Zalavár

Zalavár stood on an island amid the marshes of the Zala River and Little Balaton. In the ninth century the Slavic prince Pribina made this fortified site, known as Mosaburg, his residence. King Stephen later founded a Benedictine abbey there, whose church was dedicated to St Adrian in 1019.

The monastery was rebuilt and enlarged during the Middle Ages, then fortified in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as Ottoman armies approached. Its marshes and crossings made Zalavár a useful frontier stronghold protecting the crossing at Hidvég. After the recovery of Kanizsa in 1690, the fortress lost its former defensive role. In 1702, on Emperor Leopold's direct orders, its fortifications and the remaining monastic buildings were blown up to prevent their use by rebels.