Kezmarok - Kezmarok Castle - Stara Lubovna Castle - Stara Lubovna Skanzen

Route: Kosice - Kezmarok - Kezmarok Castle - Stara Lubovna Castle - Stara Lubovna Skanzen - Kosice
Duration: 9 h
Our first stop we will make in the town Kezmarok which has been always the centre of education in the region and the starting point for trips in the High Tatras. The medieval Kežmarok originated by merging of the main communities in one municipality. In 1269 it obtained proper municipal self-administration and up to 1348 it was protected by municipal walls. The walk around the town will start at the building of the town hall, which dominates the The Main Square. The Basilica of the Holy Cross was built in the 14th century on the site of an older Romanesque chapel. The basilica neighbours with the Renaissance belfry of 1568, which is the oldest and certainly one of the most beautiful in the Spiš region. The pride of Kežmarok is the Protestant wooden articled church. This Protestant church was built in 1717 next to an older sacral stone building from 1593, which today is a sacristy. This unique wooden building made of yew and red spruce wood was built without using a single metal component. The Baroque interior of the church is also made of wood. Of immense artistic value is also the church organ with wooden pipes. Next we wil visit to Kezmar Castle gained its contemporary Renaissance form after extensive rebuilding, proceeding in various stages in the years 1572-1624 , and one of the most precious structures of cultural and historical importance. This castle became the starting point of the first popular hiking trip to High Tatras.  It houses the local museum, where you can admire the attractive interiors of the castle – for example the watchtower or the torture chamber – as well as interesting exhibitions focused on Kežmarok’s history, Medieval crafts and guilds, Jewish culture or religious art. Next we will reach the Stara Lubovna Castle which stands at the limestone cliff of 711 m over Stara Lubovna . Rulers met here in the past, it is the place where Polish coronation jewels were hidden and where famous adventurer, noble man and King of Madagascar, Móric Beňovský was imprisoned. The Ľubovňa Castle was built at the turn of the 13th and 14th century, when it became a part of the boundary castles system in the north of the Hungarian Kingdom. Besides the protection of the former Polish-Old Hungarian border, its task was to secure the important trade route passing along the valley of the Poprad river to Poland. In 1412, the historical meeting of the Old Hungarian ruler Sigismund of Luxembourg with the Polish king Vladislav II took place in the Ľubovňa Castle. The Castle was pledged to Polish kings and became the seat of Polish mayors, i.e. entrusted administrators of pledged Spiš towns. Next we will visit to Stara Lubovna open air museum   which is ethnographic exhibition in nature, documenting the evolution of folk architecture and old crafts. A set of folk buildings transferred from the surrounding villages creates a picturesque village. The most valuable of the buildings is a log church from 1833. This wooden Catholic church is dedicated to St. Archangel Michael and houses beautiful original icons. You can see the old blacksmith shop, school, gamekeeper's lodge, mill and farmhouses with original furniture. Youngest visitors will be enthusiastic about the wooden carousel. After we will return to Kosice.
Price: per person