Erdödy-Choron Castle

Jánosháza, Hungary

The land became known as Jánosháza, “the lands of Janos.”

The Erdödy-Choron Castle is one of the few surviving medieval castles in Eastern Europe. It is located in the Transdanubia region of western Hungary near the Austrian border. The castle has a tower surmounted with an onion shaped dome and is encircled by a wet moat.

The eastern wing was constructed at the end of the 15th century. In the early 16th century, Péter Erdödy enhanced the castle with Renaissance details and in 1558 sold it to András Choron, another eminent commander. The castle passed to his son Baron János Choron, who maintained a permanent army. At this time the western wing was added and the height of the tower increased.

In the mid-17th Century, the Choron family sold the castle to Palatine Miklós Illésházy. His daughter richly decorated the rooms of the piano nobile with wall paintings. Following the death of Anna Illésházy Erdödy in 1765, the castle passed to Sándor Erdödy VI, who restored the castle in 1935.

After World War II, the castle, under the Communist regime, became State owned and was used as a school until 1979. Between 1979-86 the Hungarian National Board for the Protection of Monuments (OMvH) performed research and conservation work.

In 1998, the Hungarian government granted the castle and its property to Joseph Pell Lombardi. A complete history of the castle was compiled and the property was stabilized and conserved under the direction of the Budapest office of Joseph Pell Lombardi & Associates, Architects.

In 2008, Joseph Pell Lombardi returned Erdödy-Choron Castle to the Hungarian government.