Szélaknai (Hegybányai, Piargi) gate

Originally built in the Renaissance style in 1554, it is the only remaining part of the city's four former gates. It was rebuilt in the Baroque style at the end of the first third of the 18th century. It is also known as the Hegybányai or Piargi Gate, which was protected by a wall divided by two circular towers. One of these was demolished in 1910 due to the construction of a wider road. It has recently been significantly damaged and is apparently being repaired. ; Its condition shows signs of deterioration, with significant plaster defects and broken pieces. The surroundings are dirty, with tall grass. ; The city of Selmecbánya, which became famous and envied for its silver mines, was initially located on the Glanzenberg hill, but the devastation of the Tatar invasion of 1241-42 swept away this settlement. In the IV. Saxon settlers (hospes) invited from abroad by King Béla built their houses in the more secluded valley, surrounded by steep mountains. It is not known from the early period what kind of fortifications Selmec, which had the status of a free royal city, had. Thus, it is not known whether the Czech Hussites who settled there between 1440 and 1462 built any defensive works. At the time of the terrible destruction in 1442, which was carried out by the army of Bishop Simon Rozgonyi of Eger, no such works were mentioned in the contemporary sources. It was only in the following century, due to the looming Turkish threat, that the Selmec town council decided to have its parish church, which had been converted into a Gothic style just a few decades earlier, rebuilt into a castle. This became the Old Castle. In the following decades, the gates and wall sections blocking the individual valleys were also completed one after another. Thus, after the reinforcement of the Old Castle in 1546-59, the Hegybánya Gate, the Szentantal Gate, the Béla Bánya Gate, the Bakabánya Gate and the NW Gate were completed in 1554. Further inland after the Szentantal Gate, at the Chamber House, a wall fortified with towers also blocked the road from enemy attacks. The New Castle, protecting the southern side of the mining settlement, was built between 1564-1571, thus completing the defense system of Selmecbánya. Of all of these, only the Hegybánya Gate remains today, in addition to the Old Castle and the New Castle. The Béla Bánya Gate, which closed off the northern valley, was blown up by the Germans in 1945, and the other city gates were demolished even earlier by the city's residents.