Grotta with observation tower is one of the jewels of Považie and at the same time is one of two surviving monuments of this kind in Slovakia and also the only reconstructed. Grotta was biuld by Ilešházi family line. It is known as "Babylon".
It looks like a miniature of a castle standing on a high cliff, with views of the surrounding area. Grotta is built as a summer gazebo with regular octagonal shape of a wooden structure fixed to an artificial rockery, constructed of rubble stone and tuff with a ruin-like appearance , consisting of artificial cave (italian - grotto). On both sides of the hill there are ventilation holes leading into the ground.
The wall of the grotto includes coat of arms of Gašpar Ilešházi and his wife Helena Thurzo.
The tower consists of three parts:
• Lower fireplace room, which houses neo-Gothic windows and original floor made of river stone,
• originally a dayroom with neo-Gothic windows in the past equipped with furniture, chess table and wallpaper with silver ornament,
• observation part from which visitors can enjoy a magnificent view of beuatiful Považie region and Vršatec. It is covered with a flat roof on the top of which is located decoration ball with a spoke.
Around the tower is sitaulted octagonal gallery fenced with decorative iron railings.
Space that separates the upper part of the tower from the bottom, gives the impression of an abyss, crossed by a bridge. The top of the observation tower can be reached via stone staircase. The bridge is about a meter wide and two to three meters long.
Grotta is gimped by many legends about the secret corridors leading into the Trenčín castle, or other rooms and corridors in the uncharted underground. Reportedly it was possible to see the Trenčín Castle from the Grotta tower.
In the forties the tower was destroyed by fire and the whole building started to deterioriate.
Reconstruction works around Grotta tower intensified in September 2009 under the supervision of the Regional Monuments Board of Trenčín especially on masonry, ceilings, access paths and new walls and floors were build. The construction of the tower and the base part has occured under the extant contemporary photographs and drawings. Recovery of Grotta and lookout tower was completed in 2010.
Article author: City Information Center Dubnica nad Váhom