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Kežmarok Castle

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Situated in the historical centre of the ancient Spiš city of Kežmarok stands a beautifully preserved castle, one of the most precious structures of cultural and historical importance. This castle became the starting point of the first popular hiking trip to High Tatras. The initiator of this trip was princess Koscielecká, a wealthy widow of one Russian magnate, who married the local castle lord. Her new husband, however, did not approve of her hiking trip at all, seeing the trip was attended by a number of people from Kežmarok. When the princess returned, he accused her of amoral rambling in the wilderness with strange men and had her thrown into the castle prison, from where she could see the Tatras or Snowy Mountains as they used to be called back in their day. While the poor hiker sat in the prison and mulled over her wrongdoing for six long years, her husband merrily squandered all of her fortune to the last gold coin. These days Kežmarok Castle is open to the public. It houses the local museum, where visitors can admire the attractive interiors of the castle – for example the watchtower or the torture chamber – as well as interesting exhibitions focused on Kežmarok’s history, Medieval crafts and guilds, Jewish culture or religious art.

Kežmarok Castle houses the Kežmarok Museum.

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