Orava

Orava Castle (Slovak: Oravský hrad, German: Arwaburg, Hungarian: Árva vára), is situated on a high rock above Orava river. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful castles in Slovakia. The castle was built in the thirteenth century. Many scenes of the 1922 film Nosferatu were filmed here, although until recently it was thought to have been shot in Transylvania. Orava Castle stands on the site of an old wooden fortification, built after the Tartar invasion of 1241. Its history since then reveals a familiar pattern of construction, destruction, reconstruction, fire, various ownerships and territorial squabbles. The original design was in Romanesque and Gothic style; it was later reconstructed as a Renaissance and Neo-Gothic...