Nitra Castle - a National Cultural Monument Nitra castle was originally a Medieval edifice - known as Vasil's tower - erected on the site of a large Old Slav fastness traceable to 871. Prior to 1604 it acquired the Romanesque basilica of St Emeram and, through modifications and additions over time, a sizeable assemblage of buildings and fortifications. The castle was refashioned in the years 1673-74, and acquired its final form in 1739. The castle originally belonged to Pribina, and then to the Great Moravian principalities. It was the seat of the Great Moravian appanage principality, and from 880 to 892 the see of the Bishop of Nitra, Wiching. Following the establishment of the Hungarian state it was the property of the rulers and the seat of the Hungarian appanage princes, of the Nitra gubernators and, from 1083 to 1097, of a re-established Nitra bishopric.