The Krásna Hôrka Castle is situated east of Rožnava. It stands on top of the conspicuous denuded mountain, which dominates in the Rožnavská kotlina basin. The main attraction though is the embalmed body of Sophia Andrássy-Serédy lying in the chapel. Writer Mór Jókai used the motif of the mummy in his novel The White Lady of Levoca.
The original Gothic castle was built around 1320. The courtyard of the upper part of a rather small castle with triangle-shaped ground plan still survives. Fortifications were added to castle in time of the Turkish threat. It was when the interior of the castle was also made more habitable and when it acquired the form as we know it now. Fortifications including three canon bastions and a cannon terrace are in the Renaissance style.
Three generations of the Andrássy family tried to obtain the Castle and finally succeeded in 1642. In 1735, the area in front of the castle gates was adapted and the small Baroque chapel of St John Nepomuk was built there.
In the second half of the 18th century, one of the bastions was rebuilt into the Baroque-Classicist chapel of Nativity of the Virgin Mary. There is the painting of black Madonna also referred to as the Virgin Mary of Krásna Hôrka, the reason of processions, on the main altar of the chapel.
The castle houses the exhibition of the Museum of Betliar, which illustrates the history and development of the castle, as well as the way of life of nobles in the past. As the castle with its original furniture is one of the best preserved in Slovakia, it is worth visiting. The castle kitchen and the collection of arms are of special interest.
By the end of the 20th century, an imitation of the medieval park was made next to the castle, where the “Castle Games” are staged every year.
East of the village Krásnohorské Podhradie stands the Mausoleum of the Andrássy family. In the interior two sarcophaguses with relieved portray of Františka Hablawcová and Dionýz Andrássy dominate. It is now one of the most valuable Art Nouveau buildings in Slovakia. The art gallery of the Andrássys, another building in the Art Nouveau style decorated by the pseudo-Renaissance relieves, is also one of the monuments of this family.
Access: driving as far as the castle, on foot from the village Krásnohorské Podhradie following the yellow hiking mark (it takes about 30 min.)