Carpathians and Carpathians. Carpathian Mountains - stone country Carpathian national features
In the west of Ukraine there is the Transcarpathian region, whose inhabitants call themselves Rusyns. These lands were among the first to become part of the Old Russian state and the first to separate under the pressure of the Hungarian conquests. But the memory of the former homeland remains.
Rusyns: a look back
Residents of Carpathian Rus' sometimes call themselves “A Little Branch of the Great Russian Oak.” This region, which so early lost contact with the ancient Russian state and was for a long time under the influence of Hungarian culture, it would seem, should have completely lost all love for distant compatriots. But, on the contrary, it has always remained a small but strong outpost of “Russianness” on the outskirts of the Slavic world.
One famous Russian emigrant Ivan Lukash wrote: “Blue Carpathians. They swirl high, like heavy clouds in a menacing blue. Gogol never left his vision of the Carpathians. He was definitely shocked by his vision and shocked us since childhood... A small people lives up to the Carpathian Mountains on the peaks-polonynas, as if in the blue of the clouds. The small tribe of Rus', Prince Vladimir and Prince Yaroslav... And for centuries, people in the blue Carpathians have been dreaming about golden Rus'.”
In fact, the Rusyns (Rutens, Rusnak) - unique phenomenon. Due to the fact that the Rusyns of the Carpathians found themselves isolated early, they did not participate in the formation of the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian ethnic groups, preserving many archaic traditions and elements of the culture of the ancient Russian state. For example, language. According to researchers, until the 50s of the 20th century, it was easier for Carpathian Rusyns to understand the ancient Russian chronicle than the text of the then Russian or Ukrainian newspaper.
True, centuries of living as part of various states led to the emergence of the Rusyns as their own small ethnic groups. Today among the Carpathian Rusyns there are: Boykos, Lemkos, Podolyans, Hutsuls, Pokutians, Verkhovyntsy, Dolynyans and others. But no matter what they call themselves, they all have one thing in common: dreams of a united Russian Motherland.
Crucial moment
The Slavs settled in the Subcarpathian region and the Carpathian Highlands around the 2nd century AD. From here, according to some researchers, Serbs and Croats, and maybe even Czechs, came out in the 7th century. These lands were among the first to become part of the Old Russian state after the collapse of Great Moravia, and their inhabitants were among the first to accept Orthodoxy, back in the 9th century, probably during the activities of Cyril and Methodius. Here, in the 11th century, the power of the Rostislavichs was established (from the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, Rostislav Vladimirovich). One can judge how prosperous this part of Kievan Rus was by the fact that one of the representatives of the family Vasilko Trebovlsky (1068-1124) planned long campaigns against the Danube Bulgarians and victories over the Polovtsians, even without the help of other princes: “And I thought I will step on the land of Lyadskaya for winter and summer and take the land of Lyadskaya and take revenge on the Russian land; and for this reason I wanted to take over the Bulgarians of the Danube and plant them with me; and for this reason I wanted to ask Svyatopolk and Volodymer to go to Polovtsi, so that I could gain glory for myself, or I would lay down my head for the Russian land.”
But picturesque mountain region Carpathian Rus' played a cruel joke on the Slavs who inhabited it. As a result of its geographical location, it was practically cut off from the rest of Rus'. Only a few mountain passes served as a link with the rest of the territory of the ancient Russian state, which means that in case of a threat, there was no one to expect help from. And there will always be enemies. In 896, nomadic tribes of the Hungarians penetrated the Middle Danube Plain and founded their own state, which became a springboard for constant attacks on Carpathian Rus'.
The 11th century was a turning point. After the collapse of Rus' into appanage principalities due to fragmentation and endless civil strife, local Rusyns, not receiving support from their fellow tribesmen from beyond the Carpathians, fell under the onslaught of the Hungarians. The historical paths diverged, and the long struggle of the Rusyns began for their culture, language, faith, as well as the right to remain Russian.
Principality of Fyodor Koryatovich
After the conquest, the inhabitants of Carpathian Rus' repeatedly tried to regain independence. In the 14th century, taking advantage of the weakening of Hungary due to fragmentation, a representative of the Orthodox branch of the Gedeminovich family, Fyodor Koriatovich, founded a Russian Orthodox principality here, which, however, had a very short life - only a few decades. But the memory of the short period of independence has been preserved in folklore. One of the most popular folk legends of Transcarpathia, “About Prince Koriatovich,” tells how Koriatovich defeated the monster - the serpent Veremey, and erected churches and monasteries “so that Russian services would serve... people for the joy, for Rus'’s glory.” By the way, the famous Palanok Castle and St. Nicholas Monastery are the brainchild of the same Orthodox representative from the Gedeminovich family.
