watchtower
Originally an anti-Turkish watchtower, it lies above the town of Krupina on a hill called Stražavár, in the valley of the river Krupinica, on the border of Krupinská planina and Štiavnické hills.
Krupina, Banská Bystrica region
GPS: 48.349,
19.079
380 m a.s.l.
Route 1: The easiest access to Vartovka is by car. From the town of Krupina, from the main road of M.R. Štefánik, we can get through Jesenského Street, Priemyselná Street and Dionýz Štúr Street to the road called Tanistravár. This road is relatively narrow, so care must be taken with regard to possible oncoming vehicles. After about 1.5 km, we will get directly to Vartovka on this road, where there is a parking space.
Route 2: If we decide to go on foot, the starting point can be the church on Svätotrojičné Square, where is also a smaller parking lot, or we can use a parking lot at the supermarket on Čsl armády Street. We will connect to the blue route, which leads from the main road through Malinovského Street, Sencovka Street and continues as in route No. 1 through Dionýz Štúr Street and Tanistravár Street to Vartovka. This route is not very challenging, but you have to reckon with a certain ascent.
Nearby castles (as the crow flies):
Bzovík - 3.9 km, Žibritov - 8.7 km, Čabraď - 11.9 km, Svätý Anton - 12.9 km, Litava - 13.8 km, Sitno - 15.3 km, Dobrá Niva - 17.2 km, Nový zámok - 18 km, Štiavnické Bane Bašta - 18.2 km, Starý zámok - 18.5 km
2022
Historical and other names: Tarisznyavár, Tanistravár, Strazsavár, Stražavár
After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the invasion of Turkish troops in Hungary began and it was necessary to protect especially the rich mining towns. Therefore, in May 1564, a military order was adopted in Banská Štiavnica, according to which the anti-Turkish defense of the mining towns and their surroundings had to be managed and organized. Here a new guard system was first mentioned, which would signal the movement of enemies or their unexpected incursions. So they started to build watchtowers in several places, e.g. in the Levice or Vígľaš estates, near Krupina town, on the top of Sitno hill, in Banská Štiavnica town and in many other towns and estates. It was even decided that every endangered town or castle would have a watchtower. Therefore, there was a massive expansion of the coverage of the area by a system of watchtowers.
Watchtower, called nowadays as Vartovka in Krupina, was built on Stražavár hill in the mentioned year 1564 as a part of the defense system. In addition to drawing attention to the impending Turkish invasions, it was later informing about the movement of insurgent or imperial troops. Paradoxically, the tower was occupied by the Turks shortly after its completion, but after a short time it was retaken.
At the time of its guard function, the crew was provided by a crew of 20 infantry and two announcers. To maintain the guard crew, each burgher from Krupin was obliged to pay 2 gold coins and a member of the poorest guild to pay 1 gold per year. It served as a watchtower until the beginning of the 18th century. Since then, it has gradually begun to decay. Reconstruction and renewal took place in the second half of the 20th century, and from this time it started to serve as a lookout tower. In 2005, tourist signs from the Krupina city center were completed.
The tower underwent extensive reconstruction in 2016, when the roof and all wooden parts were replaced, including the stair treads, the handrails on the railing and the cladding of the pedestrian part. Metal structures were also treated with a protective coating, the lightning conductor and the soffit of the tower itself underwent the necessary repairs.
No legends are available.
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