Historical buildings of Uzhgorod: the Gizella House – the first educational institution for girls (PHOTOS)

Oleksandr Bohdanov wrote about one of the many historic buildings of Uzhgorod on his page on Facebook.The need for such publications is obvious as today we are witnessing the cultural heritage of the city being destroyed by ignorant people.  

The Gizella House in Uzhgorod on Voloshin street. It used to be the first city church educational institution for girls. Before the revolution of 1848-1849, there had been no such institutions in Uzhgorod. The first, private ones, appeared in the second half of the 19th century. At first, the "Gizella House" (as an organization) was located on Kapitulna street and only a few years later "moved" to Velyka street (now Voloshin street). A few decades later, it "moved" again. The building housed an elementary school, a kindergarten, a boarding school for 30 girls, needlework and music courses. Now, Uzhgorod Music School is situated in the building. There used to be a small chapel "Heart of Jesus" on the second floor of the building, and a dome with a large cross on the roof. Now all that is gone. But in a small niche under the roof, you can see the statue of St. Gizella (985-1065) – the wife of the first Hungarian King St. Istvan. After her husband’s death, she returned to Bavaria, became a nun and, after her death, was proclaimed a saint.

This statue was the second item (the first one was the wooden Star of David in the attic of the old synagogue) in my list of inaccessible "points" that I promised myself to photograph, once I have a drone. Done. I’m happy.