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Early Christian Chapel

This one-room structure, north-south oriented, was found by an archaeological research carried out in 1975. The chapel had been entered through a long entrance passage – dromos with masonry comprised of worked sandstone blocks. Ten pockets for stakes of the bearing structure were found in the masonry. The eastern wall adjoins a considerably damaged annexe in the shape of apse. In one of these pockets, an iron cross with some opening for fixing was found. The whole structure had been rebuilt several times, indicating that it had been used for a long time. Its ground plan resembles the shape of an antique tomb (cella memoriae). This fact together with the finding of the cross allows us to assume that it is an early-Christian sacral structure – a chapel from the 4th century.

Settlement from the 11th – 13th centuries

Foundations of two houses that were part of a settlement in the 11th – 13th centuries can be seen. The settlement was comprised of one- and two-room houses, square or rectangular in shape, and of various sizes. They had stone wall footing, and in some cases the height of the preserved masonry indicates existence of all-stone buildings. In one case, a channel for placing a log construction was found in the crown of the stone wall footing. Ceramics and coins of Hungarian rulers Solomon (1065 – 1074) and Ladislaus (1075 – 1095) were unearthed there too.

A Slavic Woman

Statue of “A Slavic Woman” by sculptor Ľudmila Cvengrošová.

East Gate

Its construction was commissioned by counts from Svätý Jur and Pezinok at the beginning of the 16th century, as part of fortification works, when also the south-east castle wall was built. The layout of the gate is similar to that of the western and eastern gates. Because a relatively steep, difficult accessible slope declining towards the Danube has to be overcome to reach the gate, no moat or barbican was located before it. The entrance itself was arched by a single arch only from quarry stone. On the inner side, there is a scarcement intended for a gate door. In the lower part are preserved chiselled stones, with a hollow for the joint of the gate door. The towers placed along a semi-circle, protecting the gate, are located unsymmetrically on the sides of the gate, unlike the towers of the West and North Gates. The tops of the towers as well as the walls in between featured crenellation behind which was a walkway. The East Gate has been preserved almost in its entirety.

Ammunition Depot

The one-room building adjacent to the southern castle wall was built by the Pálffy family in the 17th century. It is sunken below the ground level. It was accessible over the ramp on the northern side. Its location close to the castle wall, which in this area was surrounded by earthfill bastions for the artillery, indicates that it was a military structure, probably an ammunition depot. The origin of the building is connected to the anti-Turkish fortification works. Archaeologists managed to uncover a deep trench of trapezoidal shape, running from the ammunition depot along the current path to the Middle Castle. The trench was used as a protected access way.

Foundations of the Great-Moravian Church

On the southeast hill of the ancient fortified settlement, foundations of a sacral building with a longitudinal navel and three-apse closure were preserved. For the construction of the church in the second half of the 9th century, also bricks and stones from the vanished ancient buildings were used. Therefore, in the 1930s, when some archaeological excavations were made here, this building was wrongly considered to be of Roman origin. Originally, the church interior was decorated by wall paintings. South of the church, six graves were preserved, with rich archaeological findings – ear-rings, necklaces, rattles, knives, spurs, flints with steels and others.

Viewpoint

Entry to the Courtyard of the Middle Castle

The courtyard of the Middle Castle is separated from the Lower Castle by a small moat with a drawbridge. Behind can be seen the remnants of a palace built by the Báthory family in the 16th century. The building originally consisted of a basement, a ground floor at the level of the courtyard, and an attic. The Gothic castle wall, comprising the northeast side of the new palace, was later added an additional floor, and decorated by a brick cornice and an attic with semi-arches, parts of which can still be seen today. The Gothic semi-circular tower protecting the entrance into the Middle Castle, was included in the layout of the new palace.

Drinking Water

Castle Well

The digging of the well was commissioned by the Lords from Gara in the 15th century. It is 55 m deep, and its diameter is 2.40 m. In the upper and lower parts, its shell is comprised of segmented stone blocks, while in the middle is hewn rocks. The lowest line of rocks is laid on a ring from wooden logs, forming a hexagon in a plan view. The stone blocks are marked by 772 stonecutter´s signs of 24 different types. During cleaning and repairing the well, a lot of iron and bone objects; ceramic, leather and glass fragments as well as a set of wooden items needed for using the well were found in the backfill material in the well.

Toilets

Exhibition

The exhibition room in the courtyard of the Middle Castle is located in the cellar of the palace built by the Báthory family in the 16th century. It houses exhibitions tracing the history of the Devín Castle.

Upper Castle

The Upper Castle was separated from the Middle Castle´s courtyard by the so-called neck-ditch with a wooden bridge. In the second half of the 13th century, at the latest in the first half of the 14th century, a cylindrical tower encircled by walls was built on the rock cliff. In the 15th century, the new owners of the Castle – the Lords from Gara – rebuilt the Upper Castle in a large-scale manner, changing its layout. In the rock massif, under the walls of the Upper Castle, caverns were discovered. In the past these caverns were used for various purposes. The Upper Castle was destroyed by an explosion in 1809, and also in 1921, when the Millennium Monument was blasted away.

Viewpoint

Viewpoint

Guardhouse

The structure used by the castle guard was built in the second half of the 15th century, near the gate embedded in the northern rampart. It is comprised of two rooms and an eight-meter long vaulted cellar. The only undivided, spacious room on the ground floor of the building provided sufficient space for the guard numbering about 20 men. The structure can be dated also by the grey stamped ceramics discovered on the floor as well as by a coin – a denar of King Matthias I (1468 – 1490) minted in Kremnica.

Nun Tower

Above the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, a tiny watch-tower rises on the top of a slender rock. The polygonal bastion with crenellation, standing almost 5 m high, was built in the 16th century. It has spawned countless legends, and no wonder it was named Maiden Tower or Nun Tower. At the time of building the tower, the Báthory family built also a riverside road under the rocky massif, separating the road by a wall with a gate, and with a wall they surrounded the almost inaccessible parts of the castle rock in its southwest and south parts, where they had several guard-bastions built.

Amphitheatre

In spring 1939, on the southern slope of the castle hill, above the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, an amphitheatre was built. At that time, Devín was part of the German Reich. The amphitheatre was used for the events of “Grenzlandtreffen“, while after the Second World War, the festival of “Slavonic Days “ and other cultural events, concerts and opera performances took place here.

Foundations of a Roman Construction

In the courtyard of the Middle Castle, the best preserved example of the Roman architecture at the Devin Castle was found. It was discovered back in the 1930s. It was identified that the construction had been comprised of four rooms one of which was ended by an apse south-oriented. The structure is dated back to the 3rd century (the period of the Sever Dynasty´s reign). Its following reconstruction probably took place during the reign of Emperor Valentinian I (364 – 375), when the construction activities of the Romans flourished. Deducing from the layout and based on the number of findings it can be said that the structure was part of a civil settlement. In the peaceful period of the 3rd century, structures of this type were common in the forefield of the Limes, whereby they were built for the needs of the German nobility; however, in the course of time they may have changed their original functions.