The town of Sárospatak is situated on the bank of river Bodrog in the Northen part of Hungary. In 1534 Péter Perényi ordered the building of the old tower and residential palace.

During the years it was owned by Ferenc Dobó, the son of the captain of the castle of Eger. Then for a short period of time Bálint Balassi had the legal ground for its ownership by secretly marrying to Krisztina, the daughter of Ferenc Dobó.

Later it was possessed by the family Lórántffy, where György Rákóczi I. married into and at last the castle became the estates of the Rákóczi family. That was the period when the castle obtained its final form and its residential buildings were altered in accordance with the renessaince style. But as a retaliation against the "kuruc" revolution the kaisers army blew up some parts of the castle, however the residential wing stayed intact as it was inhabited permanently. Today there is a castle museum within the old walls.

There are a lot of legends, kept alive by the nation about the castle, most of them related to his Majesty Ferenc Rákóczi II. According to one of them when the "labanc" chased the lord of the "kuruc", he order to put the horse shoe reverse on the horse feet in order to decieve his pursuer. So the kaizers army went into the opposite direction, while his majesty arrived into a safe place.

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