The Illésházy family held Trenčín Castle and its spa for 241 years, from the end of the sixteenth century until 1835. That is an unusually long run for one family in Hungary, and it is why the baths here grew from holes in the ground where sick people sat into a place with buildings, an income and a reputation across the kingdom. The Ottoman wars and the noble revolts went past in the valley below. A spa is not a fortress, and nobody besieges water; it kept coming out of the rock at the same temperature the whole time.Ilešháziovci držali Trenčiansky hrad aj s kúpeľmi 241 rokov, od konca 16. storočia až do roku 1835. Na uhorské pomery je to nezvykle dlho v rukách jedného rodu a práve preto sa z tunajších kúpalísk — z jám, kam si sadali chorí — stalo miesto so stavbami, s príjmom a s povesťou po celej krajine. Turecké vojny aj šľachtické povstania sa prehnali dolinou pod nimi. Kúpele nie sú pevnosť a vodu nikto neobliehal; vytekala zo skaly po celý čas rovnako teplá.
