Betliar Manor House

The Andrássy family’s hunting manor

Betliar Manor (Kaštieľ Betliar) is the most visited country house in south-eastern Slovakia. It stands in the village of Betliar, 7 km north of the town of Rožňava on the road to Dobšiná. Today it is part of the Slovak National Museum (SNM – Múzeum Betliar), which looks after the former residences of the Hungarian aristocratic Andrássy family – one of the most influential in 19th-century Europe.

A smaller Renaissance manor of the 17th or early 18th century stood here and was rebuilt several times by the Andrássys: it was enlarged in 1792–1795, and in 1880–1886 Count Emanuel I Andrássy turned it into a luxurious hunting residence and at the same time a museum for his collections. The architects took their cue from English country houses, although French motifs can be seen in the silhouette with its tall roofs. The last members of the Betliar branch left in 1944; after the war the estate was confiscated by the state, a museum was founded in 1952 and the manor opened to the public in 1953. As a result, the interiors have survived almost in their original state, and in 1985 the whole manor-and-park complex was declared a national cultural monument.

What to see

• The count’s apartments on the first and second floors – furniture, porcelain and paintings, mostly by 19th-century realists.
• The library founded by Leopold Andrássy in the second half of the 18th century; its interior dates from 1792–1795, and the collection is mainly scholarly literature of the 18th and 19th centuries.
• The Egyptology and exotic trophies exhibition – objects brought back by family members from travels and hunts.
• The 80 ha historic park – the largest historic park in Slovakia, begun by the Andrássys in the late 18th century, with ponds, pavilions, grottoes, a fountain with a statue of Psyche, a mid-19th-century Hermes well and rare exotic trees.
• The Roman Waterfall, 9 m high, designed in 1823 by Josef Bergmann – the tallest artificial waterfall and the first Romantic structure in Slovakia, restored in 2016.

Practical information

Betliar lies on the class II road No. 67 Rožňava – Dobšiná. From the bus stop in the village it is a 15–20 minute walk along the Krivý potok stream to the manor; there is paid parking in front of it. In May–June and September the manor is open Tuesday to Sunday, in July–August daily, and from October to April Tuesday to Sunday 8:30–16:30. The basic ticket costs €12 for adults and €6 for pupils and over-62s; children under 6 enter free. The park is open daily from 7:00 and is accessible to wheelchair users, so it suits families with children and older relatives. Allow at least 2–3 hours for the house and a walk in the park.

The museum also includes the mausoleum of Count Dénes Andrássy and his wife Franziska in Krásnohorské Podhradie (1903–1904) – a work of Munich Jugendstil artists with early Christian and ancient Oriental elements, while the family’s Krásna Hôrka Castle is closed for reconstruction after the fire of 2012.

Nearby

Heading north towards Dobšiná, stop at the Dobšinská Ice Cave (UNESCO), and south-west of Rožňava at the Ochtiná Aragonite Cave. Further north begin the gorges of the Slovak Paradise, such as Suchá Belá.

Official website: snm.sk

Photos: Maros, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons; Ing. Mgr. Jozef Kotulič, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Palickap, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.