The ruins of POVAŽSKÝ HRAD / Vágvár (former Beszterce) stand on a peak of the Javorník mountains on the right bank of the Váh. We have no particulars about the construction of the castle but it was most likely built as a royal stronghold. In ca. 1563 the castle was granted by the king to Gáspár Serédy and his spouse, Anna Mérey. After the latter became widowed she married András Balassa and the estate devolved on the Balassas. As a consequence of Imre Balassa's participation in the Thököly insurrection (1678-1685), the castle was besieged by Habsburg troops in 1684; it was probably pulled down thereafter. Then the ruined castle and its appurtenances came to be owned by the male- and female-line descendants of Imre Balassa, the members of the Count Szapáry family.

Bibliography: Engel, Fekete Nagy, Kerekes, Kristó, Lovcsányi, Mednyánszky 1829, Mednyánszky 1844, Mednyánszky 1981, Mednyánszky 1983, Szombathy 1979, Pázmány, Pechány