Abandoned legacy: the ruins of the Novak estate in Ruske Pole (PHOTOS)

This is the estate of the wealthy Hungarian Novak family, where on November 21, 1849, Andriy (Endre) Novak – a well-known doctor, that the Transcarpathian Regional Clinical Hospital was named after – was born – the Tyachiv.com.ua informs.

The researchers say that it was Novaks who named the village, where they owned a third of the land, Urmezo, which means "The Lord’s Field". Since then and till now the village is unofficially called Urmezyovo. The head of the family – Daniel Novak – owned the local vodka factory.   

The family of Novaks was large: Endre was the ninth child in the family. He received primary education in Tyachiv, continued his studies at high schools in Mukachevo, Szatmár and Uzhgorod. In 1872, Endre graduated with honors from the Faculty of Medicine of the Budapest University, and received the degree of surgeon, ophthalmologist and obstetrician-gynecologist.

In 1872, the epidemic of cholera started in the territory of the present Transcarpathia. The young doctor Andriy Novak was sent from Budapest to fight this illness. In 1874, the doctor founded a hospital in Uzhgorod, which he was heading until 1920, and in 1890, he founded Uzhgorod obstetric school, where every year 60 qualified obstetricians were trained. Dr. Novak was also engaged in educational, journalistic and public activities.

They say that people respected the famous so much that the cart drivers going to the market in the morning along Sobranetska street, where he lived, would put straw on the cobblestones in front of his house, so that the clatter of horses’ hoofs did not disturb the doctor.

Andriy Novak died of heart paralysis in 1939, two months before his 90th anniversary.

According to Mykhailo Savchuk, a local ethnographer from Tyachiv, for his significant contribution to the public life in Uzhgorod, Endre Novak was awarded the honorary title of a life-long citizen of Uzhgorod, and in 1905, a street was named in his honor. Together with his wife, Morgit Fekete, he had six children, two of whom died at an early age and were buried in the Kalvaria cemetery. His son Andor became a famous artist, he lived in Norway. One of his pictures is exhibited in Budapest art gallery. Another son, lawyer Lorand lived in Hungary, daughters Agatha – in the United States, Magda – in Hungary.  

According to Mykhailo Savchuk, in Ruske Pole, there are several little-known objects associated with the Novak family. Those include the distillery, which was successfully operating during the Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak periods, and later the wine factory was situated there. Also there is a grain storage facility. In the former Novak’s office, a bar is now situated. And all that’s left of the Novak estate is the ruins on Zavodska street in Ruske Pole. In the Soviet period, the kindergarten No. 3 was situated there. Now the remains of the building are crumbling and overgrown with shrubs.

Officials of Ruske Pole village council say that the building could be saved from a complete destruction by a grant project for the preservation of cultural heritage.