Museum and Cultural centre of the Southern Zemplín in Trebišov

Manor house in Trebišov exists since 1793. Construction started in 1779 and it was initiated by Count Imre (Imrich) Csáky. Two-storey building consists of three blocks, shaped in the form of the letter U. Later owner – Count Gyula (Július) Andrássy had two towers added sometime before 1887. During its existence, the manor house served as a residence of three noble families – Csáky, Szapáry and Andrássy. It always served as a gallery of family portraits and collections from famous European artists. Proper functioning and supply of this manor house was secured by number of buildings within its grounds. A kitchen was located in the southern part of yard and it was connected to the main building with an underground tunnel. Up to this day, a beautiful park remains the integral part of the manor house complex. It was created in the area of a floodplain forest which was adapted to requirements of the owners. During 19^th century, it contained a ruin of Parič castle. A French garden is located behind balustrade, still featuring a fountain.  In the past, it was a place of relax that housed bronze statues and stone benches. During the First World War, the manor house became a sort of barracks as it was a home to a brigade of Austria-Hungarian army, later (after 1918) of a Czechoslovakian brigade. There were several institutions located in the manor house, including Office of the tobacco trade and hospital. After the 1979, it was abandoned until 1984 when it was reconstructed and opened to the public, now serving as a museum. In 2016, there was a large reconstruction which not only repaired damage on the main building, but saved other objects within manor house grounds that were largely damaged.

Expositions

Today, museum offers its visitors an option to take a look into secrets of a past life of our predecessors, using a number of thematically focused expositions. Firstly, it houses permanent expositions dedicated to the folk culture and life of common people. This includes“Traditional crafts of the southern Zemplín” which focuses on blacksmithing, wheelwrighting and rope-making – these having a long lasting tradition in this region. “Exposition of the history of agriculture” gives visitors an option to explore development of machinery and techniques, used during 19^th century on the fields around Trebišov. It is closely connected to the exposition “Tokaj winegrowing and wine making” which presents history of wine making in Tokaj region and besides that, offers them an option to taste some of the traditional wines. Naturally, museum does not forget about its past noble owners. Csáky, Szapaáry or Andrássy – exposition “Noble families of the Trebišov manor house” is dedicated to all three families that once inhabited its rooms. Fate of the very important noble Štefan (István) Dobó is mapped in the interactive exposition called “Treasury of the Dobó family.” The most important and most valuable artefacts are renaissance jewellery pieces, originating from the graves of Štefan Dobó, his wife Sára Sulyok and their children.

Description of the new SMART exposition

New interactive exposition Medieval history of the southern Zemplín was created within the project SmartMuseum as a way to present cultural heritage via operative programme of cross-border cooperation ENI Hungary – Slovakia – Romania –Ukraine 2014-2020. One of the goals of the project was increase of tourist attractiveness of selected historical and cultural monuments in Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary, as well as to promote such historical sites using marketing strategies and cross-border cooperation. Museum and Cultural centre of the southern Zemplín in Trebišov became one of the three museums within Košice self-governing region who participated in this project. The goal of our museum was to create a new, interactive exposition focused on medieval history of this region. We selected locations that formed history of the southern Zemplín – Parič castle, defunct Romanesque church of the Holy Spirit in Trebišov, as well as historically and geographically significant fortification/castle Zemplín. Besides selected locations, our exposition will present archaeological findings from previous research, ideal look of the Parič castle during High Middle Ages which will be created using virtual 3D model, sacral architecture of the Romanesque period, wealth of the Old Hungarian noble grave from Zemplín or 3D model of the Zemplín fortification, which will be created in cooperation with the Monuments Board of the Slovak republic.