Kaštieľ Radoľa
The only preserved manor house in the Kysuce region, Kaštieľ Radoľa, has served as an exhibition building of the Kysucké múzeum since 1983. The historic building is one of the few Renaissance monuments in Kysuce. As the name of the manor house suggests, it is situated in the village of Radoľa, located in the district of Kysucké Nové Mesto. In addition to the 16th-century building itself, truly interesting museum exhibitions, displays, and events attract visitors here. Here you can see how burghers lived in Kysuce, learn interesting facts about the oldest history of the region, as well as the massive fire that destroyed almost the entire district town in 1904.
The first mention of the manor house dates back to 1575. The manor house was originally a Renaissance type of gentry residence built by the Suňog family, owners of the Budatínske panstvo. It took the form of a residential tower, likely fortified with curtain walls. Its Renaissance character is still evidenced today by molded window cornices, a groin vault with ridge decoration, or corner quoining painting. In the 17th century, a large manorial farm was based at the manor house, featuring numerous livestock, adjacent barns, orchards, a brewery, a mill, and even ponds where fish were raised. In later periods, the manor house served residential purposes.
Since the 1980s, the manor house has belonged to the Kysucké múzeum. In addition to three permanent exhibitions, a wide spectrum of temporary exhibitions and events with truly interesting themes are held here. The permanent exhibition presenting the urban lifestyle of the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century is entitled Meštianske bývanie na Kysuciach. It invites visitors to get a closer look at the lives of craftsmen, merchants, and later tradesmen, intellectuals, officials, and landowners across the passage of time. Here you can see what architecture their houses had, the interiors in which they lived, the dining rooms where they ate, as well as their sideboards, living rooms, and bedrooms.
The exhibition entitled Svet dávnych predkov goes much deeper into the history of Kysuce. It presents the most famous archaeological sites in the region to visitors. It is divided into three separate parts. The first is dedicated to the Lusatian culture of the Bronze Age, the second part presents the Iron Age, and the last highlights the Middle Ages and the archaeological research of the church and cemetery in Radoľa. An interesting specimen of this exhibition is a model of a baby mammoth and a mammoth tooth.
Another permanent exhibition of the museum is accessible to visitors under the title 695 rokov – Cesta dejinami. It was opened on the occasion of the 695th anniversary of granting town privileges to Kysucké Nové Mesto. The exhibition is dedicated to the older history of the town. It guides visitors through the Middle Ages and early modern period up to the fateful year 1904, when a catastrophic fire of huge proportions struck Kysucké Nové Mesto. It does so through documents related to town history, seals, the town book, the oldest postcards of the town, as well as period objects related to craft and guild production.
