Ruins of Zborov Castle are situated near the village of Zborov

Zborov, Bardejov

Zborov is a village and municipality in Bardejov District in the Prešov Region of north-east Slovakia.-General:Located in northeastern Slovakia 10 km from the Polish border. There are marked walking trails to Zborov Castle and the surrounding hills...

 in East Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

. The oldest written mention of the castle comes from the 13th century but older fortification had existed before.
Previously fortifications were built on a nearby hill called Hradske from the slavic Hrad

Hrad

The word hrad is the Czech and Slovak word for castle and is commonly used as a part of castle name, e.g. Pražský hrad , Spišský hrad , or Bratislavský hrad .*List of castles in Slovakia...

 for castle
To reach the castle turn right off the main Bardejov to Zborov

Zborov, Bardejov

Zborov is a village and municipality in Bardejov District in the Prešov Region of north-east Slovakia.-General:Located in northeastern Slovakia 10 km from the Polish border. There are marked walking trails to Zborov Castle and the surrounding hills...

road just after the sign for the village. From the bridge its a nice ten to fifteen minute walk up the hill to the castle.
In the Village there is a tourist information office, Obrancov Mieru 10, with further information on the castle.

Legends

Local legends say that the castle was originally to be built on the nearby higher hill of Hradske but all the stones placed there to build the castle mysteriously moved during the night onto the nearby lower hill on which it now stands. Rumours held that Hradske was the site of a gate into hell and that devils were moving the stones during the night to stop the gate being blocked. Eventually the efforts to build the castle on Hradske were abandoned and construction moved to the current site.
Later the devil who was responsible for moving the stones was caught and bricked up in the walls of the highest tower in the castle where his horns can still be seen today.
It is widely believed however, that the workers didn't want to carry the stones up to the original site as it was too high and so they secretly moved their work from the day to the smaller hill during the night. They then spread the tales about hauntings so that construction would be moved to the easier to climb hill.

Preservation

A local group has been formed to prevent further deterioration of the ruins. Work so far has included cutting all trees within 20 metres of the outer curtain wall to stop the roots undermining the foundations.

Entrance

photographs

Pictures of work during winter 2009 / 2010

External links

zborov information Slovak only

Zborov at castles.sk