Szolnok Castle Szolnok Castle was an important military fort for many centuries due to its prime location at the confluence of the Tisza and Zagyva rivers , in the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain . The area was the crossroads of several trade routes , including salt and lumber , as well as being a key route for armies passing between Buda and Translyvania . Against the advancing Ottoman forces in the 16th century , Szolnok and Eger were the only two forts protecting the heart of Hungary and Upper Hungary . Beginning in the time of the Árpád dynasty ( 9th to 13th centuries ) there was an earthwork fort at Szolnok . After the 1526 Battle of Mohács this was expanded to a Pfostenschlitzmauer , and later a stone fortress in the face of Szolnok ' s key position against the Ottomans . In the 17th century the fort continued to be expanded and improved , but after the Rákóczi Uprising the fort fell into disuse . It was dismantled and the stones were used in several buildings in Szolnok . Today only traces of the fort remain . Construction of the castle . The decision to upgrade the palisade fort to one of stone was based on Szolnok ' s geographical importance , and its place in the border castle system . After the Ottoman armies captured Temesvár and occupied the Danube - Tisza - Mureş area , only two forces of any significance stood between them and the rest of Hungary : Szolnok , and Eger to the north . Beginning in June 1552 , Hungarian , Transylvanian , and Viennese agents all began reporting that the Ottoman army was on the move out of Temesvár towards Szolnok and Eger . The task of capturing the two was given to Ali Pasha of Buda . After the fall of other minor fortifications on the Puszta , Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ordered Pashas Ahmed , Ali , and Mohamed to lead their armies against the castles . It was in light of this Turkish danger that in 1550 - 51 Ferdinand I ordered the Szolnok earthworks to be improved with a new town wall ( partially planned by István Dobó ) , the castle to be fortified , and Lőrinc Nyáry put in command . General Nicolaus Salm planned the works and supervised the workforce , which was made up mostly of local peasants and some soldiers under orders . Although they were using some stone , for the most part the walls were built up as clay packed between upright beams . In the etchings a typical four - sided fort with a spacious inner courtyard can be seen , protected by rounded cannon towers at each corner and a wide surrounding moat . The final completion of the bastions was possible only after the Turks left , many years later . Further works began in summer of 1552 and progressed rapidly . In order to surround the castle , a new branch of the Zagyva river was dug . This new branch is the one that remains today , at the point where the Zagyva flows into the Tisza river . The original course of the Zagyva has today been filled in , but a small part of it remains as the lake in front of the Szolnok MÁV Hospital . Ottoman siege of 1552 . Under the command of Lőrinc Nyáry the fort contained 1400 soldiers , mostly Spanish , German , Czech , with a small number of Hungarians . The castle was armed with 24 cannons , 3000 muskets , 800 weights of gunpowder , and was well - stocked with food and supplies . On September 2 , 1552 , Pasha Ahmed Ali besieged the castle with his army of 40 , 000 . Although it was the German mercenaries who first entertained thoughts of escape , it was the Hungarian boatmen who deserted first . On the night of September 3 the Hungarian and Spanish horsemen swam across the Tisza , then the boatmen returned for the foot soldiers . On the night of September 4 the mercenaries deserted , leaving the castle to its fate . After they departed the front gate was left open until morning , leading to the easy overpowering and capture of Lőrinc Nyáry and the fifty remaining brave men . István Mekcsey , one of the defenders of the Siege of Eger , wrote the following to his sister four days before the Turkish advance forces reached Eger : " I can ' t write more . . . but to say that every day now we feel we are awaiting a great punishment since the traitors gave up Szolnok . " Ahmed and Mohamed left a garrison of 2000 soldiers in Szolnok while they marched against Eger . The castle remained in Turkish hands until 1685 . Ottoman age . The Ottoman occupation of Szolnok lasted from 1552 to 1685 . In 1553 they established the sanjak of Szolnok , and in the following years built a mosque , baths , and a minaret ; during the course of later battles these were destroyed , mostly deliberately . Of the minaret the base remained , and this was made into a stylized fountain which remains today . In 1562 they constructed the first permanent bridge spanning the Tisza . The remains of the so - called Szolnok Turkish Bridge " ( Hungarian : szolnoki török kori híd ) " again came to light in August 2003 after a summer of drought . The only Turkish codex made in Hungary was copied in Szolnok ; it describes the campaigns of Suleiman in Hungary . Pottery and tools from the Turkish era can be seen today in Szolnok ' s Damjanich János Museum . After the Ottoman occupation . In 1685 Szolnok was liberated from the Ottomans by the Habsburg armies under the control of Generals Sigbert Heister and Mercz ; during the liberation both the city and the castle were significantly damaged . Due to the castle ' s strategic importance it was rebuilt by commander Antonio Caraffa . At this time the remaining wooden parts of the castle were finished with stone , and other changes were made to the facade . In a survey sketch from the Vienna War Archives " ( Kriegsarchiv des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs ) " , it can be seen that by 1778 the once - rounded towers had been replaced with polygonal towers . It is also worth noting that by this time the Szolnok Turkish Bridge was destroyed , so a new bridge was made across the Tisza , but connecting the two banks at the town itself , which meant the other side of the Zagyva , which in essence was the model for construction of all later bridges . At this time the walls around the city , the wooden - spined towers and the most of the city wall was destroyed , and the city ' s former moat filled in . The former moat is remembered today in the " Tófenék utca " ( " Bottom - of - the - Lake Street " ) street name , which can be found in the center of Szolnok , where the northwest part of the moat used to lie . In 1697 Imre Thököly burned down the castle . The events of the Rákóczi Uprising in 1703 , and 1706 reached Szolnok and the city was again razed to the ground . In 1706 Ferenc Deák , one of Rákóczi ' s leaders , burned the castle so that Imperial forces couldn ' t use it , so Imperial General Rabutin had the stones all taken away . In 1710 forces loyal to Rákóczi took over the castle , but on October 10 they abandoned it to the advancing army of Imperial General Jacob Joseph Cusani . After the Uprising , the castle finally fell to pieces and the stones were carted away . The planned demolition of the castle took place between 1799 and 1811 . Sources . Sources in Hungarian :