Northern Gate and Guardhouse

The gate embedded in the bulwark made the lower castle accessible from the side of the villein settlement. Similarly to the Moravian Gate and the Gate of Pressburg, it was protected by two open semi-cylindrical towers. The guardhouse consisting of two rooms and an arched cellar with the length of 8m which could be used as an armoury was in its neighbourhood. The only large, non-separated room on the ground floor of the building was used as a background for the guard of circa 20 persons who were monitoring the gate and the road towards the courtyard of the middle castle. The building can be dated back to the respective period according to grey stamped ceramics found on the floor and a coin – denarius of King Matthias I. (1468 – 1490) coined in Kremnica. The counts of Svätý Jur and Pezinok, who are ascribed construction of the northern gate and the guardhouse, continued in modernization of the defence of the lower castle after Garay (lords of Gara), especially in terms of the replacement of the bulwark with a brick wall. However, they failed to complete the northern section. The lower castle was used for economic purposes, e.g., a garden was situated in its north-western part. The army could be gathered here during wartimes, or it could be used as refuge for citizens from the neighbourhood.