Vrsatec

Vršatské Podhradie, Slovakia, Slovakia

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Vrsatec Castle ruins perch dramatically on a steep limestone cliff at 805 meters above sea level in Vršatské Podhradie, northwestern Slovakia, within the White Carpathians near the Váh River valley. Dating to the late 13th century as a royal Hungarian fortress guarding the northwest border and a key Moravian pass, its first record appears in 1316; it featured a square tower with rock-carved basement, residential palace, bakery, brewery, and defensive walls with bastions, remaining unconquered even by a 1663 Turkish army. Owned by families like the Vršatskýs from the 15th century, it burned in 1680 and 1708 during anti-Habsburg uprisings, when imperial forces deliberately blew it up to deny rebels a base, leaving the Gothic-Renaissance ruins as a scenic hiking destination today.