Garamszeg (Hronsek) is a village in Slovakia, in the Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica) district. The settlement was founded in the Kingdom of Hungary at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries in the territory of the Comes of Zólyom.
A document of the Vác Chapter dated 04.03.1357, transcribed in 1412, mentioned the partial estates of Gál of Ozlar’s son András in “Garanzegh” in Zólyom and Ozlar in Nógrád. In 1358, the Esztergom Chapter documented that according to a charter of the secret chancellor László, the son of Sós Péter, Jakab, and the sons of Panyiki Tompus: Fülöp, János and Miklós, divided the estates of Panyik and Garamszeg (Garanzegh) in Zólyom County and Oszlár in Nógrád County between them. The settlement was mentioned in 1500 as “Zyklafalu”, and in 1506 as “Czwiklafalwa”. In 1565 it was called again “Garanzegh”.
The village was inhabited by small and middle noble families, including the Poltári Soós family. Poltári Soós János, the Vice Comes of the counties of Nógrád, Hont, and Zólyom, built the Renaissance castle with four corner towers and a rampart in 1576.
However, this was not without precedent, as a two-story Gothic castellum built in the third third of the 14th century was converted into the main building of the castle. The walls of the castle were surrounded by a moat, which could be crossed by a drawbridge. The castle had residential, economic, and defensive functions. The coat of arms of the Poltári Soós family can still be seen above the castle gate. The builder died in 1596 as a result of a wound he received in the lost battle of Mezőkeresztes.
Géczy András gained Garamszeg through his wife, Poltári Soós Fruzsina, and the family took on the Garamszegi prefix. Their son Gábor became the sole lord of the two families’ estates in 1649 when the Poltári Soós family died out.
Géczy Zsigmond took part in the Thököly Uprising, as a result of which he was deprived of his estates. His daughter, the famously beautiful Garamszegi Géczy Júlia, was the White Woman of Lőcse, she became famous in a novel written by Jókai Mór. The Géczys built a Baroque castle in the village not far from the castle, and the castle continued to function only as a storehouse and prison.
Church services were held here from 1690 until the construction of the Lutheran wooden church, a Unesco World Heritage Site (1726). During the Rákóczi War of Independence, money was minted within its walls (1704). In the 18th and 19th centuries, modifications were made to the church, but these did not significantly affect its general appearance.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the art historian and museologist Divald Kornél described it as follows: “[It was] half in ruins, owned by Teleki Róth, its buildings enclosing a rectangular courtyard with four corner towers, with loopholes in the walls. On the floor of the 16th-century gate and castle palace, a 17th-century half-timbered hall with ruined frescoes on the side walls. To the south and east, the buildings were demolished, to the west only part of them survived. “.
In 2002, the ruined castle was handed over to the company Water Castle, s.r.o. Banská Bystrica, which started its restoration and reconstruction. Under the plaster in the main part of the building, the restorers discovered frescoes decorating the walls of the former representative rooms.
Source: https://varlexikon.hu/garamszeg-varkastely
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Here are more pictures of Garamszeg:
