Sárvár - Nádasdy Castle and Museum

An earth castle from the period of the Magyar conquest was the forerunner of the stone castle which was under royal ownership in the 12th C. The settlement at the foot of the fortification received its charter in the 14th C. In 1534 the castle and town became the property of the influential Nádasdy family. Under Tamás Nádasdy Sárvár was the focus of the reformist and humanist struggle in West Hungary; he made possible the publication of the first Hungarian translation of the bible and a grammar in Hungarian by János Sylvester, a scholar of Erasmus.

For the rebuilding of the castle he brought Italian experts in fortifications to Sárvár who designed the pentagonal Renaissance castle with its defensive ramparts. The famous Andrea Palladio is said to have been involved in the plans for the massive gate tower. Tamás's successor Ferenc Nádasdy, who completed the castle around 1650, was involved in the conspiracy of the Hungarian aristocracy against the Habsburgs ("Wesselényi conspiracy) and paid for it with his life; the Habsburgers took his art treasures with them to Vienna. It was the later owners who gave the building its Classical façade.

The Renaissance tower has been preserved in its original style of 1598. There is an impressive palatial room with stucco-framed frescos decorating its walls. The ceiling paintings, by an artist with the signature H.R.M., commissioned by Ferenc Nádasdy portray the Nádasdys as commanders in the Turkish wars; on the walls are scenes from the Old Testament by Stefan Dorffmeister (1769). The allegorical paintings in the tower room, are also his work, in which the role of the lord of the castle as patron of the arts and sciences is emphasized - a logical continuation of the frescos in the palatial room. Other rooms of the castle are also decorated with frescos and 18th C furniture.

The Ferenc Nádasdy museum, housed in the castle, is devoted to the history of the family, regional folk art and the town's history.