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. 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.

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