Facts & Profile

Strečno Castle

The Strečno Castle (Slovak: Strečniansky hrad)(also called Strechun, Strechyn, Streczen, Streczan alebo Strežín) is a reconstructed ruin of a medieval castle of an irregular plan located in northern Slovakia, 12 km east of Žilina. The castle stands on a 103-metre-high (338 ft) calcite cliff above the international road E50 and village Strečno. Along with the Old castle (Slovak: Starhrad) constitutes a significant landscape landmark of the Upper Váh region. Nowadays, after reconstruction, there are expositions of the Vah region regional museum (Slovak: Považské múzeum v Žiline). The first recorded mention of the stone castle is from 1316. Today the castle belongs to the national cultural heritage of the Slovak republic.

A strategic location of the cliff massif rising 103 meters high above the river Váh and above a strategic road located in a narrow strait of the Strečno col was an important prerequisite for building a fortified guardian building. The hill was inhabited already in the late Iron Age. During the earlier Roman period there was a settlement of the Púchov culture.

A bad condition of the object endangering high-road below resulted in a discussion about the acute importance of reconstruction in the 1960s. A decade later, in 1974, the reconstruction started and lasted for 21 years until 1995 because of its technical and financial complexity. Unluckily, the result of the reconstruction was not ideal. A lot of monolithic concrete and built constructions have been used, which changed the previous romantic character of ruins.

Nowadays, the castle appears between a ruin and a well-preserved castle because the roofs were not rebuilt to their original look. After the castle was rebuilt, the region museum was exposed. From 1965, 22 parts of the castle were registered on the list of national cultural heritage.