Brief Historical and Construction Development of the Castle

Zvolen Castle, which was built by Hungarian King Luis I of Anjou, as his Gothic seat, was inspired by the architecture of Italian urban palaces. Originally it served as occasional seat of the king. In the 16th century, it was transformed into a Renaissance fortress due to the Turkish threat. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Esterházy family, the last owners of the castle, implemented Baroque reconstruction, this however, did not significantly modify the castle’s appearance. After extensive preservation modifications in the 1950s and 1960s, the premises of the castle were placed under the administration of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG).