Szigliget, and its castle founded by King Béla IV. on a hill surrounded by marshland, has always played an important role in the life of the Balaton highlands. Nowadays, visitors are attracted by the magnificent views and the revival of its past. The newly reconstructed spaces of the upper castle, an exhibition on the history of the castle has been designed to complement the existing exhibition themes of the previous development phases. The goal was to create a historically authentic presentation between the bare stone walls, using contemporary tools to give a coherent look to the diverse content.

Due to the specific geographical location of the castle, for centuries, its inhabitants secured their livelihood and combat readiness by raiding the surrounding area in the absence of any significant external threat. The themes of the exhibition, which occupy one room at a time, focus on this bizarre way of life and the circumstances of the castle’s foundation, which holds many surprises for us too. Despite the numerous descriptions of the period and the meticulous archaeological excavations that have been carried out to date, the exact function of many of the rooms is still only a matter of conjecture, and the exhibition is therefore not closely linked to the use of the space in the past.

A linear installation leads the visitor into the elongated, vaulted space of the palace wing through important moments in the castle’s history.

The oldest halls in the upper part of the castle are occupied by the chronology of construction and the history of the estate: on the ground floor of the Benedictine Tower, visitors can learn about the activities of Béla IV. who founded the castle, while above them, the reconstructed mass masonry displays show the building activities of the different owner families of the castle.

Personified stories shape the armoury room: the instruments of attack and defence, like swords and knightly armour, are placed opposite in the room. The correct use of these weapons and moments of mischief are presented on the walls.

In the following rooms, the moments of medieval knightly life are brought to life through models. Illuminated small sectional models embedded in the infographic surface of the installation present the defining activities and technical solutions of the basic operation of the castle. The panels’ permeability allows for the parallel, independent display of the English-language content and free exploration of the themes.

The room showing the border castle era offers a glimpse of the fortifications of the Balaton defence line, in the light of the Balaton Shayka fleet, that was stationed at Szigliget to confront the Turks. The room is transformed into a map of several time periods. On the floor, the former extent of Lake Balaton is depicted, while the present-day shape of the lake and the reconstructed border castles are shown by the raised metal surface.

The graphic displays in the castellan hall present the former lords of Szigliget along a timeline, and tell the story of their daily lives and the battles of the castle’s soldiers. Their Janus-like double lives, the inner struggles of the heroic general and the marauding robber baron, are brought to life through their preserved letters. The object cubicles, set back from the wall and set into cassettes, contain some of the typical replicas of the castle’s life.

It was particularly important for us to learn about medieval life, construction and structural logics, on which most of the interactive elements of the exhibition are based, and are analogue, mechanical, and require physical intervention by the visitor. All of this is brought closer to the visitor by graphic content reminiscent of a copperplate, forming a rounded whole of the history and former life of the Szigliget Castle.