But, of course, everything interesting begins with the romantic and mysterious past of Transcarpathia:
The snowiest place in Ukraine is Rus'ka Mokra. On average there is a regular snow cover for 116 days per annum.
The highest mountain of Ukraine is Hoverla (height 2.061m).
The biggest mountain lake of Ukraine is Synevyr, with an area of 70 m2 at a height of 989 m.
The steepest town in Ukraine is Rakhiv. Its height above sea level is 820m, and its streets vary between the lowest at 400 m and the highest at 900 m.
The highest highway in Ukraine is the motorway along Yablunetskyy pass at a height of 931m.
The longest railway tunnel in Ukraine is Shcherbyn-Syanky (908m).
During its long history, leaders and rulers of those countries, which governed Transcarpathia, dictated the fortunes of the people. A lot of them remained in people's memory as good rulers. People erected monuments and sculptures to some of them, but tried to forget others as soon as possible. Still, history remains history:
Geto-Dacia state:
Burebista - leader of Getodacs, 40th years BC,
Detsebal - leader of Getodacs 106 AD
Roman Empire (province of Dacia)
Mark Ulpiy Trayan - Emperor (98-117).
Avars union
Avar leaders- VI-VII cc.
Great Moravia
Svyatopolk - Moravian Prince (874-894).
He was the owner of western regions of historic Transcarpathia.
Probably, a legendary Prince Laborets' was subordinate to him.
First Bulgarian Principality
Simeon- tsar (892-927).
He controlled the territory in the lowland areas.
Hungarian Kingdom
Arpad dynasty of Prince Arpad (904-907)
Saint Istvan I, 1000-1038 - the first king.
Peter, 1938-1041.
Peter - 1044-1046.
Andras I- 1046-1061.
Bela I- 1061-1063.
Salamon - 1063-1074.
Geza I- 1074-1077.
St. Laszlo I, 1077-1095.
Kalman I, 1095-1114.
Istvan II, 1114-1131.
Bela II Blind, 1131-1141.
Heyza II, 1141-1161.
Istvan III, 1161-1173.
Anty- Laszlo II, 1162-1163.
Anty- Istvan IV, 1163-1164.
Bela III, 1173-1196.
Imre, 1196-1204.
Laszlo III, 1204-1205.
Andras II, 1205-1235.
Bela IV, 1235-1270.
Istvan V, 1270-1272.
Laszlo IV, 1272-1290.
Andras III, 1290-1301, the last of Arpadovyches.
Struggle for the throne
Vaclav, 1301-1305.
Otto, 1305-1308.
Dynasty of Italian Anjou
Karl Robert, 1308 (1320)-1342.
Lajos I Great, 1342-1382.
Maria, 1382-1385.
Karl II Little of Naples, 1385-1387.
Zsigmond of Luxembourg, 1387-1437.
Albert Hapsburg, 1437-1439.
Erzsebet, 1439-1440.
Ulaszlo I Yahelon, 1440-1444.
Laszlo V Posmertnyy (Posthumous), 1444-1457.
Regent Yanosh Hunyadi, 1446-1453.
Hunyadi Matyas I (Corvin), 1458-1490.
Regent Szilagyi Mihaly, 1458.
Fridrich III Yahelon from league Harayi, 1459.
Ulaszlo II, 1490-1516.
Lajos II, 1516-1526.
Turkish expansion of the Hungarian Royalty.
Collapse of Great Hungary into several parts.
Ruler Yanosh Zapolyayi, 1526-1541.
West Hungary as a part of Austria
Austrian dynasty Hapsburg
Ferdinand I, 1526-1564.
Maximilian II, 1564-1576.
Rudolf II, 1576-1608.
Matyas I, 1608-1619.
Ferdinand II, 1618-1637.
Ferdinand III, 1637-1657.
Leopold I, 1657-1705.
Jozsef I, 1705-1711.
Karl III, 1711-1740.
Maria-Teresa, 1740-1780.
Jozsef II, 1780-1790.
Leopold II, 1790-1792.
Franc II, 1792-1835.
Ferdinand V, 1835-1848.
East part of Hungary as a part of Transylvania
Transylvanian princes:
Bathori Istvan - 1576.
Bathori Kristof - 1576-1581.
Bathori Zsigmond - 1586-1599.
Bathori Andras - 1599-1603.
Szekely Mozes - 1603.
Bocskai Istvan, 1605-1606, ruler of Hungary and Transylvania.
Rakoczi Zsigmond - 1607-1608.
Bathori Gabor - 1608-1619.
Bethlen Gabor - 1613-1629.
Rakoczi Gyorgy I- 1630-1648.
Rakoczi Gyorgy II- 1648-1660.
