Castles in Hungary

Fülszöveg

The author of this book is one of the best
known experts on Hungarian castles and on
the restoration of castles in general. In this
volume he traces the architectural and engi-
neering history of castles, !relating develop-
ments to current needs of defence. "The periods
of change in the building of castles are not
necessarily related to the great changes in
architectural styles, but to improvements in the
art of siege-defence. This is why one cannot
apply the epithets Romanesque or Gothic, as
one can in other fields covered by the art his-
torian, to castles, as the changes are not
influenced by periods of !style but by the
techniques of siege-defence/5
There were three great periods of castle-
building in Hungary. The first castles were
built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as
a defence against Germanic invasions. The
cataclysmic invasion of the Mongols from the
north-east in the thirteenth century led to the
second wave. The third came in the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The author of this book is one of the best
known experts on Hungarian castles and on
the restoration of castles in general. In this
volume he traces the architectural and engi-
neering history of castles, !relating develop-
ments to current needs of defence. "The periods
of change in the building of castles are not
necessarily related to the great changes in
architectural styles, but to improvements in the
art of siege-defence. This is why one cannot
apply the epithets Romanesque or Gothic, as
one can in other fields covered by the art his-
torian, to castles, as the changes are not
influenced by periods of !style but by the
techniques of siege-defence/5
There were three great periods of castle-
building in Hungary. The first castles were
built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as
a defence against Germanic invasions. The
cataclysmic invasion of the Mongols from the
north-east in the thirteenth century led to the
second wave. The third came in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, when they were
built to defend the west against the Turkish
attacks from the Balkans. Most of the castles
built in the Middle Ages were destroyed dur-
ing the Turkish occupation, and the few that
remained were destroyed by the Hapsburgs,
who regarded them as possible foci of resist-
ance against their absolutist rule.
Most of the Hungarian castles are in ruins.
The thirty most important castles and ruins,
of the 140 recorded, are represented in the 132
pages of this book. In the last fifteen years
the general interest in the preservation of
Hungarian historical monuments has been
particularly centred on the castles of the
country. As a consequence there are now a
number of Hungarian castles in beautiful and
picturesque surroundings, which are very
well worth visiting. Vissza