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:Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.
Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.