Bathori Zsofia and her son Rakoczi Ferenc I.
Apafi Mihaly, 1661-1690.
Thokoly Imre and Ilona Zrini, 1690-1703.
Rakoczi Ferenc II, 1703-1711.
Hungarian Republic
Kossuth Lajos, 1848-1849.
Dualistic state Austro-Hungary.
Ferenc Jozsef, 1848-1916.
Karl IV, 1916-1918.
Hungarian Republic
Karolyi Mihaly, 1918-1919.
Hungarian Soviet Republic
Kun Bela, 1919.
Hutsul Republic
Stepan Klochurak (December 1918-June 1919)
Czechoslovakian Republic
Presidents:
T. Masaryk, 1918-1935.
E. Benesh, 1935-1938.
Y. Syrovy, September-December 1938.
E. Haha, December 1938-March 1939.
Carpathian Ukraine
Avhustyn Voloshyn, 1938-March 1939.
Hungarian monarchy
Nagybanyai Horthy Miklos, 1938-1944.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
General secretaries of the Communist Party:
Y. V. Stalin (Dzhuhashvili), 1944-1953.
H. M. Malenkov, 1953.
M. S. Khrushchev, 1954-1964.
L. I. Brezhnev, 1964-1982.
Yu. V. Andropov, 1982-1984.
K.U. Chernenko, 1984-1985.
M. S. Gorbachev, 1985-1991.
Ukraine
Presidents:
L. M. Kravchuk, 1991-1994.
L. D. Kuchma, 1994-
The first University in Transcarpathia was founded in Uzhhorod in 1945. In October 1945 there were four faculties here (History, Philology, Biology, Medicine). During the years of its existence the Uzhhorod National University has trained more than 40,000 specialists who became Academicians, Professors and Scientists, who work in different branches of education, culture, health and the national economy. Interesting scientific research has been undertaken in linguistics and dialectology, Carpathian studies, physics and chemistry of semi-conductors, theoretical physics, physics of electro-atomic contiguities.
The biggest musical instrument in Ukraine is hutsul wooden trembita (kind of wind instrument), which is 4 metres long.
The most "athletic" of Ukrainian fauna is a fast frog, which lives only in Transcarpathia. It can jump up to 2 metres in distancee and up to 1metre high.
The oldest human remains in Ukraine and Central Europe were found near Korolevo in Vynohradiv district and date back 1 million years.
Forested but thinly-populated green mountains provided ideal places to build numerous monasteries. The first Christian monks to arrive in our region, together with pupils of Cyril and Methodius, took advantage of this situation. Later, the local feudal lords supported monasteries in every possible way, as the development of education and culture in this difficult to access locality was connected with them. Incidentally, it is not a secret anymore that there was a printing house in the old Hrushivskyy monastery and there was a huge library in the Mukachivskyy one. Nowadays, there are more than 30 monasteries in our region. The best-known are:
1. Mukachivskyy (women's, Orthodox), Mukachevo (XIV c.).
2. Imstuchivskyy (men's, Greek Catholic), Imstychevo (1687).
3. Uholskyy (women's, orthodox), Uhlya (X c.).
4. Chumalivskyy (women's, Orthodox), Chumalevo (1925).
5. Bedevlyanskyy (women's, Orthodox), Bedevlya (1929).
6. Dombokskyy (women's, Orthodox), Rakoshyno (1932).
7. Malobereznyanskyy (men's, Greek Catholic), M. Bereznyy (1742).
8. Drahivskyy (women's, Orthodox), Drahovo-Zabrod' (XIII c.).
9. Lypchanskyy (women's, Orthodox), Lypcha (1925).
10. Izanskyy (men's, Orthodox), Iza-Nankovo (1920).
11. Hustskyy (men's, Orthodox), Hust-Horodylovo (1930).
12. Pryborzhavskyy (women's, Orthodox), Pryborzhavske-Zadnye (1933).
13. Kopashnevskyy (women's, Orthodox), Kopashnyovo (1936).
14. Boronyavskyy (men's, Greek Catholic), Boronyava (1716).
15. Svalyavskyy (women's, Orthodox), Svalyava (1997).
16. Uzhhorodskyy (women's, Roman Catholic), Uzhhorod (1996).
17. Hustskyy (men's, Orthodox), Hust-Kolesarovo (XX c.).
18. Tyshivskyy (men's, Orthodox), Tyshiv (2000).
Every region has something unique of which one can be proud even when away from one's native country. Wooden churches are the pride of Transcarpathia, and are quite unique. They have been built by master craftsmen without nails in architectural styles peculiar only to a particular locality.
