Castle and Manorhouse - History
In the 13th century the Gown (head of the province) of Zvolen built the castle of stone on a 5 meters high limestone rock, surrounded by a water ditch, which is well preserved and has the appearance of a lake. The first reference to the castle is from 1341 as ,,Wywar” in later documents it is referred to as ,,Novum Castrum”, Novy Hrad or Hradek. The castle was built by the Royal Estate to control the very important road called ,,Via Magna” In 1433 the castle was captured by the Hussit, but was later occupied by Jiskrovci, after which the castle changed owners many times. In the second half of the 16th century the brothers Valentine and Frantisek Balas rebuilt the castle. From documents that have been well preserved, it’s known that in 1579 they invested more then 3000 golden coins on renovations
V roku 1600 dostal hrad a panstvo Mikuláš Šándorfy s mladou hradnou pani Magdalénou Zai, vdovou po predchádzajúcom majiteľovi. Na podnet Mikuláša Šándorfyho bol v roku 1601-1603 postavený okolo hradu renesančný kaštieľ a ďaľšie časti zabezpečujúce chod panstva. Na stavbu kaštieľa bol použitý materiál zo zbúraných hradieb. Na poschodí kaštieľa boli zriadené reprezentačné miestnosti pre majiteľov a ich hostí a na prízemí boli zriadené sklady a ubytovacie priestory pre služobníctvo.
The castle was heavily damaged during the Rebellions of the Estates at the turnoff the 17th to18th century. The Imperial General built strong defenses against the rebel Frantisek Rakozci. Later, at the beginning of 18th century the Imperial Leopold I. gifted the castle and the manor house to Prince Lichtenstein. In 1709 during the important battle of Svihrova between the rebel and imperials armies, the rebel forces destroyed the old castle. In 1731 King Larder bought the castle and the manor house from Emanuel Lichtenstein. Extensions to the manor house were stopped in 1803 by a big fire at the castle.
After this calamity the officers of the king decided to restore only the manor house. The castle was from that year in ruins. The fire wasn't the only calamity to occur at the castle. In 1813 during an extremely rainy summer there was a catastrophic flood.
V rokoch 1860 až 1874 bol v priestoroch kaštieľa umiestnený Okresný súd. V roku 1932 boli rizikové časti starého hradu konzervované. Neskôr tu sídlilo Národopisné múzeum Liptova. Od roku 1990 až 2002 boli priestory Hradu a Kaštieľa neobývané.
