Devín Castle Devín Castle ( Slovak : " hrad Devín " or " Devínsky hrad " , Hungarian : " Dévényi vár " , German : " Burg Theben " ) is a castle in Devín , which is a borough of Bratislava , the capital of Slovakia . Owing to its strategic position , the cliff ( altitude of 212 meters ) at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers was an ideal place for a fort . Its owner could control the important trade route along the Danube as well as one branch of the Amber Road . That is why the site has been settled since the Neolithic and fortified since the Bronze and Iron Age . Later , both the Celts and the Romans built strong fortresses there . In the Roman ruins , the first Christian church located North of the Danube has been identified . The castle stands just inside Slovak territory on the frontier between Slovakia ( previously part of Czechoslovakia ) and Austria . The border runs from west to east along the Morava River and subsequently the Danube . Prior to 1989 , the Iron Curtain between the Eastern Bloc and the West ran just in front of the castle . Although the castle was open to the public , the area surrounding it constituted a restricted military zone , and was heavily fortified with watchtowers and barbed wire . After the Velvet Revolution the area was demilitarised . The most photogenic part of the castle is the tiny watchtower , seemingly not much bigger than a chess piece , known now as the Maiden Tower . Separated from the main castle , it balances perilously on a lone rock and has spawned countless legends concerning imprisoned lovelorn daughters leaping to their deaths . Inside , the castle is a sprawling landscape of walls , staircases , open courtyards and gardens in various states of repair . They are all , however , made readily accessible by a continuing restoration and archaeological project conducted since the borough of Devín was reclaimed from Nazi Germany which had annexed it shortly before World War II . History . Devín castle likely is first mentioned in written sources in 864 , when Louis the German besieged Prince Rastislav in one of the frequent wars between the Franks and Great Moravia respectively in the " castle of Dowina " . During the Moravian period , a Christian church had been built in the complex . Its distinct style was probably inspired by similar churches in Byzantine Macedonia , from where Saints Cyril and Methodius came to Great Moravia . On the other hand , the identification of " Dowina " with Devín Castle has been under debate based both on linguistic arguments and the absence of convincing archaeologic evidence . In the 13th century , a stone castle was built to protect the western frontier of the Hungarian Kingdom whose existence was documented in 1271 and a reference to a " castelanus de Devin " appeared in 1326 . Between 1301 and 1323 , the castle ( together with Pozsony county ) was held by the Dukes of Austria who granted it to Otto von Tellesbrunn . In 1323 , the dukes transferred Pozsony county back to King Charles I of Hungary and Devín Castle became the possession of the heads " ( ispáns ) " of the county . In 1385 , the castle was occupied by Margrave Jobst of Moravia who held it until 1390 when King Sigismund of Hungary redeemed it . Later , the king mortgaged Devín Castle to an Austrian knight , Lessel Hering who transferred the castle to Nicholas II Garay ( the Palatine of the kingdom ) in 1414 . Around 1444 , King Frederick IV of Germany occupied the castle but he granted it to Ladislaus II Garay already in 1450 . A palace was added in the 15th century . Fortification was reinforced during wars against the Ottoman Empire . The Castle was never taken , but after the Hungarian Kingdom joined the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottomans were finally defeated , it ceased to be an important border fortress and was no longer used by the military . Stephen Báthory got the castle by the king as a donation . But according to Stephen Báthory was Keglević the owner of the castle . Keglević pawned the castle for 40 , 000 guilders to the Palocsai family and spent the money . In 1609 , Matthias II confirmed that Keglević still was the owner of the castle , but Keglević did not have the money to take the castle out of pledge from the Palocsai family . Nearly 100 years later in 1635 Palatine Pál Pálffy took the castle out of pledge from the Palocsai family . The last owners of the Devín Castle were the Counts of the Pálffy family . Only in 1809 , after the Siege of Pressburg , was the castle ( still considered a threat ) destroyed by the retreating forces of Napoleon I of France . Napoleon and Leopold Pálffy negotiated then and they both agreed that Vienna is supplied with products by Pálffy . Since the 19th century as its history inspired several Romantic poets , followers of Ľudovít Štúr , Devín has become an important national symbol for the Slovaks . It featured both on the reverse of the former 500 Czechoslovak koruna banknote and the 50 Halierov coin of the Slovak currency . The Hungarians regarded it as the western gateway of the Kingdom of Hungary . The Hungarian poet Endre Ady used it as a symbol of modernism and Westernization in his poem " I am the Son of Gog and Magog " : Some parts of the castle have been reconstructed in the 20th century and the castle hosts an interesting museum .