One can identify a 'boyk' type of church which is, undoubtedly, the earliest variety of wooden temples in the Carpathians: a triple-framed temple, triple-topped with hipped roofs with several breaks. More narrow rectangles comprise the central and altar parts which adjoin the nave from the West and East. Angle connections were made by cutting "a swallow's tail".
The main stylistic difference of 'lemk' churches is the replacement of the heart of the building with a dominant high-rise structure from the nave to a high bell tower. Even if a 'lemk' church does not have a hipped roof converted into a gable roof, it still must have a baroque cupola.
The plan of 'hutsul' church has a cruciform form and consists of five parts. The central part is wider than lateral ones (Northern and Southern), which are a bit shorter than the Western and Eastern parts. The central part in mid-height turns from right-angled to octahedral in shape. As a result, its hipped roof takes the same shape. A one-cupola, five-framed 'hutsul' temple is compact and well proportioned.
'Boyk, 'lemk and 'hutsul' temples have received their conventional names from the ethnographic groups, who live in the Carpathian region:
Transcarpathia contains almost all of the European architectural styles from the late Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, part Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and up to the styles of the end of XIXc to early XXc. - modernism, eclecticism, functionalism, constructivism.
It was during the epoch of the Middle Ages, when gothic and baroque styles of architecture reigned, that heavy stone churches appeared. They symbolised the strength of religion. Their characteristic features are verticality of composition, their combination of religion and love for life, the shorter transversal nave, lancet windows, and a quite complicated frame system of supports.
There is the only monument in the world to a postman in Transcarpathia (a monument to Fedir Fekete, Turya Remeta, Perechyn district).
The longest lime avenue in Europe is in our region (the Embankment Nezalezhnosti, Uzhhorod).
The Geographical Centre of mainland Europe is near Dilove village, Rakhiv district (48䓞´ North latitude- 23䓗´ East longitude).
The first protective fortifications appeared here in the Bronze Age. These were simply large settlements fortified by earthworks, for example, Ardanivske, Stremtura (Irshava), Halish-Lovachka (Mukachevo). However, the castles of XI-XVII cc represent the most complete form of a defensive work.
There are 12 medieval castles in Transcarpathia. As a matter of fact, a feudal castle is an architectural genre peculiar only to the Middle Ages. It is so closely identified with its epoch that, being born in it, it dies in it as well.
There are two types of castle: one is a castle-parasite, which was used for supervision and collection of tribute from a subjugated territory and raids on a controlled territory; the second one is a castle-protector of a conquered land.
Generally, classic medieval castles have two standard forms: a quadrilateral one, which has some defensive redoubts on the sides, and an eight-sided one, which often changes the form. However, the architectural style of Transcarpathian castles is slightly different due to their geographical position in mountainous areas.
1. UZHHORODSKYY (Uzhhorod city) - XIc, a museum today.
2. MUKACHIVSKYY (Mukachevo city) - XIc, a museum today.
3. NEVYTSKYY (Nevytske village, Uzhhorod district)- ruins, XIII-XVII c., a tourist attraction.
4. SEREDNYANSKYY (Serednye settlement, Uzhhorod district) - ruins, XII-XVIIIc.
5. KVASIVSKYY (Kvasovo village, Berehovo district) - ruins, XII-XVIc.
6. CHYNADIYIVSKYY (Chynadiyevo settlement, Mukachevo district) - park building, XVc.
7. KOROLEVSKYY (Korolevo settlement, Vynohradiv district) - ruins, XII-XVIIc.
8. KHUSTSKYY (Khust town) - ruins, XI-XVIIIc, a tourist attraction.
9. VYNOHRADIVSKYY (Vynohradiv town) - ruins, XI-XVIc.
10. BRONETSKYY (Bronka village, Irshava district) - remains, XIII-XIVc.
11. BORZHAVSKYY (Vary village, Berehovo district)- remains, XI-XVII c.
12. VYSHKIVSKYY (Vyshkovo settlement, Khust district) - remains, XIII-XIVc.
Castles were necessary for war, whereas for personal habitation the famous feudal families tended to build grand mansions or palaces. The size and luxury of the interior rooms and the originality and variety of architectural styles in exterior decoration are typical of the Transcarpathian manorial palaces:
1. SCHONBORN CASTLE-VILLA (health centre 'Karpaty', Mukachevo district).
2. PERENI PALACE (Vynohradiv).
3. DOVHAYS PALACE (Dovhe, Irshava district).
4. RAKOCZI PALACE (Mukachevo).
5. DRUHETS PALACE (ruins, Uzhhorod-Horyany).
6. BETLENS PALACE (Berehovo).
7. PLOTENI PALACE (Velyki Lazy, Uzhhorod district).
In population, our region is larger than Island, Djibouti, West Sahara, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Swaziland, Belize, Surinam, Guyana, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands.
