The town Sabinov is first mentioned in a Hungarian charter of King Bela IV of 23 February 1248. Its favourable location on the trade route leading through the Torysa valley was undoubtedly a determining factor that attracted German colonists here. The growing economic and political importance of Sabinov on the borders of the kingdom, as well as the efforts of the king Sigismund of Luxembourg to win allies in the cities, earned Sabinov the promotion to free royal city. This was done by a charter of 17 May 1405, which states that the town was to be surrounded by walls and other fortifications.
The town walls and their structure
According to the medieval chronicle of the town of Sabinov, work on the town walls and the surrounding moats did not begin until 1474. Sabinov also assisted the monarch in his struggle against rebellious nobles, and for this reason, in 1485, Matthias Corvinus granted it an annual sum of 100 zloty for a period of four years, intended for completion of the walls. The king himself was interested in the city being well fortified, and therefore in previous years he had already financially subsidised the city for this purpose. In 1481, he remitted all taxes to Sabinov for a period of four years and these funds were to be used for the construction of the walls. During the reign of Matthias Corvinus, Sabinov's economic and legal position was strengthened to such an extent that the other eastern Slovak royal towns accepted it as a member of the community of towns. Pentapolitans.
In 1603, when an in-depth inspection of private and public buildings, walls and fortresses was carried out in the Hungarian free royal towns, the thirty members of the Spiš Chamber also inspected Sabinov. The fortifications then had a total length of approximately 1330 m and was divided by 16 towers, two of which are gated.
Despite frequent repairs and careful maintenance, the fortification system of Sabinov had no greater military significance in the 17th-18th centuries and provided the townspeople only protection against smaller military units and brigands. In the first half of the 19th century the fortifications were no longer maintained, the moats were turned into gardens and the walls gradually decayed. The towers, which were owned by the town, were rented out to the inhabitants for economic and residential purposes.
City fortifications in Sabinov in the past defined the area of the medieval royal town of irregular oval plan with axes 440 and 345 m, with a central square on a lenticular plan. The road formed the town’s main central axis and divided its area into two halves: north and south. The relatively simple design of the fortification system, as well as the nature of the bastions and embrasures, was also dictated by the natural conditions.
City fortifications formed an outer fortification, making use of the course of Mlynský Brook on the southern side. Due to the characteristic arrangement of the bastions, with their relatively wide spacing (50–77 m) – adapted to the new, advanced firearms – the fortification system of Sabinov is regarded as Gothic-Renaissance. The bastions themselves, divided by two to four storeys, retain their plan and height parameters. gothic character.
Preserved sections of the fortifications
Of the entire urban fortification with a perimeter around 1395 m only fragments with a total length of about 497 m. The southern section is the best and most complete, featuring the remains of the rampart wall along with five fully preserved towers and the small ruins of a further four towers. This section of the fortifications is lined along its entire length on the inner side by a continuous rampart walk, whilst on the outer side a row of plots with detached houses adjoins the rampart.
The entire fortification of Sabinov had a unified concept consisting of a circular fortification wall fortified with regularly spaced towers and its layout was very close to the fortification the nearby Šariš Castle, which is similarly divided at regular intervals by projecting late-Gothic towers with a dominant semicircular ground plan. Their design incorporated a defensive strategy almost identical to that of the fortifications at Sabinov.
Source: architectural-historical research ing. arch. Martin Bóna, Mgr. Michal Šimkovic and ing. Peter Glos
Source of photographs: OOCR RŠ
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Preserved parts of the fortification:
Tower No. 1 with a hexagonal polygonal plan and the original three storeys has been preserved up to the level of the crown of the present 4th storey. Originally the tower was only accessible through an entrance opening. A number of the primary beam lintels and parapet stops survive.
Tower No. 2 It has been preserved to its original height of five storeys. Originally, it was accessible only via an entrance on the 4th-storey level, connected to the gallery of the adjacent courtyards. All storeys were separated by beamed ceilings, on which the circular sockets of the ceiling beams have been preserved. The curtain wall (the wall between two flanking towers, bastions or bastions) between towers No. 2 and No. 3 has a total length of around 61.5 m and runs in a straight line. Very little of its original structure remains above ground level, amounting to a height of just 1 m.
Tower No. 3 The semi-circular structure now stands four storeys high. Originally, it was accessible only via an entrance at the level of the third storey, directly from the continuous walkway along the neighbouring curtain walls. The curtain wall between Towers 3 and 4 is 64 metres long and runs in a straight line. It has been preserved almost continuously up to a height of around two metres.
Tower No. 4 The semi-circular ground plan has been preserved up to the height of the original three storeys. It was accessible at the level of the original second storey via an entrance in the north-eastern wall, which connected directly to the parapet walkways of the adjacent curtain walls. The original lower storeys have retained their slit embrasures with beam lintels and parapet stops to this day. The curtain wall between towers No. 4 and No. 5 was approximately 56.5 m long and ran in a straight line. The best-preserved eastern section, 14 m long and 6.5 m high, retains the remains of an original slit embrasure in the parapet section.
Tower No. 5 Only the north-eastern wall, 7 m wide, has been preserved above ground level, extending to a height of two storeys. The curtain wall between towers No. 6 and No. 7 was approximately 58 m long (Fig. 1). Its original structure has been preserved almost along its entire length, up to approximately the height of the parapet.
Tower No. 7 Together with Tower No. 10, it was one of the largest towers in the fortification system. Only the eastern part of the curved outer wall and a small section of the northern straight wall have survived above ground level. According to a description from 1603, the tower had four storeys and there was another damaged turret with a drawbridge nearby. The curtain wall between Towers No. 7 and No. 8, approximately 79 m long, has been preserved almost in its entirety The rampart wall continuing from Tower No. 10 to the north-west has been preserved above ground level only in a short, restored section connecting to Tower No. 10, with a total length of around 3 m. The wall now features a reconstructed original parapet walk, complete with a single key embrasure.