Russian Krajina
The Rusyns managed to finally free themselves from the power of Hungary, and subsequently Austria-Hungary, only at the beginning of the 20th century after the end of the First World War. By this time, culture and identity had changed, as a result of prolonged Catholic expansion and attempts to assimilate the Rusyns (including a ban on the use of the Rusyn language). But the love for the once long-lost homeland remained. Thus, the Ukrainian independentist V. Gnatyuk said that the distinctive feature of the Ugric Rusyns is “Muscovophilism.” Perhaps its consequence was that this region was one of the first to accept Soviet power soon after gaining autonomy. Four counties: Uzhgorod, Bereg, Ugocha and Maramaros received the name Russian Krajina (that is, “Russian outskirts”) with the center of Mukachevo, as part of the proclaimed Hungarian Soviet Republic.
For the Rusyns this became a “breath of air.” For the first time in a long time, the Rusyn language became official, it was studied, spoken, and newspapers were published. Freedom of religion was proclaimed. However, the period of independence did not last long. The Entente countries did not want to put up with the Soviet state near their borders. Pressure was increased on Romania and Czechoslovakia to speed up their aggression against the Hungarian Socialist Republic from Transcarpathia. On April 16, 1919, Romanian and Czechoslovak troops launched a wide offensive operation, which ended four months later with the fall of the Russian Krajina, which became part of Czechoslovakia under the name Subcarpathian Rus. The long-awaited independence of the Rusyns did not last even a year.
Carpatho-Russian SSR
The next opportunity to “return” to the fold of Russia, in this case the USSR, presented itself to the Rusyns at the end of the Second World War. Orthodox committees created in the 30-40s, headed by Patriarch Alexy Kabalyuk, advocated joining the USSR in the form of the Carpatho-Russian SSR. At the same time, they were categorically against the inclusion of their region into the Ukrainian SSR: “We do not want to be Czechs or Ukrainians, we want to be Russians and we want to see our land autonomous, but within the boundaries of Soviet Russia.”
On January 10, 1947, Alexey Gerovsky, a Carpathian public figure and publicist, sends Stalin a letter in which he asks: “Do not offend the westernmost outskirts of the Russian Land. Don’t let our little Russian tribe, which has held out for a thousand years in the southwestern Carpathians, be wiped off the face of the earth.”
Such were the sentiments of the Carpathian Rusyns on the eve of their entry into the Ukrainian SSR. But the “great leader” ignored this statement. Transcarpathia did not constitute a union republic, but became an ordinary region and was given to Ukraine. The Rusyn movement was outlawed. And although history does not know the subjunctive mood, you can’t help but wonder how the situation would be today if it weren’t for that fateful decision.
At school we were taught that Slavic peoples are divided into three groups - Western, Southern and Eastern. The group of Eastern Slavs includes three nationalities - Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians. But, as has become especially clear in recent weeks, things are not that simple. Forgot about the Rusyns! Judging by the amount of modern speculation, the most mysterious of the East Slavic peoples.
Where are they from?
The ancestors of the Rusyns were Slavic tribes who lived in the Carpathian Mountains in the territory of modern Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. Cut off from neighboring tribes, which were gradually united into the Polish, Ukrainian and Slovak nations by terrain and then by state borders, the Rusyns became isolated, however, maintaining a special closeness with the Ukrainians. Or are these Ukrainians who have some originality of customs and language, again, due to living in inaccessible remote areas? As always happens in the case of nations deprived of their own statehood, the history of the Rusyns is an extremely politicized case. What exactly the Rusyns are in ethnic, linguistic and simply historical terms is defined by everyone in their own way. Even the number of Rusyns is estimated very differently by different sources: from 55 thousand (according to official censuses in their countries of residence, to 1.5 and even 5 million, according to various Rusyn organizations.
In addition to the two main ones (about the independence of the Rusyn nation and its inclusion in the Ukrainian one), there is also an extremely extravagant Hungarian version of the origin of the Rusyns. Let's deal with all three.
