The town and the riverbank of Danube - Visegrád, Hungary

Location:

GPS coordinates: Latitude 47°47'8", Longitude 18°58'12" (N47 47.13 - E18 58.2) Map

Upper Castle of Visegrád on the top of Castle Hill (Várhegy)

The name of Visegrád town is of Slavic origin, it means "higher castle". The 14th-century Latin name of the town "Altum Castrum" literally means the same, too.

There was a fortified settlement on the Castle Hill ("Várhegy" or "Vár Hill") already in the Early Iron Age. Then in the mid-13th century Queen Maria Laskarina, the wife of King Béla IV of Hungary (and also the daughter of the Byzantine emperor) had a fortress built on the same place. That was a three-towered triangular structure, it is actually the inner castle of the current Upper Castle of Visegrád. The financial background of the construction works were provided by the jewels of the queen which she brought here from Byzantium.

Upper Castle of Visegrád

At the beginning of the 14th century the founder of House of Anjou King Charles Robert (Charles I of Hungary) had the castle extended with an outer wall. Soon the castle became the favorite residence of the monarch and in a few years a royal seat as well. Later the construction works were continued by his son King Louis I of Hungary.

It is assumed that the crown jewels of Hungary were kept in the Upper Castle already in the age of the Angevins (Anjou monarchs).

Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church

The building was built between 1773-1782, designed by Leonard Schade architect from Esztergom. In the 1930s the altarpiece of the St. Sigismund's Chapel of the Buda Castle was brought and placed within the walls of this church in Visegrád. The picture was created by Vincenz Fische.

Saint Sebastian Chapel (Millenium Chapel)

St. Sebastian was Christian martyr and also an officer in the Roman Imperial Guard. He was the victim of the Diocletianic Persecution (persecution of Christians in the Roman empire, particularly in the age of the Roman Emperor Diocletian) and martyrized in 287 AD. He is a famous patron saint, during plague and other epidemics the people frequently begged him, and also many guilds and craftsmen chose him as their parton saint. The martyrdom of Saint Sebastian is a common theme in Christian art.

King Matthias (Mátyás király) Cultural Center and Public Library

This early-20th-century building was initially owned probably by the Bisitz family. Later the locals called it "Kokas Villa", perhaps because there is a weathercock on the top of its tower (the old Hungarian word "kokas" means rooster or cock). After the Second World War it was holiday home of the Trade Union for a while, but soon it began to function as a community center. Since 1970 the mansion houses both the community center and the town library as well.