the Turks (the Ottoman Empire) had conquered present-day Hungary, Pressburg became the capital (seat of the Diet and of central authorities, place of coronations) of the remaining Kingdom of Hungary, which was renamed Royal Hungary and was ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs now. Consequently, Pressburg Castle became the most important royal castle and the formal seat of the kings of Royal Hungary (who however resided in Vienna normally). At the same time, from the beginning of the 16th century, Pressburg and its castle had to face various anti-Habsburg uprisings in Royal Hungary on the territory of Slovakia. For example, troops of Gabriel Bethlen occupied the castle between 1619 and 1621, when it was reconquered by Habsburg troops, and had the royal crown removed from Pressburg Castle till 1622. Between 1671 and 1677, Pressburg Castle was home to an extraordinary court against the Protestants and participants of anti-Habsburg uprisings. Imre Thököly, the leader of another big anti-Habsburg uprising, failed to conquer the castle in 1682-83. Holy Crown of Hungary in the crown tower Between 1552 and 1784 the Holy Crown of Hungary stayed in the castle. Two Hungarian crown guards, 50 Hungarian and 50 Austrian infantry soldiers cared for it. Hungarian Kings who derived from foreign dynasties as Habsburgs could not possess it, and only had access to the crown during their coronation ceremony. The Renaissance conversion Immediately after the defeat of the Kingdom of Hungary in the battle at Mohács in 1526, during which the king died, the queen – Maria of Habsburg – fled with her retinue from Buda to Pressburg. The royal treasure (mostly very valuable objects of art, the royal scepter, apple and sword, the globe of Ladislaus of Jagiello known as Astrolabium etc.) and many other important objects she has taken with her were deposited in Pressburg Castle and guarded by the royal burgrave John Bornemisza. Shortly afterwards, however, this precious treasure was mostly destroyed by the new king Ferdinand I of Habsburg, who needed it to finance his participation in a civil war in Royal Hungary, and smaller parts went to the Treasury Chamber of Vienna (Wiener Schatzkammer), or became personal property of Maria, or got lost forever. Taking into account the new role of the castle, the emperor Ferdinand I of Habsburg had it rebuilt into a Renaissance castle by Italian builders and artists, such as Giulio Licino da Pordanone and Maciotanus Ulisses from