Historical Exposition

Historical exposition

The exposition was publicaly supported by the FOND NA PODPORU UMENIA (FUND FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE ARTS).

The collections of the historical exposition are located in several rooms on the first floor of the main manor house. Almost none of the original furnishings of the manor have been preserved, because the owners of the manor, the Sztárays, took some of the most valuable items away before the evacuation of the town in 1944, and left some of them outside the building with people they trusted. Less valuable equipment was given away or appropriated by the servants just before leaving Michalovce. The rest was taken by the citizens until the consolidation of the situation after the battlefront passed.

In the the historical exposition there are mostly examples of historical furniture of various types and styles (seating furniture, cupboard, chest of drawers, cabinet, dining table, etc.) from the late 18th to early 20th century from the central and southern Zemplín region.

Within the historical exposition and in the most representative space of the whole manor there is a portrait hall or a ceremonial hall. In addition to portraits of members of the Sztáray family, there is also a historical piano and a historical carved bench. The bench was commissioned by the local aristocracy at the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century and comes from a manor house in Vinné, near Michalovce. It is a unique piece of seating furniture, presenting the craftsmanship of its manufacturer. The piano was made at the end of the 19th or the beginning of the 20th century by one of the best Austrian manufacturers of keyboard musical instruments of the time - Pianoforten fabrikanten Schweighofer's Söhnen. The uniqueness of the space is further enhanced by the figurines in period clothing installed in groups, standing in the space.

Within the historical exhibition, the visitor has the opportunity to see the study of Count Alexander Sztáray. The study is furnished with historical furniture accompanied by several period shots of the manor house and its surroundings as well as the Sztáray family.

The most attractive object placed in the study is probably the family tree (a facsimile of the family tree) of Countess Irma Sztáray, a court lady to the Austrian Empress and Queen Elisabeth of Habsburg, dating from 1895.

The Zemplín Museum holds in its collections almost 500 volumes of old prints, i.e. books published before 1918. Several of them originally belonged to the collections of various nobleman's libraries. Part of the historical exhibition space is thus also dedicated to the library. There are prints in Latin, Hungarian, German and French. Philosophy and theology, history and geography, law and politics, and last but not least poetry are represented here. Some of them contain an ex-libris, which makes it possible to identify the owner of the book.