Hronský Beňadik is best known for a very important Benedictine abbey, which played in important role in the Christianization process and in the development of culture and education. It was founded in 1075 by King Géza I. The fortified abbey is one of the oldest and most important architectural monuments of Slovakia.
The surviving Gothic basilica of St. Egidius was built in the years 1346-1375 to the grounds of first abbey. The monastery was rebuilt into a fort supposed to resist Turkish raids in 1537. Walls and canon bastions were added then. However, construction of fortification also meant destruction of some of its Gothic parts. They reappeared in altered form during the period of Romanticism reconstruction carried out at the end of the 19th century.
The church of the monastery contains valuable works of art (a wood-carving of the Holy Sepulchre, a wall-painting presenting the legend of St. George, an altar depicting the Passion, a sculpture of Jesus Christ from the 13th century, a Madonna sculpture from the 14th century, etc.).
References:The first written record of church in Danmark locality date back to the year 1291. Close to the church are several stones with a Christian text and cross inscribed. The oldest parts of the present red-brick church are from the 1300s. In the late 1400s the church was enlarged to the appearance it has today. The church has been modified both internally and externally several times, among other things after the fires in 1699 and 1889. There are lot of well-preserved mural paintings in the walls.