Rusyns are an independent people
The first theory, actually Rusyn, states that the Rusyns are a separate and independent, full-fledged fourth East Slavic people. Some particularly zealous patriots of the Rusyn people call themselves direct descendants of the ancient Russian nation that formed Kievan Rus, and Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians came out of the Rusyns, mixing with other peoples and distorting the original Rusyn language. The language of the Rusyns, “Ruska Mova,” is indeed quite archaic and rich in Old Slavonic and Church Slavonic words, but there is one catch - the territory where the Rusyns settled was never part of the Kyiv principality proper. Here, the westernmost and longest-retaining independent Galicia-Volyn principality, which never submitted to the Golden Horde, was formed. Being the most involved of all the ancient Russian princes in Western European life, the Galician-Volyn princes accepted the royal title and called themselves “Russian kings.” Based on this fact, some Ruthenian historians trace their ancestry back to those same princely times. On the one hand, it is difficult not to notice the connection between the ancient Russian concept of “Rusyn”, identical to the modern “Russian”, that is, a resident of the Russian land, Rus', and terms like “King Rusin” and “Ruska Mova”; on the other hand, Rusyns have lived for centuries in proximity to and under the influence of Poles, Hungarians and Ukrainians, borrowing both language and customs from them (in particular, one of the names of Rusyns - rusnak - is the antonym of the word “Pole”), which is quite strange to talk about some kind of originality of Rusyns.
Rusyns are Hungarians
The most fantastic version of the origin of this people. According to it, the Rusyns are Hungarians assimilated by the Slavs. There were no grounds other than the fact that part of Western Ukraine had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary for centuries. But the word “Rusyn” in its current meaning arose precisely in Hungary - after the Union of Uzhgorod in 1646, when 63 Orthodox parishes joined the Mukachevo diocese Roman Catholic Church. From that moment on, all parishioners who preserved Orthodox customs under Roman leadership began to be called “Rusyns.” This isolation from a state and administrative point of view probably spurred the isolation of the Rusyns in linguistic terms. One way or another, quite large Ruthenian communities live on the territory of the former Hungarian kingdom - for example, the one that lives in Serbian Vojvodina, a region where both Hungarian colonists and Carpathian highlanders actively moved.
Rusyns are Ukrainians
There are many isolated Ukrainian communities living in western Ukraine. The mountainous terrain, dense forests and centuries-old isolation of this region from the main Ukrainian territory are supposedly the reason for the differences in the language and customs of the Carpathian and lowland Ukrainians. Rusyns, Lemkos, Boykos, Hutsuls - this is an incomplete list of Carpathian Ukrainian subethnic groups - this is what the Ukrainian version says.
The lands of the Rusyns gradually belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, the Russian Empire, and everywhere their population was subjected to assimilation. In pre-revolutionary Russia, for example, a single Russian people was legally recognized, divided into Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians. All Slavic-speaking and Orthodox (or Uniate) communities living in adjacent territories were a priori included in this list. A similar assimilation of Rusyns by Ukrainians occurred in Austria-Hungary. As a result, a large percentage of Rusyns began to consider themselves Ukrainians, even if they retained their own language. For example, in Vojvodina, twice as many people consider themselves Rusyn-speaking Ukrainians as Rusyns themselves. As part of this assimilation, a large number of Rusyns began to consider themselves Ukrainians. In particular, in Slovakia, half of Russian-speaking citizens call themselves Ukrainians.
The beauty of the Carpathians can only be compared with the spiritual beauty of the local population. Living in a remote corner of the country, sandwiched between the mountains and the Romanian border, has created a special type of worldview, completely open to the outside world, which is so lacking here. Therefore, the Carpathian residents grab hold of the rare guest with all their might and in a matter of minutes open their lives and souls to him.
The beauty of the Carpathians is inseparable from the spiritual beauty of the Carpathian inhabitants. Together they complement each other and create the unique flavor of this place.
1. The small village of Sergiy is somewhere in the very center of the Bukovinian Carpathians. A place where nothing ever happens.
2. Fortunately, a few years ago the eco-hotel Khutor Tikhy was opened here, and tourists, lovers of silence, solitude and natural beauty, began to come here.
3. It is dangerous for tourists to leave the hotel area here. Local residents pounce on them and try to feed them, give them something to drink, and invite them to visit.
