Szerencs Castle

The town of Szerencs is located in North Hungary, in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, 34 km east of Miskolc. The town’s main attraction is the castle.

The castle is situated on an artificial island, on which an earth fortification existed even before the Hungarian Conquest. A Benedictine Abbey was founded on the site in 1271, to be replaced on the orders Queen Izabella by a castle, in 1556. During the 16^th-17^th centuries, the castle was expanded in the Gothic and Renaissance styles. After suffering considerable damage during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, it was rebuilt in a baroque style during the 18^th-19^th centuries.

Szerencs Castle

Irregular in plan, the castle complex consists of an inner-castle, reconstructed from the stones of the abbey; an outer-castle to its south; and the single-storey, now baroque Huszárvár, in front of the southern part of the outer-castle. The main building of the complex – the inner-castle – forms a rectangular block, with a gate flanked by square towers on the south side, leading to the outer-castle.

Today, the castle serves as the city’s library and museum – containing the world’s third largest collection of picture postcards. The town’s Calvinist church was built in the 15th century in the Gothic style.