The origin of Lietava Castle is assumed to be in the last quarter of the 13th century. A fourstorey square tower was built here on the highest part of the rock, along with a smaller palace and a wall northeast of the tower. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the castle was mainly royal property granted to regional judges “pro honore”, but also given as a deposit or granted in ownership. Among the significant owners who later rebuilt and expanded the castle were Pavol Kiniži (†1494), Mikuláš Kostka (†1556) and František Thurzo (†1574). Under Kiniži, a palace was built south-west of the main tower, which was finished with the construction of a large residential tower. The new entrance to the castle led into a square passable tower that was connected to the perimeter wall on the north-west side. The northern courtyard was fortified with a cylindrical bastion. Here the wall turned at a right angle to the east, where it ended in a large, four-storey horseshoe-shaped tower. Mikuláš Kostka built a new gate by breaking through the northern perimeter wall; he also added a large roundel on the eastern side of the castle.
František Thurzo had the castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style. Fragments of this reconstruction work still adorn the castle today, for example, the arched attics or remnants of sgraffito decoration. During his period of ownership, the last defensive enclosure was built around the castle. It was opened by a new tower gate, and the wall continued to the north. Another gate – called Orlová – was built near the cylindrical tower.
František’s son, Palatine George Thurzo (*1567 – †1616), continued the enhancement of the castle, but after his death, it gradually began to deteriorate. The castle was abandoned in the mid-18th century, and after 250 years of disrepair, the monument has fallen into a dilapidated state. In 1999, the Association for the Preservation of Lietava Castle was established, and it began to care for the castle. In 2008, the association became the official owner of the castle building based on a donation contract, and in 2017, on the 450th anniversary of the birth of Palatine George Thurzo, the first official exhibition was ceremonially opened at the castle.

Did you know…?
The coat-of-arms of the castle’s owner, Pavol Kiniži, has been preserved on the corner of the residential tower of the middle castle. This famous Hungarian duke from the anti-Turkish wars was granted several properties in Slovakia by King Matthias Corvinus, including Strečno Castle. Back then, Lietava and Strečno had a common castellan, one Teofil Thurzo, the grandfather of the later owner of the castle, František Thurzo. A little-known fact is that during the Second World War, repair work was carried out at the castle (summer 1941) and was done by workers from a Jewish labour camp which housed 62 people.