Spiš Castle
— — a long white ruin above a long green plain.
Not only on a wall.
“One of the largest castle complexes in central Europe, walking the spine of a travertine hill above the village of Žehra in the Spiš region. The earliest stone walls date to the early twelfth century, and the site grew through the medieval period until a fire in 1780 left it the great open ruin it is today. The keep, palace, and lower bailey are walkable. From the upper bailey the Hornád basin reads as a long pale-green plain. Storks nest in the village below. from the studio
Spiš Castle, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Spiš Castle (Spišský hrad) stands above the village of Žehra in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia, about fifteen kilometres east of the town of Levoča. The complex covers roughly four hectares on a travertine ridge, making it one of the largest castle sites by area in central Europe. The earliest stone fortification on the hill dates to the first half of the twelfth century, replacing an older Slavic settlement on the same ridge. Since 1993 the castle, together with the nearby town of Spišské Podhradie, the church at Žehra, and the ecclesiastical settlement of Spišská Kapitula, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The walls are built from local travertine, the pale calcium-carbonate stone the ridge itself is made of, and this is what gives the ruin its bleached-bone colour against the green of the plain. The Romanesque palace and circular keep are the oldest standing parts; a late-Gothic upper castle was added in the fifteenth century under the Zápolya family. A fire in 1780 gutted the interior and the site has been preserved as a stabilised ruin since. The Slovak National Museum runs the conservation program and the visitor route.
The castle is open daily April through October; in winter the upper bailey is closed and access depends on weather. Standard adult admission runs around eight euros, with the route taking ninety minutes at a relaxed pace. The closest rail station is Spišské Podhradie, with a steep path up the ridge from the village. The High Tatras rise on the horizon to the north-west; on clear afternoons the snow line on Kriváň reads as a thin white edge across the green basin.