The Present
OUR PÉCHY COUNTRY HOUSE IS NOW A LOVINGLY RESTORED, INTIMATE BOUTIQUE HOTEL, OUR ESTATE AN OASIS OF STYLISH ELEGANCE. Noblesse oblige – WE HOLD ON TO THE LEGENDARY HOSPITALITY OF THE LANDED GENTRY.
„History persists by those who respect the past and believe in future.”
today, THE Péchy couNtry house and ESTATE IS OWNED BY KLÁRA SZAKALL DE LOSONCZ, THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF george and klÁra péchy de Péchujfalu.
Old fairy tales about a long-lost world as landlords of valuable possessions and large estates accompanied me through my wandering life. I studied and worked as an international architecture journalist in Switzerland, got married, had two wonderful sons. Happy times, not suspecting that fate still had a very special challenge in store for me: I fell in love with a ruin. Actually, several ruins, in Slovakia.
Imagine a Manor house, which was my mother’s early home, with crumbled walls and a forfeited roof. Next to it a looted guest house and a completely dilapidated gardener's home. The former English Park a jungle, the forest a disaster - not to speak of the vanished tennis court and swimming pool. All this fell into decay because of our expropriation under the communist regime.
It took some 25 years of my life to renovate our former estate and there is still much to do. But today I feel proud to have saved a small piece of European history.
Life is about dreams becoming true when a (wo)man is brave. Now that life, joy and harmony have moved back into the old walls, we can continue telling our old stories and start new ones. I hope our guests will enjoy their stay and feel as comfortable at as back in the old times.
I warmly look forward to your visit.
Barbora soon settled into life at Péchy and became the typical lady of the manor. She was very much involved with the local community and embarked on making many generous gifts to the village. She ordered and paid for the construction of a Catholic church opposite the manor house. It still stands there today with its onion-domed tower and a Gothic altar by Master Paul of Levoca, the sculptor and creator of the tallest wooden Gothic altarpiece in the world. In 1818, she ordered a domed mausoleum to be built in front of the main entrance to this church for her beloved husband – until today, it houses the coffins of the couple. Around 1800, the gentle slope around the manor house was transformed into a two-hectare English park with a French garden.
was a royal advisor during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa. He and and his wife Zsófia, (née Usz de Uszfalva), were landlords and patrons of Hermanovce (Hermány). The history of their son Franciscus Péchy de Péchujfalu, an imperial commissioner who ruled over the nearby lands and villages, is remembered as a great love story of that era: When Franciscus proposed to Barbora Bereczky, the daughter of a nobleman from the town of Bardejov, he received the answer: “yes''. However, her agreement came with a condition attached: Franciscus should build her a new manor house on the hill of his estate. Her wish was fulfilled with the building of the present manor house in the neo-classical style fashionable at the time.
A
FAMILY-PORTRAIT
DURING
A FOREST
WALK
IN
1925
George Péchy de Péchujfalu and his wife Klára,
(née Bánó de Tapolylucska et Kükemezö), owned Péchy Castle, its manor yard, distillery, vast forests and arable lands until 1945. In 1929, they built a Hunting Lodge as a guest house for their relatives from Budapest, who enjoyed their holidays in the country. Favourite pastimes at the time included hunting, picnics in the great outdoors, carriage rides and walks, paying visits to relatives in the surrounding mansions, balls in Budapest and excursions to the historic towns of Prešov (Eperjes) and Košice (Kassa). To the delight of everyone, George and Klára added a tennis court next to the manor house and a swimming pool supplied by freshwater from the adjoining creek. At the end of the Second World War, when the Soviets marched through the region, George Péchy was captured by Soviet soldiers and held in a prison work camp in Caucasus mountains. He died there in 1945 as a result of the terrible conditions he was forced to endure.
Klára, (née Bánó de Tapolylucska et Kükemezö)
was allowed to live on in one room in the looted mansion with her only daughter Klára until 1948. After that, they were expelled from the village leaving behind hundreds of years of family history and allowed to take one small suitcase each with them. Until the mid-fifties, they lived in a tiny farmhouse in a nearby valley. The Communist regime confiscated the entire property of the Péchy family in 1945. The buildings were used as schools, but over time they became ruins and the park turned to a jungle. In the 1990s, during the restitution period of the former socialist countries, parts of the original property were given back to the family. The granddaughter of George and Klàra Péchy de Péchujfalu took on the task of her life in rebuilding and saving the centuries-old family heritage – reconstructing the park, renovating the houses and reviving the forests.
Timeline
1555
1997 - today
1790
1300 a.c.
1945
NOBILITY AWARDED BY KING FERDINAND I.
KLÁRA SZAKALL DE LOSONCZ,
MANOR HOUSE
AND CHURCH
CONFISCATION BY THE COMMUNIST REGIME
Villa Hermani Superior et Inferior
The entire property of George Péchy de Péchujfalu and his wife Klára, (née Bánó de Tapolylucska et Kükemezö), is lost to the family.
Franciscus Péchy de Péchujfalu builds a manor house in the neo-classical style. His wife Barbora, (née Bereczky), donates a Catholic church to the village.
The family-title becomes Péchy de Péchyujfalu, their major estate being Pečovská Nová Ves and vicinity. The estate in Hermanovce is later gained through marriage.
granddaughter of the last owners, rebuilds the estate from its ruins and thereby saves its history and tradition for the generations to come.
The first written record of the settlement is referred to in letters patent around 1300 as “Villa Hermani Superior et Inferior”.
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