Nádasdy Castle
The castle is the namesake of the town. The Sárvár Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1288. Its name suggests that it may have originally been a fort surrounded by swamps.
The Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár is one of Hungary's monuments that has survived the storms of centuries in its entirety. During the one-and-a-half centuries of ownership of the influential Nádasdy family, Hungary saw the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque artistic style. While the courtyard features a Renaissance arcade, the ceremonial hall and adjacent rooms are in the Baroque style. In the early 19th century, the Este family from Modena renovated the building in the spirit of Classicism. The castle's last occupants were the royal princes of the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty, who resided here until 1945.
Nádasdy Ferenc Museum
For over half a century, the Nádasdy Ferenc Museum has been welcoming its guests in the castle building, covering an area of 1300 square meters, with its permanent and temporary exhibitions.
The most beautiful room in the castle and the museum is the ceremonial hall built by Nádasdy III. Ferenc. The ceiling frescoes, completed in 1653, depict the battles of Nádasdy II. Ferenc, the famous 'Black Beg,' during the wars against the Turks between 1591 and 1602. In 1769, the owner of the castle, Ádám Szily, had Old Testament scenes painted in Baroque style on the side walls of the ceremonial hall by the painter István Dorffmaister. The frescoes portray stories like David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, and Judith and Holofernes. The museum acquired the two-winged cabinet cabinet with marble inlays and gilded decorations from the Ocskay family.
Permanent Exhibitions
History of Sárvár
The displays bring to life the history of the town from the Árpád era to the economic boom of the early 20th century.
Printing and Publishing at Nádasdy Estate
During the time of the Nádasdy family, Sárvár was one of the flourishing centers of Hungarian culture. The humanistically educated Tamás Nádasdy founded a school and a printing house in the market town in the 1530s. In the Sárvár-Újsziget printing house, Sylvester János' work 'Grammatica Hungarolatina' was published in 1539, followed by the first Hungarian-language book printed in Hungary, the New Testament, in 1541. Tinódi Lantos Sebestyén found refuge in Sárvár Castle and died there in January 1556. The Mantinus mobile press in Sárvár published Megyeri István's work 'On the Causes of Many Misfortunes in the Countries.' An exhibition in the tower room showcases this important and eventful period in Hungarian culture, complete with a 16th-century printing press.
Hussar History Exhibition
The exhibition that presents the history of the highest-ranking cavalry in unparalleled. Apart from the Sárvár Hussar Museum, it is only seen in France. The exhibition provides insight into the role of hussars in Hungarian history through an extensive collection of weapons, period uniforms, paintings, and other illustrative materials.
Carta Hungarica
This valuable collection consists of 58 maps and 1 atlas, and it was a gift from Sárvár's native Gróf László, who studied at Oxford. The collection includes significant works in cartography, such as a Europe map by Ptolemy from 1520 and maps of Hungary from the 16th and 17th centuries. This unique collection is displayed in a room adorned with magnificent ceiling frescoes.
Applied Arts Collection
The museum houses various types of applied arts objects, including 16th-19th-century chests, 17th-century interior furnishings, and 18th-century wall paintings. The rooms adorned with frescoes from the 18th century revive the atmosphere of noble homes in the Baroque era. The collection includes important pieces from the Bavarian ducal family's decorative items and exhibits showcasing 19th-20th-century Hungarian and European glass art.
Contact
9600 Sárvár, Várkerület 1. (Nádasdy-vár)
History of the Castle
During the period of feudal anarchy (1288-1327), the castle was owned by the Kőszegi family. In 1327, Köcski Sándor, the Chief Judge of the country, recaptured it for King Charles Robert. The fortress remained in royal possession until 1390. In 1390, Luxembourg Sigismund gave it to Kanizsai János, Archbishop of Esztergom, and his brothers, and the family owned it, with some interruptions, until 1534.
Throughout the 13th to 15th centuries, various construction projects took place within the castle grounds. In the late 13th century, a three-story tower was built in the southwestern corner of the current palace building, connected to a stone castle wall. Later, they expanded the tower with two three-story sections and ornate chambers. Significant parts of the northern (A) and western (B) wings also date back to this period, connecting to each other with a compact tower. Excavations revealed remnants of medieval buildings in the economic building's courtyard. According to written sources, significant construction also occurred in the early 16th century when they created sitting niches, still visible today, on either side of the gate tower alcove.
