyányians.
Attractions
Passenger walker over the
Barbican and the Dorottya Garden in Kanizsa
South wing
Cellar
level: Prison, Souvenir, Captain Tenkes Panopticon, Wine Museum,
Wine Shop
Ground floor: Renaissance furniture exhibition
1st
floor: Medieval weapons and military history exhibition, exhibition
of paintings by Kálmán Istókovits and Béla Simon, Chapel Gallery,
Loggia
II. floor: Castle History Exhibition, Disaster Management
Exhibition, Serbian Exhibition
East wing: Siklós Salon 2012,
Screening room, Gyilokjáró, Spanish bastion, Géza Bakó's solitary
collection, Gothic chapel, Dorottya Kanizsai garden
North Wing:
Castle-Terrace Espresso, Historical panel, Medieval torture
panopticon
Commemorative coin
On June 4, 2008, the Magyar
Nemzeti Bank issued a silver commemorative medal from the Siklós
Castle with a denomination of HUF 5,000.