Transcarpathia is a region where different cultures, people and religions live together. Not only various ethos, but also geographical and climatic zones are mingled here. Even many wars and upheavals could not rupture friendly relations among the people, religions, cultures and countries. Even the awesome Carpathian Mountains protect Transcarpathian lowlands from cold winds. Therefore, it is not unusual that in this multi-cultural mix there is a rich vein of original names of settlements of Transcarpathia with interesting explanations of their origin, such as:
1. Uzhhorod: heroic city above the river Uzh. The Old Bulgarian words 'uhol'', which means coal and 'uhol', which means corner and the word 'uzok' (narrow) meaning a narrow valley of the river Uzh, or from the Turkish words 'ung', 'ong', which are translated as 'right'.
2. Mukachevo: from the world 'muka' to mean suffer while building a powerful castle 'Palanok; from the word 'muka', an old Slavonic word 'flour'- in those times there was a huge grain mill. From the word 'land of Mr. Munkachi', a Hungarian variant of the town name.
3. Khust: from the Hungarian word 'land of voevode Husti'.
4. Berehovo: a Slavonic name of 'place on a dry-bank land'.
5. Tyachiv: an old German name 'Doych-au', 'Tyych-au', 'Tyycho' is translated as 'German village'.
6. Vynohradiv: 'a place where the grapes are grown'.
7. Svalyava: from old Hungarian and old Slavonic 'solva', i.e. a place, where salt (mineral) water flows'.
8. Rakhiv: named after count or landowner Rakh'.
9. Irshava: an old Slavonic name from the word 'irzhava' (rusty). The river Irshavka or Irzhavka carried a large amount of ferric oxide, so it had a corresponding rusty colour. The old name 'Iloshva' is from the surname of the owners of this territory.
10. Perechyn: from the words 'peretyn', i.e. crossing of roads or it has the meaning 'land of Mr. Perecheni'.
11. Velykyy Bereznyy: means 'a large birch forest'.
12. Mizhhirya: the newer name is 'a place among mountains'.
13. Volovets': means 'a place where cattle (oxen) from pastures spend winter'.
Names of other settlements:
Roztoky, Hat', Hreblya, Vyr', Zarichcha, Uzhok, Synyak, Kalnyk, Kamyanka- (from the words-hydronyms: a river, water, streams and bogs).
Holm, Dilok, Dilove, Kopynivtsi, Pryslop, Bereh, Zaperedillya, Vertep, Kut- (derived from the word-oronyms: mountains, a mountain).
Tysyanka, Bereznyy, Sokyrnytsya, Chertizh, Horinchovo, Yablunevo, Kalyny, Orihovytsya, Lypovo, Loza, Lozyanske, Smerekovo, Verbovets', Hrushevo, Ternovo, Olshavka, Hrabovo, Duby, Dubove, Dibrova, Dubrivka, Yasinya, Trosnyk, Trostyanytsya, Kolodne, Liskovets', Lisarnya, Drachyno, Koropets', Stroyno, Berezove, Barvinok, Bobovyshche, Bukovets', Kashtanovo, Topolyn, Lopushanka, Repynka, Vilhovatyy, Vilhivtsi, Vilshany- (derived from the words which mean: a forest, a tree, species of trees and plants).
Kamyanytsya, Tseholnya, Uhlytsya, Kopashnevo, Kopanya, Bereh, Ploska, Maydan, Kosyno, Lazy, Polyana, Luh, Luhy, Lazyshchyna- (derived from the words which mean land, field).
New village, Svoboda, Novoselytsya, Pasika, Perelaz, Vorota- (derived from the words which mean a village and manufacturing buildings).
Turya-Polyana, Turya-Remeta, Turichky, Vovkove, Komarivtsi, Kobyletska Polyana, Kidyosh, Bilky, Zhukovo, Medvezhyy, Olenevo, Koropets', Chop, Osava, Holubyne, Rakoshyno, Rakovo, Lysychavo, Kobylynets', Klyachanovo, Meshkarnya, Kuchava, Ploskanovytsya, Volosyanka, Volovets', Volovoye, Bychkovo, Veretsky, Keretsky, Baranyntsi, Stryhalnya, Scotarske- (derived from words with animal names).
According to our ancestors: there is a time for work and a time for rest. Transcarpathia is famous for its originality and traditions of celebrations. Up to the present day, one can see adults and children singing Christmas carols in towns and villages, or people gathering near Christian churches with traditional baskets to be sanctified during Easter.
Every nation that lives in our region has its own traditions on its holidays, whether or not it be a Hanukah holiday of Jews, Christmas of Hungarians and Germans, a Pancake week of Russians, Trinity of Ukrainians and Romas, or Marcisor of Rumanians.