Vova, tell me, are we fascists, as your media say? - Random men ask someone who introduces himself as a Muscovite prosto_vova
. - Bandera?
- Of course not.
The Hutsuls do not take the Moscow guest’s word for this position:
- Do you honestly think so?
- Honestly!
- Let's have a drink!
About a dozen people passing by come to look at the visitors.
5. People here live secludedly in small villages scattered on the slopes of the mountains.
6. An estate is not only a house, but also a subsidiary farm, a huge amount of land on which cows and horses graze.
7. It looks incredibly beautiful, but life here is as difficult as the views are picturesque.
9. But people here smile even at ordinary people they meet.
10. Eco-hotel Khutor Quiet.
11. We are going to visit a Hutsul family who have .
12. 120-year-old wooden manor.
13. The owner of the house is not there - he went to another area on business. But there is a hostess.
- Can I take a picture of you?
- Yes! But only so that you can see how I work. - There is a real cult of work in the mountains. You can't survive here without this.
14. Kettle and horse harness.
15. Master's dog. Very friendly.
16. To entertain guests, the hostess shows an archive of family photographs.
18. Let's go further into the mountains. The local population earns money by cutting wood. This is not a very legal business, but there is simply no other source of income in these parts. So the authorities turn a blind eye to the problem. Moreover, instead of felled pines, the Hutsuls always plant young trees.
19. Timber removal.
20. Sheep family.
21. An overly suspicious cow.
22. A drinking trough for livestock somewhere on a mountain slope.
23. Mountain range.
28. - Hello, I’m Vova from Moscow. Will you have some cognac? - Asked
Deputies of the regional council of Transcarpathia demanded President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk And Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Groysman grant the region autonomy. Parliamentarians adopted a corresponding appeal to Kyiv politicians at a plenary meeting.
“We demand that Transcarpathia be recognized as a special self-governing administrative territory; the necessary changes to the Constitution of the country must be made without delay,” the document says.
According to deputies, Ukrainian industry and economy are on the verge of default, and “the ideals of the Maidan have been cynically rejected.” “The last opportunity to save the situation is to immediately sanction real, and not declarative, financial and administrative independence of local governments,” parliamentarians emphasize.
Reference
Name
IN different time Transcarpathia was called “Hungarian Rus”, “Carpathian Rus”, “Ruska Kraina”, “Subcarpathian Rus”, “Carpathian Ukraine”, “Transcarpathian Ukraine”.
Coat of arms of the Transcarpathian region. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Territory
The area of Transcarpathia is 12.8 thousand square meters. km, this is 2.1% of the territory of Ukraine; it is located on the southwestern slopes and foothills of the Eastern Carpathians. It borders on Romania in the south, Hungary in the southwest, Slovakia in the west, and Poland in the northwest. In the north and east - with two other regions of Ukraine: Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk.
There are 9,429 rivers and streams flowing in Transcarpathia. The largest is the Tisza, a left tributary of the Danube. There are also 137 natural lakes in the region, mostly of glacial origin. The largest and deepest is Synevyr.
The administrative center is Uzhgorod.
Population
Population - 1287.4 thousand people (2.6% of the population of Ukraine), including urban - 501.6 thousand people (39%), rural - 785.8 thousand people (61%). Most The inhabitants are Ukrainians (78.4%). Transcarpathian Ukrainians are divided into four specific ethnic groups:
- Boyki - Volovetsky, Mizhgorsky districts,
- Lemki - Velikobereznyansky district,
- Hutsuly - Rakhiv district,
- Dolinyane are lowland and foothill areas.
12.5% of the population are Hungarians, who live mainly in the Beregovsky, Vinogradovsky, Uzhgorod, and Khust districts.
The region is also inhabited by Russians, Romanians, Rusyns, Gypsies, and, finally, a number of national minorities (for example, Slovaks, Belarusians and Germans), whose share does not exceed 1% of the population of Transcarpathia.
Carpathians, Transcarpathian region, view from Mount Gymba. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Vodnik
Story
In the 9th-11th centuries, Transcarpathia was part of Kievan Rus, from the 11th to the 13th centuries - the kingdom of Great Hungary, at various times it was part of Great Moravia, the Galician-Volyn state, the Kingdom of Hungary, Transylvania, and Austria-Hungary.
