The Saint-Miklos Castle. Part one.

I’d like to begin by saying that we had to check this place out more than once before we could accumulate enough material to write this up. A few times the opportunity of taking a look inside simply wasn’t there and the visits would be limited to doing some walking around and staring at the crumbling walls. On one occasion though, while passing through a village of Chinadievo (ukr: Чинадієво), we decided to try our luck again and unlike the previous times, the person who is temporarily leasing the castle (since 2001 for the next 30 years) happened to be on site. A few words about him: Joseph Bartosh is a local painter who dedicated one of the rooms in the castle to be his work shop, where many young and upcoming talents are learning the art of painting. Joseph also happens to be part of Kalgan-A charity group, which consists of many prominent painters of Transcarpatia, who for many years have been trying to renovate the castle in as much as their own resources and capabilities allow for. Getting inside the castle turned out to be just a matter of finding the right door and ringing the bell. During that particular visit we were able to examine the basement of the castle and also the part of the building found all the way up at top right underneath the roof. If you decide to visit the site, make sure Joseph is there at the time as he can provide an awesome tour around the castle. I do want to warn you though… prepare yourself for some disappointment and I am going to tell you why in a bit.

A bit of history. The village of Chinadievo is found just 12 km outside of Transcapatian second largest city – Mukachevo. As such, the history of the village is tightly interrelated with the history of this town. The manuscripts appear to mention Chinadievo as early as 1214 as Saint Miklosh (ukr: Сент-Міклош). This is the Hungarian name which is found in the official papers all the way up until 1944. The name itself originates from the medieval castle named after Saint Nicholas. In 1264 the King Ishtvan V gave the village away as a gift to magister Aladar, who was the King’s representative in Galicia at the time. At the end of the 14th century, in 1387 to be exact, Chinadievo became part of the property of the Perenyi family. The castle was built in the village in the 15th century. Architecturally, it’s very typical of other roman medieval buildings of that time.

The castle itself is a two storey rectangular building with the three-level towers placed at the corners. The thickness of the walls easily reaches a meter. From the birds-eye view, the castle resembles something like a dolly with the two towers making up the wheels. There are 6 rooms on the first floor and a huge lobby. The second floor closely mirrors the layout of the first one. The two floors are connected by a wooden stairway and the basement is just humangous.

The owners of the castle would be changing along with the owners of the territory. In 1574 the dominia of Chinadievo was bought my Mikhail Telegdi for 22,000 forints. However, In 1610 Ishtvan Nyari was trying to get it and asked the King’s permission to do so for 7,000 forints. The decision did not come through for another 15 years. And another 15 years later, one of the castle walls got decorate by a family crest of the Lonyois.

In 1657 the castle suffered substantial damage by the Polish forces led by count Lubomirski, which prompted its owners to begin some major renovations. As the time was passing by, the strategic importance of the castle was being gradually lost and in the beginning of the 18th century the building was not standing up to its initial expectations at all. During the war of 1703-1711 the castle was used by the rebels. After the rebel forces conceived a defeat to the Austrian military (June 27th, 1703), the castle became a shelter for Ferenc Rakoczi. Later on, the Mukachevo-Chinadievo dominia came into the possession of the Austrian Emperor. In 1726 the Emperor Karl VI decided to give this land to bishop Schenborn whose family owned it for the next 200 years.

As you can imagine, the walls of the castle have seen a lot during these times. During the World War II the castle even served as a prison where a few nazi resistance fighters were held and tortured. During the soviet times the local administration of the Communist party (Sel’sovet) inhabited the castle. At one point it was just a warehouse and even the military construction crews responsible for building the highway for the 1980 Moscow Olympics were based here. Now the local enthusiasts are trying to renovate the castle themselves. The state offers little help providing the funds in quantities barely sufficient for any substantial work to be done. It is safe to say, the military personnel based here caused the most damage. The interior was majorly re-arranged in a brutal manner with some of the walls being partially demolished and the holes in the floors made quite randomly to accommodate the stairways. Not to mention the damage to the walls made by numerous holes for the electrical wiring. It is difficult not to feel sad when seeing this while talking a walk through the castle.

At present there are two churches in Chinadievo. Both of them could be the potential points of interests for the visitors who are into the Transcarpatian heritage. The newer church with the copper domes can be found right next to the main road. It is famous for containing a wood block inside which a cross was once discovered. The second church is a smaller one and can be found behind the houses across the street from the first one. The church of St. Nicholas was built in the 18th century and is connected to the castle of Saint Miklos by a 200 meter tunnel. Unfortunately, at the moment, the entrance to the tunnel is not accessible for the public either from the castle or from the church. At the castle end, it was blocked off during the time when the military was stationed here as a measure to prevent the occasional deserters from escaping.

Some pictures with my comments follow:



Actually, the castle is located in the middle of the agricultural zone. What follows from this is that the windows of one of the Transcarpatian oldest castles are in immediate proximity to a bunch of the agricultural equipment which just reeks of diesel. The dormitory for the workers of the zone can be found roughly half way in between the castle and the village. What is seen on the picture – is the P-like indentation in the back wall of the castle. You may be wondering why the back wall was chosen for this and the main reason is that both of the towers are facing the direction the enemy was most likely to approach from. In other words, the defence of this side of the building was not considered to be necessary as it was always facing to the friendly territory of the empire’. The third level right near the roof is seen to contain numerous embrasures.



This is the right tower of the castle. The Embrasures. These windows here are of much later periods.



The left tower of the castle. If you take a closer look at the spot where the tower is touching the main wall, you can see the embrasures used to defend the wall in between the two towers.



This is the entrance to the museum and the door bell. If someone happens to be inside at the time you can ask them to let you have a look inside.



Embrasure on the left tower.



Another row of smaller embrasures underneath the roof. Taking a closer look reveals the contours of what once was an arch.



This photo demonstrates that the windows of the castle have witnessed their share of reconstruction.

The original arch can be seen at the top, followed by the older brick. A slightly later laid brick is found down below and finally another layer of bricks and a window, which was installed probably just a few decades ago.



This is the entrance door to the basement part of the castle. You can see what I mean by a size of the walls being a meter wide.

More links on the same topic:

The castle of the Chinadievo (Saint Miklos). The second part.
The castle of the Chinadievo (Saint Miklos). The third part.

05.10.2010. 08:17

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