Attraction Rákóczi Castle of Sárospatak

Rákóczi-vár (Sárospatak) has a history full of intrigue, poisoning, princely crowns, and secret councils.

From the 16th century onwards, the castle developed into the most important aristocratic centre and fortress of the region, later becoming the cultural hub of Northeastern Hungary. After the Battle of Mohács, it came into the possession of the extinct palatine branch of the Perényi family, with Perényi Péter as its last owner. According to contemporary rumours, the nobleman was notoriously jealous and is said to have poisoned his wife as his death approached so she could never belong to anyone else.

The castle was later inherited by the family of István Dobó, the famous defender of Eger. His daughter Krisztina secretly married the poet Bálint Balassi, and together they even occupied the castle, but were driven out by the alarmed local population the very same evening. After the Perényis, Ferenc Dobó, Krisztina’s brother, rebuilt the castle. Its greatest period of expansion and its golden age clearly belong to the Rákóczi family.

Through the dowry of Zsuzsanna Lórántffy, the castle became the property of the princely Rákóczi family, who owned it for nearly a century from 1616 onward. The image of Ferenc II Rákóczi and the castle itself also appear on the Hungarian 500-forint banknote.

György I Rákóczi began major construction works shortly after his marriage, making Sárospatak the seat of the Rákóczi family. It was here that Prince Gábor Bethlen was received in the so-called “Bokályos House,” decorated with Turkish tiles. During this period, the Lorántffy Loggia was built and the castle walls were strengthened. In 1666, Ferenc I Rákóczi married Ilona Zrínyi in the castle. During the wedding, noblemen involved in the Wesselényi conspiracy secretly met in the Sub Rosa room to plan an uprising against Habsburg rule. The name “sub rosa” (“under the rose”) later became synonymous with secrecy.

Ferenc II Rákóczi, the castle’s next owner, led the anti-Habsburg War of Independence from 1703 for eight years. In 1708, an important national assembly was also held within the castle walls.

One of the castle’s most striking structures is the Vöröstorony (Red Tower), a near-perfect cube-shaped building that brings to life the daily and extraordinary aspects of 17th–18th century aristocratic life. Visitors can see grain storage areas, a 22-metre-deep rock-hewn well, and defensive walkways. The treasury room was later converted into a chapel dedicated to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.

In 1642, the Red Tower was connected to the palace wing by the Lorántffy Loggia, considered one of the most beautiful Renaissance staircases in Hungary, named after Zsuzsanna Lórántffy, the castle’s great lady and Princess of Transylvania.

Today, the castle houses the Rákóczi Museum of the Hungarian National Museum, presenting the lifestyle of the 16th–17th century nobility and the history of the Rákóczi family, along with a reconstructed cannon-casting workshop in the courtyard—an exceptional technical historical attraction in Europe.