The Renaissance Manor House of the Péchy family “Pečovská Nová Ves“
The first written record on the municipality of Pečovská Nová Ves dates back from 1319 (Wyfalu). Until 1322, the municipality was a royal property. Later on, it was owned by the nobleman Mičko, who built his seat high in the Čergov mountains. The castle and the estate were acquired in 1556 by the Péchy family. Instead of living in the old and damaged castle known as Ujvár, they built a more comfortable residence below the castle. The fortified aristocratic residence was built on the left-bank of the river Torysa (361 m above sea level), where the terrain in the south falls towards the valley of the river Torysa and in the west towards the valley of the river Ľutinka. It is a well-situated place within the valley with a good view of the valley and the important business road which lead through it. Due to the presence of embrasures, it is assumed that the manor house was built to protect the nearby Hanigov Castle. It should be noted that manor houses with embrasures are a unique thing in Slovakia. The building, later known as the “Ringov Manor House”, was built between 1556 and 1563. The deed of donation from 1556 does not mention the manor house, though, so it is assumed that it did not exist at that time and it is very unlikely that the building was built by the previous owners of the village (Tarczay family), as such an important stone building would certainly be mentioned in the deed of donation. An inscription dated 20 June 1649 has been preserved on the wooden beam of the manor’s ceiling. The architectural details tell us that the building was built in the second half of the 16th century – the round profile of most of linings at the building’s openings are typical for the Gothic to Renaissance transition period.
The aristocratic residence was a compact building with a high prismatic tower and a residential palace with a smaller wing in the north-eastern corner. The palace, unlike the rest of the estate (made of stone), was built using wooden beams. There were more embrasures in the rough walls of the building than windows and even fewer entrances. The entranced were placed in the south and perhaps in the west of the building. There were about four windows with a profiled Renaissance lining on the west and south façades, only two on the north and no windows on the east façades. The façades were dominated by various types of embrasures, up to 27 in total (crosslet loop, arbalestina). They were located mainly on the upper floors and strategically arranged so that the building could be defended as effectively as possible. To this day, a massive corner tower has been preserved, where the embrasures can still be seen. In each room, stone Renaissance doors, Renaissance stucco figures on the vaults and a Baroque fireplace have been preserved. In the 19th century, the manor house was probably no longer the representative seat of the Péchy family as they probably rented the building out or used it for other purposes.
The most interesting thing about this manor house is its architectural style – it was built in a style resembling Irish buildings – a style unheard of in any other part of Slovakia. By analogy, the most similar buildings are located in Šimonovany or Parížany. The original plan was to build the manor house in the style of a lowland castle – that is why it was surrounded by a moat. The result is a hybrid between a castle and a manor house.
