In the south-west of Slovakia, at the very border with Austria and Hungary, lies the wooded mountain range of the Small Carpathians. Here, on one of the mountain peaks, there are the picturesque ruins of the Ostry Kamen castle. Once it, together with the neighboring castles of Smolenice and Korlatka, ensured the safety of trade routes through the Carpathians to Moravia.
Ruins of the Sharp Stone castle.
Legends about seven oak chests filled with golden ducats and hidden in the dungeons of the castle have survived to this day. Over the centuries, many have tried to find these treasures, but, according to the same legend, a spell was imposed on the treasure, and everyone who began the search fell ill and quickly died. In addition, the part of the dungeon, where the chests with gold are located, collapsed in ancient times, the debris covered the treasure, and it became even more inaccessible.
Ruins of the Sharp Stone castle.
Castle Korlatka, according to ancient chronicles, since 1041 belonged to the noble family of Abovtsev. Then for some time the castle was owned by the order of the German knights, to which the Hungarian king Matthias Corvin sold it in 1485 for 6,000 gold thalers.
Nowadays, only picturesque ruins remain of the castle, under which, as the rumor has it, there is an underground corridor ending in a deep well filled with countless treasures. But only those who will find a fern flower on the night of the holiday of Ivan Kupala can get them.
Ruins of the Korlatka castle.
Not far from the town of Ruzomberok, on the top of a steep mountain in the Malyi Choch massif, the majestic Likava castle once stood proudly. According to legend, it was built at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries by the Templars, members of the spiritual knightly order of the Temple of Solomon.
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The first written mention of Lycava dates back to 1312. Now, only ruins remain of this castle. There is a legend among local residents that on dark, moonless nights a ghost appears here in a long black cloak with a hood pulled down over his forehead. In his hands he holds a pick and a shovel.
Likava castle ruins.
Many associate this phenomenon with the legend that during another civil strife, the owner of the castle, together with his faithful servant, buried all the family jewels under one of the towers. After that, he killed the servant and, as a spell protecting the treasure from any encroachments, sprinkled the cache with his blood.
Unlike the previous ones, the castle standing on the banks of the Vah River and towering over the city of Trencin is well preserved. At the end of the XIII century, it belonged to one of the most powerful Hungarian nobles of those times, Mate Czak, who in 1296 became a palatine (governor of the prince) and gradually accumulated a huge fortune.
Trenčín castle.
Since those distant times, a legend has survived that in one of the dungeons of the Trenčín castle lies the body of Mate Čak along with his innumerable treasures. It is known that this treasury tomb was hewn out of the monolithic rock for four years, and the boulders extracted from the bowels of the mountain were used to build a new castle tower.
Loyal knights-vassals buried their liege, and among them were the castellan (commandant) of the castle, captain Ladislav Omodeevsky. Years later, before his death, he said that it was almost impossible to penetrate the dungeon where the owner of the castle was buried along with the treasures.
A carefully disguised entrance leads into an inclined tunnel that goes deep into the rock. At the end of the tunnel, on a blank wall, there is a fresco depicting the scene of the return of the Holy Family with the baby Jesus from Egypt.
If you click on the eyes of Jesus, the entrance to the underground hall opens, where there are large copper cauldrons and iron barrels filled with gold coins minted during the reign of Kings Andrew III and Otokar Przemysl. It was with these coins that Mate Czak paid the salaries of the soldiers who served in his cities and castles.
Trenčín castle.
There are many legends about the Empty Grad castle. According to one of them, huge treasures were hidden in this castle, which is still guarded by a mysterious monk. In order to make people fear, he can take on various guises.
It is reliably known that on August 10, 1899, the founder of the Slovak Society of Museums, Andrei Kmet, was brought to a man who, many years earlier, during the plowing of a field near Pusty Grad, dug out of the ground an earthen bowl that looked like a liturgical church vessel. At the time of the meeting with Kmet, he was already a helpless, seriously ill old man, with difficulty answering questions.
Ruins of the castle Empty Grad.
From his fragmentary phrases, it followed that he knew a man who once found a passage leading to the cellars in the ruins of the castle, managed to enter a room enclosed by a grate, and saw many valuable objects there. But when this man took out of the chest a silver bowl of excellent work, a mysterious "red monk" suddenly appeared in front of him, frightening him to death.
Another museum worker, Peter Peter, in May 1926, heard a story about how a hundred years earlier a certain peasant woman from the village of Repiste went to the mountain for spring mushrooms, on the top of which were the ruins of the Pusty Grad. There, about 50 meters from the remains of the defensive wall, she saw an entrance leading to the dungeons of the castle.
It was just on Good Friday, on the eve of Easter, when, according to legends, all the evil forces guarding the treasures lose their power over them. The peasant woman entered the basement with the treasures and collected as many of them as she could carry.
Ruins of the castle Empty Grad.
When she went outside, she saw a little dog next to her from nowhere, which, not lagging behind, ran after her. The peasant woman safely reached her house with wealth unexpectedly falling into her hands. But, barely crossing the threshold, she collapsed dead on the floor.
Evil power vigilantly guards the sworn treasures. But surely there will be persistent, energetic and inventive people against whom the ancient spells will be powerless. It is they who will get to all these treasures, if, of course, these treasures really exist.
Used materials from the book by N. N. Nepomnyashchiy "100 great treasures"