1526 – 1575 Fifty kilometres from the frontierPäťdesiat kilometrov od hranice

The defeat at Mohács in 1526 pulled the Ottoman frontier north until it ran only about fifty kilometres south of Zvolen, and the town's fortunes stalled for a century and a half. What saved it from being a backwater was the same thing that made it a target: the road through Zvolen led to the silver and gold of the central Slovak mining towns. Town walls went up, the castle was rebuilt for cannon, and from 1575 a permanent garrison under the county's lord lieutenant was stationed here. Zvolen became the centre of the defence of the mining towns — a garrison town with a very large square and a great many soldiers in it.Porážka pri Moháči v roku 1526 posunula osmanskú hranicu na sever tak, že viedla len asi päťdesiat kilometrov južne od Zvolena, a rozvoj mesta sa na poldruha storočia zastavil. Pred úpadkom na okrajovú dedinu ho zachránilo to isté, čo z neho robilo cieľ: cesta cez Zvolen viedla k striebru a zlatu stredoslovenských banských miest. Postavili mestské hradby, hrad prestavali pre delá a od roku 1575 tu sídlila stála posádka pod velením zvolenských županov. Zvolen sa stal centrom obrany banských miest — posádkovým mestom s obrovským námestím a s množstvom vojakov na ňom.