Manor Houses

The collection Cultural Heritage of Slovakia also includes the book Manor Houses which, together with another book Castles and Chateaux, continues freely the previous book about castles in ruins.

Manor houses, which had replaced medieval castles, were mostly built on flat surfaces in the site of small Gothic castles. Originally they had a defensive function, but since the end of the 16th century, the emphasis had been given rather on their representative function and comfort. In Slovakia, manor houses of various building styles have been preserved. Today they can be found in every Slovak town and they have become landmarks of villages and regions.

The first chapter of this book is mostly dedicated to those manor houses which are mostly beautifully reconstructed and house museums of various characters. Of course, we have not omitted those which are beautifully reconstructed and today they fulfil other roles (accommodation facilities, houses of artists or seats of institutions). These are the topic of the second chapter. Finally, we have presented those which are historically important but they are not in a very good condition and are waiting for reconstruction. You will find them in the third chapter. Every presentation of a manor house starts with the description of its location and access roads, following with its history and the present. The texts about manor houses are interwoven by legends connected to its inhabitants and historical events. We have not omitted old photographs, maps and of course contemporary photographs.
It was not very easy to choose “only” 30 most interesting manor houses into our book. We are aware of the fact that this book reflects merely our subjective opinions and other specialists or readers need not identify fully with our ideas. We intended to choose such manor houses that are interesting from the aesthetic as well as from the historical point of view.