House of Town’s headsman (Katov dom)

The house dates back to 1580 and can be seen in the oldest vista of Trenčín. In the 17^th century, according to folk legend, it served as a town’s headsman’s home as well as a prison. More likely the house received its name during the 19^th century, when the town´s headsman purportedly lived there.

In 1412, king Sigmund of Luxemburg granted Trenčín the status of free royal town with the right of sword. Executions were usually carried out by town headsman below the city walls, near City Tower (Metská veža). Most common form of execution was beheading or hanging. Double-edged sword was used for beheadings in Hungary. The condemned would kneel or sit on a chair. According to written accords, the city of Trenčín had three execution swords. Two of them have been preserved in the collections of The museum of Trenčín.

Nowadays, you can see an exhibition of town headsman´s swords, pillory, shackles, replica of rack, halberts of city catchpolls, uniforms of city police captain, sabres and guns of city policemen, and other historical items of interest.

The house is the only preserved evidence of the shape of a medieval burgher’s house in Trenčín. It is thought to have been a gothic style structure originally that was updated in the renaissance style. The house is a three stories high building with two-dimension disposition and a wooden circular-trajectory courtyard gallery. It is located on the street leading to the castle.