Považská Bystrica Castle

In its heyday, Povas Castle protected trade routes in the Váh valley. Today, on a hill 497 m high, there are ruins: Gothic walls with the remains of two towers, a Renaissance barbican and a Renaissance palace.

The castle was probably built in 1126, but some sources mention 1316 as the year when the fortress was built. At that time, it was to belong to a Hungarian magnate, Mateusz Czak. In 1458 the King of Hungary, Maciej Korwin, gave the castle to the Podmanicki family. When the last member of the family died childless, the Balassa family became the owners of the castle. In 1684, during one of the uprisings against the Habsburgs, the walls were conquered and burned down on the orders of Emperor Leopold I. The castle began to fall into disrepair. The earthquake in 1858 caused further damage.