Nagyvázsony - Kinizsi Castle

In Nagvázsony the fortification is relatively well preserved, having been converted in the early 15th C, into a residential castle. In 1472 King Matthias I presented the castle together with the surrounding estates to Pál Kinizsi, a former miller's boy, born in Nagvázsony. Kinizsi had won the king's favor through his victorious leadership of the royal army, the so-called "Black Troops". Kinizsi had the castle extended to its present form.

During the wars of the following centuries it withstood numerous attacks; in the middle of the 17th C both castle and village became the property of the counts of Zichy. The Zichys' loyalty to the emperor prevented the castle from being destroyed by Habsburg troops at the beginning of the 18th C.

Access to the inside of the castle is through the outer round gatetower and a bridge over the moat. Here the 28m (99ft) high Gothic residential tower has dungeons in the lower part. The upper floors with rooms for the servants, banquet hall and living quarters for the lady of the castle have been restored in their original style and fitted with Renaissance furniture (castle museum).

In the castle chapel in the northwest the first lord of the castle Pál Kinizsi lies below a red marble memorial slab. His grave was originally in the Paulinist monastery, which he founded, remains of which can be seen on the northern edge of the town. Below the vaulting in the castle chapel there is a lapidarium.