Orava Castle was built on the site of an earlier wooden fortification, after the Mongol invasion of 1241. Its first written record is from 1267, when the ground floor was stone and the upper floors wood. A tetrahedral donjon tower was added in the 14th century. The article names no architect.
John of Dubovec obtained the castle in 1534 and added a half-round tower, cannon fortifications in 1539, a five-story palace between 1539 and 1543, and a new gate with a ditch and drawbridge. The Thurzó family did much of the later rebuilding, including a tunnel between the two gates, a terrace and the chapel. The present form was reportedly finalized in 1611.
The original design was Romanesque and Gothic, and later work was Renaissance and neo-Gothic. A fire in 1800 destroyed all wooden parts, and rebuilding of the Middle and Upper Castle finished in 1861. Slovakia owns it, and it houses the Orava Museum.
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