Owners
The Prónay Barons acquired the estate at the beginning of the 19th century after the Gyurcsányi family died out. The Prónay-family and its certain branches owned several residencies in different villages with some other historical monuments also belonging to them in Nógrád County.
The Gyurcsányi-family originally came from Trencsény County in the north but also had estates in the counties of Nógrád and Bars. In the eighteenth century, Ignác Gyurcsány settled in Alsópetény. The family’s influence grew more and more as József Gyurcsány became Chief Constable of Nógrád between 1806 and 1811. The last male representative of the family was also the most powerful one: Gábor Gyurcsányi rose from Deputy County Representative to First Prefect of Nógrád.
When the Gyurcsányi line died out, the estates were granted to the Prónay-family, one of the long established families of Túrócz County. Their first known representative received Tót-Próna as a gift in 1279. The first Prónay Baron, Pál Prónay was the representative of County Nógrád from 1725 to 1741. The Prónay-family soon became most influential in the county with a number of family members in high public positions, such as town clerks, police presidents, notaries, county representatives or prosecutors, over many decades. Family and social relations were mainly connected to this county with noble families of similar backgrounds representing for them the typical milieu and social network in their everyday life. In the 20th century, the most prominent member of the family was Mihály Prónay. In 1906, he became the lord lieutenant of Nógrád County. He and his wife, Felícia Batthyány were the last inhabitants of the Castle before World War II.
Powerful landowners, especially at the beginning of the 19th century, were families of high society; as such, the Prónay-family itself was probably encouraged to build this Castle as a sign of wealth and power.
After World War II, the Castle was confiscated from the Prónay-family and the destruction of some of the buildings also started. The Castle was occupied by different owners and fulfilled various purposes, such as emergency dwelling, workshop, school building, medical center, industrial works, warehouse, office building, miners’ club and so on. This intense use led to an increasing erosion of the building complex, leading to the decrease of its historical value.
The Castle became private property again in the 1990s, which led to a second restoration. The buildings were changed into dwelling houses again, while the Big Castle gave home to various events. The renovation in the 1990s started to correct some of the mistakes of the 1970s with special regard to required monument protection specifications; at the same time, however, it also altered other features of the complex with low quality buildings and unhistorical additions. The restoration of the historical value, therefore, was not entirely successful.
In 2009, a company dealing with software development and IT solutions bought the Castle. Their plan was to restore the entire historical monument complex and to transform it into a Castle with modern functions. The restoration offered the possibility of some parts becoming open for the public. Reconstruction took place under the watchful eye of the monumental preservation office. Research always had priority over construction work, which fortunately did not set back or affect initial plans.
The Castle sees revival >>>
