Archaeologist Juraj Malec: Discover History in the Považie Region
Juraj Malec grew up in Sihoť, with the majestic silhouette of Trenčín Castle before his eyes every day. Today, he comes to the castle for work – but also to a place that means much more to him than just another archaeological site.
Juraj Malec works as an archaeologist at the Trenčín Museum and knows Trenčín Castle from a somewhat different perspective than the average visitor. While tourists look at the towers, fortifications and palaces, an archaeologist also looks beneath them. And it is precisely there, he says, that stories are hidden that can change the way we see the entire site.
“I was given the privilege of archaeologically researching Trenčín Castle when I took up the position of archaeologist at the Trenčín Museum, which manages the castle,” he says.
But it was not simply a professional path. His connection to the castle began long before that.
“I grew up in Sihoť and every day I had the opportunity to see our majestic castle from the river embankment. Now, every day, I am filled with an amazing feeling when I walk up to the castle and look out at the places where I spent most of my life.”
A Castle with a Much Older Story
When we think of Trenčín Castle, most of us imagine the Middle Ages and Matúš Čák Trenčiansky, the castle palaces, fortifications and towers. An archaeologist, however, looks much deeper into its history. Some of the stories of this place began long before the medieval castle itself was built.
When Juraj Malec first began researching Trenčín Castle, he was particularly interested in its fortification features and, above all, in how the fortifications changed and were expanded over the centuries. Gradually, however, his attention turned even further back in time – to the settlements that existed here long before the medieval period.
“After my studies, I began to focus more on prehistoric settlements in the field,” he explains.
And this is where the story of Trenčín Castle becomes even more fascinating. Two layers of Bronze Age settlement have been identified in the Lower Courtyard. One dates back to the Early Bronze Age, while another points to settlement during the Middle to Late Bronze Age. In other words, people were using this site thousands of years before the castle we know today was built.
More recently, Malec has also become increasingly interested in another chapter of the site’s history – Celtic settlement from the Late Iron Age. A major contribution to this research was the discovery of what is known as a “sacrificial pit”, containing the skeletal remains of at least ten people.
Every new layer, archaeological find or trace in the ground can reveal another part of the story of a place whose history began long before its present-day walls were built.
Where to Discover History in the Považie Region
If he were to recommend a historical site in the Považie Region, as a local from Trenčín he would mention Trenčín Castle without hesitation. As a tourist, however, he would certainly not miss the other medieval castles or older fortified sites, such as the hillfort in Ducové.
Looking at the Považie Region through the eyes of an archaeologist, he would choose Očkov. According to him, this is a place where several significant periods of our history come together in one location.
Here you can find a preserved burial mound dating from the Late Bronze Age. Nearby is a stone cellar, reportedly a remnant of a former manor house, while the site also contains two concrete bunkers from the Second World War.
When visitors look towards the southeast from the bunkers, they can see the area where the important hillfort at Pobedim once stood, originally located on an island between branches of the Váh River.
Even within a relatively small area, you can encounter traces separated by hundreds or even thousands of years. And it is precisely places like these, Malec says, that show us that we do not always have to travel far to find history – often, it is right in front of us. We simply do not know how to read it.
History That Is Still Among Us
Perhaps that is where the magic of archaeology lies. It is not only about artefacts displayed in museum cases. It is also about the places we walk through today and the stories hidden within them.
Alongside his archaeological research at Trenčín Castle, Juraj Malec also guides visitors through other historical sites in the Považie Region, including the underground passages in Nové Mesto nad Váhom. He does not merely research history – he also brings it to life by telling its stories to visitors in the very places where they unfolded.
And perhaps that is what makes us start looking at familiar places a little differently. At a castle we have seen many times before, at an old fortification hidden in the landscape, or at an ordinary street beneath which layers of stories thousands of years old may still lie.
