The Castle is the most important dominant of the town Levice. It is from the end of the 13th century. It stands on top of volcanic rock protuberance above the swamps of the Hron river. It was the sentry fort guarding the road leading to central Slovakian mining towns.
Its role was crucial in time of Turkish wars when the Turks occupied the territory south of Levice. It was then when the Levický hrad Castle was fortified, widened and the bulky Renaissance bastions were built. In summer 1664 the Turkish troops suffered a heavy defeat here, which stopped their expansion further to central parts of the country. This battle is known as the battle of Levice where the legendary hero of the Kingdom of Hungary, Štefan Koháry was killed.
The Castle served the purpose until 1709 when its bastions were considerably damaged in the period of the Rebellion of Estates. Then it gradually lost importance as a military fort. Its conserved ruins and somewhat younger small fortified structures in the lower castle known as the Dobóovský kaštieľ (Manor House of Dobó) are the witnesses to the famous history of the Castle. The manor house of Dobó, two-storied Renaissance fortress bears the name of its owner, Count Štefan Dobó, one of the heroes of counter-Turkish wars. The manor house was built in the second half of the 16th century and it is the most extensive structure of the whole castle area. In the former unusually wide dike the castle park was planted.
Today the Castle houses the Tekovské múzeum (Museum of Tekov), which contains archaeological, historic, ethnographic, and nature collections gathered in the region. Various events take place in the Castle - one of them is the Castle Festival of Levice, now more attractive, as it is held in a newly constructed amphitheatre.
The popular place in the Castle is its tea room located in one of the medieval bastions. The mysterious and reserved atmosphere of the place opened to public, which offers a varied assortment of exotic teas and drinks and the romantic silhouette of the Castle in background provide a pleasant experience to visitors.
| Monday – Friday | 09:00 – 16:00 |
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| Saturday – Sunday | 10:00 – 16:00 |
| Monday – Friday | 09:00 – 18:00 |
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| Saturday – Sunday | 10:00 – 18:00 |
If you wish to immerse in the star mysteries for a while, do not hesitate to visit the Tekovská hvezdáreň Observatory in Levice. You might be lucky to see trough the telescope a friendly extra-Terrestrial being waving at you.
The complex of rock dwellings squeezed in tuff rocks situated several kilometres east of Levice, in the village BRHLOVCE, is unique in the territory of Slovakia.
The detached exposition of Tekovské museum in Levice – a mill settlement of former miller Pavol Turčan – lies at the Sikenica stream, appoximately 1 km from the upper (north) end of the Bohunice village.
In the middle of the fields near Veľké Vozokany, not far from Zlaté Moravce in the sout-west of Slovakia, a bronze lion erects from a stone pedestal. It commemorates the battle between the Turkish and the Hungarian armies in 1652.
Počuli ste už o lokalite Fidvár pri Vrábľoch? Jedná sa o praveké sídlisko, ktoré vzniklo tým, že ľudia niekoľko tisícročí sídlili na jednom mieste, terén upravovali, planírovali, navážali a podobne. Má rozlohu viac ako 20 hektárov a je teda väčšia ako Mykény, či maloázijská Trója!
A visit to the Hippology Museum in Topoľčianky will show you the world of horses and people. It is the only museum of this type in Slovakia.
The village of Topoľčianky, which is located north of the western Slovak town of Zlaté Moravce at the foothill of the Tribeč Mountains, boasts an extensive English garden, which features a picturesque Classicist-style manor house that forms the southern wing of an old castle.
A neoclassical manor house, which is located in an extensive and quiet park in the village of Beladice - Pustý Chotár a mere few kilometres outside Nitra, is home to an extraordinary gallery.
Sitno, the tallest mountain of the Štiavnické vrchy Mts., (1,009 m), dominates the south-western horizon of Banská Štiavnica and offers a fabulous view. Three faces of the mountain are steep, almost inaccessible, and on the fourth side the Castle of Sitno, or better said its ruins, stand. It was built in the 13th century on the site of a primeval fortified castle. It is in ruins since the 18th century.