For many years, all of Transcarpathia belonged to the Hungarian rulers, but when the Turks captured central Hungary in 1541, Transcarpathia was divided into two parts. The central and eastern regions became part of the Turkish Empire, while the western regions fell under the rule of the Habsburgs. At the end of the 17th century, all territories of Hungary, including Transcarpathia, came under the rule of the Habsburgs. After Austria's defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, a dual state was created - Austria-Hungary. In 1918 it split into several states, after which West Side Transcarpathia was occupied by the Czechoslovak army, and the southeastern one by the Romanian army.
In May 1919, a meeting in Uzhgorod proclaimed the desire to become part of Czechoslovakia - which came true on June 4, 1920 under the Treaty of Saint-Germain. Transcarpathia began to be called “Subcarpathian Rus” (as part of Hungary, Transcarpathia was “Russian Land”). After the liquidation of the independence of Czechoslovakia in 1939, an independent state was proclaimed - Carpathian Ukraine. On March 18, 1939, Hungarian troops entered Transcarpathia.
In 1944, Transcarpathia was occupied by Soviet troops. On June 29, 1945, an agreement was signed in Moscow on the entry of the former Subcarpathian Rus into the Ukrainian SSR. The agreement was finally ratified by the Czechoslovak Parliament on November 22, 1945. Czechoslovakia also agreed to transfer about 250 km² to the USSR in the vicinity of Chop - settlements Batfa, Galoch, Maly Selmentsy, Palad-Komarovtsy, Pallo, Ratovtsy, Solomonovo, Syurte, Tisaashvan, Tyyglash and Chop itself, which were not part of Subcarpathian Rus. On January 22, 1946, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Transcarpathian region of the Ukrainian SSR was created on the annexed lands.
Uzhgorod. Voloshin Street (Old Town). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Vodnik
Economy
The following areas are developed in the region:
- woodworking industry (production of furniture, lumber);
- forest chemical industry (wood processing products);
- food industry (production of wines, cognac);
- light industry (production of shoes, hats, clothing and knitwear);
- mechanical engineering (production of metal-cutting machines, electric motors, fittings).
Agriculture
The main crops are grains (winter crops and corn), potatoes, vegetables; gardening and viticulture are also developed.
Ukrainian Carpathians generously reward everyone who comes to these lands with a stunning picture of natural landscapes, beauty, joy, and health. Every corner of the Ukrainian Carpathians is original and unique. Here the gardens growing on the mountain slopes, forests and untouched meadows delight the eye. In winter, the Carpathians are especially visited and attractive for lovers of active ski holidays.
The huge mountain system of the Carpathian Mountains begins near Bratislava (Slovakia) and ends in the southeast of Romania. The total length of the Carpathians is approximately 1600 km. They surround the Central European Lowland in a large arc on three sides. In the northwestern section their width is 250 km, and in the southwestern section – 350 km; in the southeastern section, where the Ukrainian Carpathians are located, it narrows to 100-130 km.
Depending on the location and biogeographical structure, the Carpathians are divided into Southern, Eastern, Western. The Western Carpathians are localized in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and partly in Hungary, where the most high mountain Karpat – Gerlach (2665 m). The northern ones are located equatorially on the territory of Romania, the eastern ones in Slovakia and Poland, as well as on the territory of Western Ukraine.
The average height of the Ukrainian Carpathians is 1000 m. The Carpathians make up 3.5% of the territory of the entire Ukraine. They stretch from northwest to southeast for almost 290 km with an average width of 110 km.
The Carpathians are located on the territory of 4 regions of Ukraine: Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Transcarpathian, Lviv.
The Carpathians are symbolically divided into 2 parts – Transcarpathia and Prykarpattya. Prykarpattya is Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regions, Uzhgorod and Transcarpathian regions are Transcarpathia. The Carpathians are low, of volcanic origin, average height about 1300-1500 meters. The highest mountain is located in the area of the village of Yablunytsia - this is Mt.
Flora and fauna of the Carpathians
The Carpathians are a mountain strip notable for the fact that on its territory, untouched forests, rare for Europe, have been preserved. Carpathian mountains They are mostly “soft”, rounded mountain peaks without rocky protrusions. They grow on the plateau. Somewhat lower, on the slopes of the mountains, you can often come across thickets of blackberries. In warm summers, the mountain landscapes are complemented by large herds, cows and sheep.
The main part of the Carpathians is covered with beech and
In addition to spruce and beech, they also grow in the Carpathian Mountains.
