Pal Kinizsi Castle
Posted by: 
BlackElders
N 46° 59.102 E 017° 41.744
33T E 704996 N 5207028
Kinizsi Castle, in the middle of the village is over half a millennium old. Pál (Paul) Kinizsi was a heroic Hungarian patriot who held off the Turkish invaders.
Waymark Code: WM1F23
Location: Hungary
Date Posted: 04/24/2007
Views: 100
The village is first mentioned in a charter of 1233. Its name comes from the Váson clan, a dynasty which died out in 1472. In this year King Matthias presented the castle together with the surrounding estates to Pál Kinizsi. According to the legend he was a miller's boy, born in Nagyvázsony. He had won the king's favour through his victorious leadership of the royal army, the so-called "Black Army". Kinizsi had the castle extended to its present form. During the Turkish occupation Nagyvázsony acted as a border fortress. It withstood numerous attacks.
In the middle of the 17th century 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 century. In this century it functioned as a manorial prison, then it was turned into a distillery for pálinka (Hungarian spirit) until it later became a home to elderly domestic servants.
By the 19th century the buildings around the keep had collapsed. The excavations of the Kinizsi Castle began in 1954. Among the old walls castle tournaments are held in the summer as a tourist spectacle.
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.
The village also boasts a heritage of literary history: the poet Gergely Édes was the village's minister, and his famous poet acquaintance Mihály Csokonai Vitéz spent several months here as his guest in 1798.
The village is served on the Veszprém-Tapolca bus line and there are direct bus connections from lakeside Zánka. By car turn off Route 71 which runs along the norther shore of the Balaton at Balatonalkali or at Zánka.
Accessibility: Full access
Condition: Partly ruined
Admission Charge?: yes
Website: [Web Link]
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