1290 A settlement below a castleOsada pod hradom

People lived here long before there was a town: cremation burials from the Bronze Age have been found in the area. The settlement that became Modrý Kameň, though, is a podhradie — the Slovak word for the village that grows under a castle, housing the people who serve it, supply it and shelter behind it. It is first recorded in writing in 1290, spelled Keykkw, the same year the castle above it changed hands. From the start the two were one thing: no castle, no town.Ľudia tu žili dávno pred mestom — v okolí sa našli žiarové hroby z doby bronzovej. Osada, z ktorej vyrástol Modrý Kameň, je však podhradie: dedina pod hradom, kde bývajú tí, čo ho obsluhujú, zásobujú a schovávajú sa zaň. Písomne je doložená od roku 1290 v tvare Keykkw — v tom istom roku, keď hrad nad ňou zmenil majiteľa. Od začiatku boli obe jedna vec: bez hradu niet mesta.