The walls
Grey stone.
Vasyl Haborets — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vasyl Haborets — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vasyl Haborets — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Viacheslav Galievskyi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vasyl Haborets — CC BY-SA 4.0
Uzhhorod Castle is a large hilltop citadel in the city of Uzhhorod, in far western Ukraine, near the Slovak border. It was built in a mix of styles and materials between the 13th and 18th centuries, it is closely tied to the history of Hungary, and the city's name itself means the castle on the Uzh. Its earliest stone buildings date from the 13th century. King Charles I of Hungary gave the grounds to the Italian Drugeth family, who built a rectangular fort with diamond-shaped bastions like the castles of southern Italy. It was besieged several times, last in 1703 and 1704, but never taken. Today it houses the regional museum. You see high grey stone walls with narrow loopholes, bastions jutting from the corners and a two-storey yellow palace under a red roof. A bridge over a moat leads in, and the grounds hold the ruins of an old church, a deep well lined with ferns and a statue of a mythical bird. It is in central Uzhhorod, about 1.5 km from the city centre in a straight line. The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to the Zakarpattia region, and opening can change at short notice, so read the current advice before you plan.
Grey stone.
Yellow.
Lined with ferns.
Castle hill, central Uzhhorod, Ukraine
The castle on the Uzh River.
Yes, the UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to the Zakarpattia region.