Through his marriage to Kanizsai Orsolya in 1534, Nádasdy Tamás inherited the vast Kanizsai wealth, and during his time, the castle was renewed in the Renaissance style. The southwestern building complex was expanded with a three-story wing (D Wing). Carved stone-framed Renaissance windows were added to the building, and remnants of one can still be seen above the library entrance. The extension of the medieval building resulted in the eastern (B Wing) wing, which can still be seen today. The façade of this wing features stone-framed doorways, one of which serves as an entrance to this wing. The ground floor featured an open, vaulted arcade with Renaissance elements, while the upper floor had an open, timber-ceiled gallery supported by wooden columns. In 1560, the gate tower received its beautiful Renaissance-style gate structure. Due to the advance of the Ottoman Empire, during Nádasdy Tamás' rule, defensive works ran parallel to the palace construction, starting in 1551. Sárvár was part of the fourth defensive line, resting on the Rába River. The well-preserved old Italian-style bastioned defense belt around the castle, still visible today, was built by Nádasdy Ferenc and Nádasdy Pál between 1588 and 1615.
The last major phase of the castle's construction, under the meticulous Nádasdy Ferenc, marked the completion of its expansion. Presumably starting in 1644, the works included an extension of the northern (A) wing, possibly linked to the lord's marriage to Eszterházy Anna Júlia. The gate tower was connected to the palace building with a usable vaulted passageway, below which the barrel-vaulted ceremonial hall was established, now one of Hungary's most beautiful Baroque interior spaces. The ceiling frescoes were painted by Hans Rudolf Miller in 1653, depicting battles of the 15-Year War (1591-1606) against the Turks. The lord intended these frescoes, in honor of his grandfather, Nádasdy Ferenc, to represent noble ancestors. The stuccoes of the ceremonial hall are the work of Andrea Bertinalli. The medieval three-story structure (D Wing) in the southwestern corner of the palace, originally built by Nádasdy Tamás, was reduced to two stories. The inner projections were eliminated, creating the enclosed courtyard with a unified façade seen today. Work also began on the construction of the Virgin Mary Chapel at the junction of the eastern and southern wings (B and C Wings). The Nádasdy family's significant art collection, the Sárvár Treasury, was also kept in the castle.
In 1671, Nádasdy Ferenc was executed for his involvement in a conspiracy against the government. In 1677, Emperor Leopold I awarded the completely plundered castle to Draskovich Miklós and his wife, Nádasdy Krisztina. The castle was last used in military operations during the Rákóczi's War of Independence. Sárvár was never included in the list of castles to be demolished. The walls and bastions were never torn down. During the Draskovich family's ownership, the castle deteriorated significantly. Its rescue from decay began in the 18th century. General György Szluha may have been responsible for the mythological frescoes in the tower room during his tenure. On Szily Ádám's order in 1769, István Dorffmaister painted Old Testament-themed Baroque frescoes on the side walls of the ceremonial hall. The wall paintings in the upstairs rooms of the northern (A) wing were likely created around 1770.
In 1803, the Habsburg-Este family purchased the castle and the estate. Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and his son, King Francis IV of Modena, oversaw the restoration of the buildings, the bricking up of the Renaissance arcade, the construction of a brick bridge leading to the castle, and the filling of the moat, using earth from the castle walls. The palace building's courtyard façade was unified. In 1813, a plaque commemorating the restoration was placed in the castle courtyard.
From 1875 onwards, the castle was owned by Louis III, the last King of Bavaria, and his wife, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Modena. During this period, the castle served as the center of a modern estate that extended over 15,500 hectares, consisting of 18 manors, known for its famous horses. Witnessing this era are the castle's economic buildings. The last Bavarian king, Louis III, passed away in the castle in 1921. The Bavarian ducal family remained in possession of the castle until 1945.
After World War II, the Nádasdy Castle had a tumultuous fate for several years. In the 1960s and 1970s, following a renovation, it became the cultural hub of the town. Today, alongside the Nádasdy Castle Cultural Center and Library, it houses the Nádasdy Ferenc Museum. The castle hosts various cultural events in the city. The reconstruction of the old Italian-style bastioned defense belt took place in 2005-2006.
Nádasdy Castle is surrounded by the beautiful green belt of Várpark, situated where the moat used to be. The western part of the park was landscaped by the rulers of Modena in the 1810s. In 1931, Mayor Vilmos Eőry created a local park in the eastern and southern parts of the moat. Várpark is a locally significant protected natural area.