History
The castle was built after the Mongol invasion at the beginning of the second half of the 13th century, as a guard stronghold on an important route called Via Magna, leading from Krupina to Zvolen. It was recorded in historical sources for the first time in the years 1305-1306, when it was taken from the royal adviser and administrator Donč by Matthew III Csák, an ambitious Hungarian magnate. After his death in 1321, the castle returned to the ruler and was the center of the Dobrá Niva royal estate until the 16th century. In the turbulent times of the beginning of the 15th century, the castle was damaged, which is why in 1455 King Ladislaus V the Posthumous ordered its repair and rebuilding.
In the 16th century Dobrá Niva was already in the hands of private noble families, among which the Esterházy family had it the longest, from 1619 to 1804. In their times there was first a Renaissance and then Baroque rebuilding of the castle. The last known repairs were carried out at the castle in 1731, later the owners moved out of it, leaving only the military garrison. From the end of the 18th century, the neglected building fell into total ruin.
Architecture
The castle was erected at the top of a small hill. Its appearance from the first phase of construction is practically unknown. After the late Gothic reconstruction of the second half of the 15th century, it consisted of a two-story palace of a polygonal shape, the perimeter of the defensive wall and external fortifications in the form of a ditch and earth rampart. The surrounding outer bailey had an oval shape 65×90 meters with a gate located on the south-east side.
Current state
Until today, only one wall of the former castle palace has survived, to the height of two floors and with large, early modern windows. Admission to the castle area is free.
bibliography:
Bóna M., Plaček M., Encyklopedie slovenských hradů, Praha 2007.
Stredoveké hrady na Slovensku. Život, kultúra, spoločnosť, red. D.Dvořáková, Bratislava 2017.
Wasielewski A., Zamki i zamczyska Słowacji, Białystok 2008.