Eger - Castle Vár

From the 11th C onwards the bishop and canon of the cathedral resided on Castle Hill, which afforded protection to the town and allowed it to develop. There had been a fortified building here since the time of the Mongol attacks, and in the 16th C. Péter Perényis gave instructions for the castle to be extended to withstand Turkish onslaughts; the work was supervised by the Italian architect Giovanni Maria de Specia Casa and was based on the designs of contemporary Italian fortresses.

Must-see attractions nearby:

Dobó István tér

Kossuth Lajos utca

Szénchenyi utca

Minaret

After the Turks had succeeded with their second attack in 1596 in capturing both castle and town, they repaired the castle once again. In 1702, on instructions from Emperor Leopold I, the castle - like many others - was blown up. In 1783 it became the property of Bishop Károly Eszterházy, who used the stone for his new buildings. Nationalism and a growing sense of history during the 19th C led to the fortress being seen in a new light as something to be preserved for posterity.

Although the castle towers high above the town, large parts of it are nothing but ruins. Nevertheless, these remains do give an idea of the former size and strength of this great fortress, and there is a fine view from here of the town of Eger. Those who, instead of taking their car to the North Gate, climb up from the Old Town on foot (the ascent from Dózsa György tér is beautiful) will enter the castle through the southern Varkoch Gate. The relief by István Tar and Gyula Illés (1952) is in memory of the heroic defense of the castle in 1552. To the left lies the Dobó Bastion, while uphill to the right is the Handsome Bastion.

The central courtyard of the medieval castle complex is now surrounded by administrative buildings such as the ticket office, museum, etc. On the north side of the courtyard stands the former Bishop's Palace, built in 1470 for Bishop Johann Bekensloer; its ground floor has a beautiful arcaded walkway with a ribbed vaulted ceiling. This building was later to be the residence of the lord of the castle and in the 18th C it served as a corn store and dungeon. Today it houses the Dobó István Museum with exhibits relating to the castle's history. The high ground to the right (east) of the Bishop's Palace is where the first Romanesque Eger Cathedral once stood. The remains of three massive pillars in the east of the choir give some idea of the dimensions of the extension; begun in the 15th C but never completed, which would have converted this building into a Gothic hall church.

The Cathedral was completely gutted by fire in the siege of 1552 and was later demolished. On one of the former pillars stands a statue of King Stephen, the work of the sculptor Marco Casagrande in the first half of the 19th C; Casagrande was also employed in the rebuilding of the Cathedral.

A Gothic tower containing a flight of stairs leads up to the battlement walk, from where there is a fine view. Here, too, will be found the casemates built within the east wall (admission free). In the southeastern part of the castle lie bastions built in the 16th C - the Ear Bastion (with the grave of the writer Géza Gárdonyi, who died in 1922), the Gregory Bastion, the Turkish Bastion and the Handsome Bastion. The coat-of-arms of Bishop Ippolito d'Este adorns the Gothic gate-tower of the Gregory Bastion.

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