Hrad Ilava
Slovakia
The first thing to understand about Ilava's castle is that you will not get inside it. It stands in the centre of this north-west Slovak town, but since 1856 it has served as a prison, and it still operates as one today. The walls you look at from the street are therefore not a ruin or a museum but a working institution, and the gates stay shut to visitors. What you can enter is the Baroque Church of All Saints immediately next to it, the only part of the complex open to the public. Come expecting an exterior, a church and a long story, and Ilava makes sense.
- Written with AI from the Wikipedia article Festung Ilava (de.wikipedia.org); facts only from there
- Show on OpenStreetMap
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