A renaissance mansion with a park on the southern outskirts of Borša, built on the site of an original medieval water castle. Birthplace of František Rákóczi II.
The mansion was built on the site of the original water castle. The castle may have been located on the south side of the main building, which is also indicated by the uncovered foundations in which a circular trace of the tower is drawn. But it can also be hidden in a huge corner bay on the north side, although it was built earlier to defend the mansion. In front of the older part of the building is a sign of a ditch that could serve the water castle. The mansion currently has an L-shaped ground plan, taking into account the addition of new economic parts in the shape of an irregular U-shaped letter. The facade facing the street has a large semi-circular portal with a rectangular border in the middle of the ground floor. The design of the portal does not exclude the possibility of using a drop lattice (eventually lifting a part of the bridge). The floor consists of mostly associated windows with ledges in the windowsill, at the edge of the facade is in one of the windows a triangular decorative shield. The wings of the courtyard have arcades from the 18th century.The building has mostly flat ceilings and renaissance vaults. The restored rooms are home to a museum with artifacts documenting the history of the mansion and the Rákóczi family. Several collected artifacts recall especially the life and work of Francis II. Rákóczi, leader of the anti-Habsburg uprising, born in this mansion. Remarkable is his bust by the sculptor J. Mayer from 1907, located in front of the main entrance.
The manor house in Borša was built on the site of a medieval water castle, of which several remains have been preserved. Since Borša lies on a lowland and Bodrog flows in its immediate vicinity, it was logical that local landowners used a system of moats to protect the first fortified structure. And so on the right bank terrace of Bodrog, probably at the beginning of the 13th century, a water castle was built, surrounded by deep ditches filled with water from the river.
The mentioned water castle was probably built by Belo IV. after the Tatar invasion. The castle was made of stone and its history is still unknown. Written documents only indicate that the castle was owned by several families (Perínyi, Polónyi, Lórantffy, Rákóczi).
A manor house was built on the site of the former castle, the construction of which was completed in 1570. The manor house was originally built by Miklós Zeleméry Kamarás. In 1602 the manor house fell into the hands of the Lórántffy family and in 1616 the manor house became the property of the Rákóczi family. Around 1630, the building expanded, at that time, among other things, the northwestern and southern corner towers were built, as well as the northern and southern wings of the palace. There was a falling net at the main entrance. Under the stone portal, one entered the courtyard, on which stood farm buildings. The manor house was characterized by a number of Renaissance-decorated windows (these windows as well as doors are still preserved), which illuminated the individual rooms. They were heated by fireplaces located in the corners of the rooms, also decorated in the Renaissance style.
In 1676, Francis II. Rákóczi was born in the manor. However, he did not stay in the manor for a long time and spent most of his childhood at Mukachevo Castle.
The manor house was damaged several times over the following centuries. Minor modifications affected him especially in the 18th and 20th centuries. The first museum was opened here during the II. World War II, but after that the manor began to decay. Today it is the property of the village of Borša and it is trying to reconstruct it as faithfully as possible. At present, in the restored rooms there is a museum mapping the history of the manor house itself and the remains of the Rákóczi family. Several collected artifacts recall especially the life and work of Francis II. Rákóczi. Notable is, for example, his bust by the sculptor J. Mayer from 1907 placed in front of the main entrance.
The manor actually became the property of the Borša municipality in 1990 and its administration was taken over by the local Rákóczi association. Since 1998, research and design work has been carried out here in the framework of cooperation between Slovak and Hungarian organizations for the protection of cultural monuments. Until 2005, they gradually repaired the north wing and the northern part of the west wing of the manor, but these works were suspended. In 2017, the Hungarian government provided a contribution of HUF 805 million (EUR 2,500,000) for the first phase of the reconstruction for the restoration of stone building elements and murals. Reconstruction work began on September 26, 2018.
Since June 2021, the manor house has been open to the public again, housing a hotel, a museum and many other attractions.
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After the reconstruction, the manor house is open to the public again.Learn more