Siklos castle

This castle with its 18th-century exterior is among the best-preserved castle palaces in Hungary. It carries architectural features from the Romanesque to the Baroque, the finest being the Gothic elements. Its rooms and halls host exhibitions.

Rising high above the town, the fortress was first mentioned in a charter from 1190. This period has been preserved in the Romanesque-style windows on the southern wing.

In ages to follow, the developments and reconstructions of several decades have also left their marks: the Gothic wing with its enclosed balcony and the chapel with rich Gothic vaultings and tracery windows that close with a curtain arch. The chapel is among the most beautiful examples of its kind in Hungary.

Reconstruction continued in the Renaissance as well, but in that era, fortification in defence against the Turkish attacks was the paramount issue. That is when the fortified round gatehouse, the Barbican, and the bridge leading to it were built.

Emanating the spirit of the Baroque, the palace was constructed in the 18th century from the fabrics which had survived the Turkish devastation. The Baroque gate-frame of the Barbican and the fourth palace wing were built at this time.

The dungeon museum and lapidary are in the palace cellar, along with other exhibitions, such as the one presenting the history of the glove-making factory in Pecs.

Count Casimir Batthyány, foreign minister in the Kossuth Government, rests in the chapel.

The statue of the former lady of the castle, Dorothy Kanizsai, stands in the gardens. It was she who had the dead of the Battle at Mohács buried.

Although no visible memento is left, it is a fact that King Sigismund was kept prisoner here for five months in 1401