of Rafael a silver club was discovered from which a chalice was made. This was (in 1901) still in possession of the church. The chalice has the following inscription: "ARCUM SZUCSA SOLIS AEQUARI CURAVIT FERDINANDUS L 1528". The marble monument of Rafael Podmanitzky in Považská Bystrica is of interest because it has an inscription all around in old Slovak language it says "LETA PANIE TISICEHO PIETISTEHO PADESATEHO OSMEHO PRWNI STRZEDU W PUSTIE UMRZEL GEST UROZENY PAN RAFFAEL PODMANITZKY Z PODMANINA JEHOZ DUSSY PAN BUOH MILOSTIW RACZ BIETI ". The monument is on the right side wall of the Roman Catholic Church not far from the “Galerie”. It depicts a very tall man in full armor. The facial features are clearly chiseled in the stone. In 1560 the castle was donated to Gáspár Szerédi. After his death his wife married András Balassa. The castle was shelter for the Balassa family during an uprising of Francis II Rákóczi against the Habsburgs. The castle, due to its well-built fort, resisted. Because of a lack of luxury, the Balassa family moved from the castle to the mansion below the castle cliff. The place was then used during the rebellion against Leopold I, so to prevent more rebellion the emperor ordered the castle to be destroyed. It was burned by his troops in 1698. This might be the reason of lack of documentation for the establishment of the castle.A great earthquake came at 8:00 pm on 15 February 1858 AD. During this night a tower of castle's prison fell. From this moment the castle was left of peoples interest until it was bought in 2007 by Považská Bystrica and voluntary organization "Zdruzenie na zachranu Povazskeho hradu " did not start essential reparations on it. Building The castle with shingle roof belonged in times of his fame to one of biggest well-fortified buildings of that kind. The ground plan of the building has a fid shape. The entrance to the castle was protected by an entrance tower, a barbican and two bastions, parts of a strong wall through which the castle crew protected themselves in case of danger. The ground floor of the tower was used as a storage place for munitions. Here was probably also a secret gate through which people from the castle were supplied in cases of attack, when the main entrance was built-in. On the northern side there was a cuboid tower,