Establishment date
14. storočie

Adress
Smolenice,
Smolenice

Description


In the 15th century the importance of Smolenice increased considerably, because a castle was built there which became the centre and seat of the Smolenice estate.
Early in the 16th century, Smolenice had been gained by the Országh family. In 1777, Ján Pálffy takes the Smolenice estate as pawn.
The Pálffy family did not live at the castle, which had decayed considerably during the life of Krištof III, the last of the Erdödy family - they lacked money for maintenance.
The decay was complete during the Napoleon Wars - the main castle building and the tower had burnt down.Construction of the Smolenice Castle of today had been started early in the 20th century by Jozef Pálffy Jr., the landlord of Smolenice and Dobrá Voda estates.
First work on the fortification walls started in 1887 already on the bastions. Bastions from the old castle were preserved, with height extension and new roofing. The Count Pálffy had built the castle at his own expense according to design by the architect Jozef Hubert.
During World War 1, the construction was interrupted; provisional adaptation of some rooms was made and archives of the Pálffy family was located there. The construction was not resumed before the end of World War 2.
In 1945 the Castle became the property of the State; it was taken over by the Slovak National Council who decided to have their summer - house there.
The castle was finished and furbished and handed over to the Slovak Academy of Sciences on 26 June 1953 to become a representative place for meetings of scientists from worldwide.]