Beech forests also include common ash, Norway maple, and mountain elm; they have almost disappeared in the Carpathian Mountains; if they are found, it is only in hard-to-reach places.
On the upper slopes of the Carpathian Mountains there are “alpine” meadows, which are still very rich today. rare species flora. In particular, an amazing plant - the East Carpathian rhododendron. In the Carpathians it is called the “Alpine rose” due to its bright pink flowers. Here, high in the mountains, are the sources of many rivers in the Western region of Ukraine: the Prut and Cheremosh are rightfully considered one of the most clean rivers Of Eastern Europe.
In the Carpathian mountains many thousands of years ago, salt caves were formed, as well as dense deposits of rock salt. As a rule, above such caves there are salt lakes, similar in chemical composition to the Dead Sea in Israel. These lakes are significantly smaller in area, but they are not inferior in healing properties.
The Ukrainian Carpathians are very diverse. The main factor of separation is a sharp change mountain heights- from 160 m to 2081 m. They change in parallel with height temperature regime and humidity regime.
The climate is mainly temperate continental, warm, with cyclonic interventions of Atlantic air. The average temperature of the warmest month (July) in the foothills is from +19 to +22°C, in the high mountain zone from +9 to +12°C, the coldest month in January is from -5 to -15°C.
In summer, out of every seven days, two are rainy. In general, the Carpathian Mountains are characterized by unstable springs, not very hot summers, warm, dry autumns and mild winters. Figuratively, the Carpathians can be divided into a number of mountain climatic zones:
The Highlands zone is a zone of rather cold and very humid climate.
The Middle Mountains zone is a zone of moderately cold, humid climate
The Carpathian region is a zone of warm and moderately humid climate.
The Low Mountains zone is a zone of very humid climate.
The Transcarpathian zone is a zone of fairly warm, moderately humid climate.
The climate within the described zones is uniform everywhere. From west to east its continentality intensifies.
In Transcarpathia, the southern region stands out quite sharply against the general temperature background. Summer here is often sultry. Droughts occur frequently. Mountainous terrain greatly influences the climate. Each river valley and mountain slopes often have their own special individual microclimate.
Population of the Carpathians
Lemkos live on the slopes, between the Syan and Poprad rivers, in the Perechyn and Velikobereznyansky districts of Transcarpathia. The first mention of them in written sources appears in the sixth century BC. The Boyks live in the Lviv, Transcarpathian and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
“Russian Trinity” - Yakov Golovatsky, Ivan Vagilevich, Markian Shashkevich considered the Boyks to be the offspring of Celtic tribes who lived in Central Europe from the sixth century BC, and moved to the Balkans closer to the first century.
Hutsuls live in Transcarpathian, Chernivtsi, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many rebels and oprishks - people's avengers - among the Hutsuls.
Culture of the Carpathians
Even for a long time, being in the structure of different states, although they could not protect themselves from merging with the Poles, Hungarians, and Slovaks. It was the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of the Carpathians who preserved the most archaic cultural features, which were at least slightly different from the Polesie people.
It seems that in the mountains, almost every person is a singer, an artist, a bright creative personality. And it was with the hands of such people that the most beautiful wooden temples were built in the mountains, which were built without a single nail... The main decoration of these temples were the unique icons painted on glass.
The bulk of them, today, are stored in museum collections.
Today, like many hundreds of years ago, the population of the Carpathians decorates their clothes with bright embroideries.
Bukovina, Pokuttia, Transcarpathian,... Any of them is inimitable and unique and they all look like a bright flower garden.
It blooms in beautiful patterns on pillows, towels, and shirts.
The ancient art of pysankara (ritual painting of Easter eggs) is also passed down from generation to generation in the Carpathians. In the Carpathians they know that Easter eggs help in various life situations: their signs-symbols bring prosperity, health and love to people, and fertility to the Carpathian land.
Carpathian national features
In the mountainous Carpathian region there are farewells to shepherds in the mountain valley, Carpathian weddings and religious, church holidays, for example Christmas with Christmas carols and shchedrivki, “Vasily” (old New Year), “Water Baptisms”, “Melankas”, and, of course, Easter with Easter “gifts”.
A big holiday - a carnival for local Carpathian residents - is to go to the distant mountain meadows to graze livestock. Grazing occurs from the beginning of May and lasts until mid-September. The living conditions of shepherds in the mountain valley are difficult,
they work from dawn to dusk, and yet every Carpathian resident does not mind becoming a high-mountain shepherd.
