Prešov Region, Slovakia
A town pledged to Poland as loan security for 360 years, home to Ľubovnianský hrad, a hilltop castle with an adjoining open-air folk museum.
Stará Ľubovňa was first mentioned as 'Libenow' in 1292 and granted town privileges by Louis the Great in 1342, but its most distinctive chapter ran from 1412 to 1772: for 360 years, the town and its castle were pledged to Poland as security against a loan to the Hungarian crown, serving as the seat of a Polish starostwo (administrative district) before reverting to Hungary during the First Partition of Poland.
Ľubovnianský hrad, construction of which dates to the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, hosted a 1412 diplomatic meeting between King Sigismund of Hungary and King Władysław Jagiełło of Poland, and reportedly sheltered the Polish crown jewels for safekeeping between 1655 and 1661. An adjoining open-air folk museum, opened in 1985, recreates the region's Ruthenian, Goral, German, Jewish and Roma heritage through reconstructed buildings, including a wooden 1833 Greek Catholic church relocated from the village of Matysová.
Attractions, activities and experiences kept separate from stays and dining.
Attractions and landmarks
A hilltop castle pledged to Poland for 360 years, paired with an open-air museum of the region's communities.
2 to 3 hours
May to mid-September gives the longest daily opening hours for both the castle and open-air museum; hours shorten considerably in shoulder and winter months.
The castle and skanzen sit together on a hill just outside the town centre, an easy walk or short drive from central Stará Ľubovňa.
