A Declining Castle – A Growing Village
the Castle in the Background
As Ottoman power declined, the military significance of the castle gradually diminished. The Act III of 1655 reduced the garrison to 10 hussars and 25 hajdús (infantry soldiers), and by 1671 only 5 hussars and 20 hajdús remained under the command of a single hajdú lieutenant. After the end of Ottoman rule, Szigliget no longer played a role in the defense of the country. The castle became simply a costly part of the Lengyel family’s estate. Its decay began at the end of the 17th century, when a lightning strike during a storm caused a fire that destroyed much of the structure. At that time, charters, accounts, and other records stored in the castle were also lost. The process of destruction was greatly accelerated by Emperor Leopold I’s decree of 1702, which ordered the systematic demolition of most Hungarian castles, citing the need for stability and the empire’s strained finances. During Rákóczi’s War of Independence, the Kuruc troops occupying Transdanubia no longer used the castle, indicating that it had already fallen into complete disrepair. Its stones were gradually carried away and reused in the construction of houses in the rebuilding village below. In the second half of the 18th century, the Lengyel family built a mansion beneath the castle, embedding their ancestral coat of arms—once adorning the castle gate—above its entrance. The marshlands surrounding Szigliget, which had once contributed significantly to the castle’s defense, were gradually drained. A map from 1792 already shows drainage canals, as well as the streets and houses of the village that had developed below the castle. Economic growth during this period is reflected not only in these drainage works—which significantly increased arable land—but also in the rising population and the growing number of newly built houses. The former importance of the castle is still symbolized in the village seal from 1861, which depicts a fortress. During the reconstruction of the village and the construction of the mansion, stones from the ruined castle were widely reused, and the remaining walls were further dismantled. Ownership of Szigliget also continued to change: through the daughters of Gáspár Lengyel, the estate was divided between the Putheány and Inkey families in the early 19th century. Their serfs were emancipated as early as 1844. Later, Szigliget came into the possession of the Esterházy family, who remained its owners until the end of the Second World War. The village, whose economy was primarily based on agriculture, gradually expanded and eventually reached its present size. The village center, the beach, and the harbor were developed, and by the end of the 20th century, tourism had become its main economic focus.