Orava Castle, Slovakia

The Orava Castle is a medieval castle located on a cliff on the right bank of the river Orava in the village Oravsky Podzamok in Žilina region, Slovakia. The castle was built in the middle of 13th century and is first mentioned in written source in year 1267 when the Balaša family of Zvolen donated the castle to the King Bela IV. Over the next centuries the Orava Castle passed through hands of numerous owners and went through a lot of building activities until it was at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century rebuilt by the Thurzo family into its current appearance.



By the 18th century the Orava Castle lost its former importance and after the severe damage caused by a fire in 1800 was the castle abandoned. After being neglected for over half of a century was the castle in 1868 opened to the public as a museum on the initiative of the administrator of the property, Edmund Zichy. Further reconstructions were carried out also at the end of the 19th century under the governorate of Joseph Palffy but the most extensive reconstruction works took place after 1948. The Orava Castle which is also famous for being the scene of first black-and-white famous film about Dracula, Nosferatu (1922) is today open to the public.