Simon’s Tower . Lost Castle In The Swamps. Stock Photography

Simontornya, a little town situated in Tolna, Hungary. In English, its name means “Simon’s Tower” and relates to Simon, son of Solomon, who built a residential tower there in the 13th century. This tower — of which I’ll start referring as “the castle” from now on — has gone through the hands of several owners, and, throughout the centuries, almost each one of them made some major or minor alteration to the original architecture. Furthermore, for almost 150 years the castle was occupied by the Turks. During the tumultuous events of the 1700s, it was the stronghold of the Kuruc rebels in southwest Hungary. But the real decline of the castle started in the late 18th century, when it began to be used as a… barn. This remained the main function of the building until the 1960s, when archeological excavations started.