Three details that characterize the life of Carpathian shepherds are vatra, trembita and feta cheese. like a fairy tale.
Even today, the inhabitants of the Carpathians adhere to their traditions. They still dress up in national embroidered clothes and decorate their horses. The wedding is full of fun and colorful fun, dancing, songs, games, witticisms, and jokes. Not a single wedding is complete without rolls and loaves, embroidered and hand-woven towels, and bouquets.
Preparations begin early.
All Carpathian housewives, early in the morning on January 6th, light a “live fire” from twelve logs in the stoves and cook
Among the dishes of the Holy Supper of Christmas, the main place is kutia.
(boiled wheat with honey, poppy seeds and nuts.)
The Easter holiday in the Carpathians is distinguished by an abundance of ritual customs and actions. On Palm Sunday, residents of the Carpathians bring a consecrated palm branch (joke) from the church and lightly hit each member of their family with it, saying: “It’s not I who hit you, it’s the joke that hits you - from now on, Easter week!”
The consecrated willow branch, in the concept of the ancestors of the Carpathian inhabitants, has healing properties. The end of Lent is the time for painting paints. Each Carpathian village has its own unique craftsmen.
Carpathian cuisine
They are distinguished by three features: natural, satisfying, tasty. It is worth using at least for the duration of your holiday in the Carpathians. Residents of the Carpathians, who eat natural, environmentally friendly products, live a very long time. Milk from the Carpathian alpine meadows is no worse than Alpine milk. with porcini mushrooms, various porridges have been prepared here for several hundred years and, of course, they have mastered this culinary art to perfection. After a Carpathian breakfast, you will have enough strength even for a long mountain trek on foot. Most traditional Carpathian dishes are in perfect harmony with homemade moonshine, as well as with expensive alcoholic drinks.
Ancient intoxicating Carpathian drinks deserve special attention, for example
They are still widely used in the national Carpathian cuisine.
All restaurants and cafes in the Carpathians will definitely offer you traditional dishes of Carpathian cuisine: pancakes, borscht, potato pancakes, . Of course, they will also offer a wide range of dishes from European cuisines.
Carpathian dishes are original and at the same time very easy to prepare. The main ingredients of Carpathian cuisine are wheat and corn flour, potatoes, mushrooms, pork or beef, and fish.
has long been known for its abundance of homemade smoked meats.
The epoch-making dwelling of Carpathian shepherds on summer pastures is a kolyba - a distinctive wooden building, usually round in shape, usually with a highly erected roof, usually in the shape of a cone or triangle. Today, every tourist will be able to visit kolyba without even going high into the Carpathians, since today kolyba are, as a rule, small private restaurants and shops built, often near the road.
Safety and rules of conduct
1. Light carefully and carefully monitor the lighting of camp stoves and fires.
It is always necessary to dig up the place where the fire is made to prevent sparks from getting into the dry grass around it. When leaving the camp site, do not forget to fill the area where the fire was with water. Often in popular tourist sites there are already prepared places where it is possible and desirable to make a fire. If possible, it is always better to look for such a place first.
Moreover, as a rule, these are ideal parking places.
. It's better to look for dry branches.
3. If after resting or parking you still have unnecessary plastic bags and paper, burn them in the fire.
4. Tin containers and cans left over after a holiday in the Carpathians and food - it is better to burn them in a fire until black, crush them with an ax or a stone, and then be sure to bury them; on the surface of the earth they can cause serious injuries.
5. Never leave garbage after a holiday in the Carpathians.
6. Never destroy places for rest or drinking water built by someone before you.
7. Do not pollute streams, springs, or mineral springs. You and others should drink from them.
8. Do not pick berries and flowers unnecessarily, do not break the branches of green living trees.
9. Don’t scare grazing cows, sheep, or goats
10. There are difficulties with the direction of travel, it is always better to check with the local population. Usually locals measure distances by travel time.
11. When going on a hike on, by, or, dress in clothing appropriate for the hiking conditions.
The Carpathian climate is clean and creates favorable conditions for healing the body. As a rule, tourist centers, holiday homes and sanatoriums in the Carpathians are located in picturesque corners, near mountain lakes, in river valleys, at the base of mountains and on mountain slopes, surrounded by dense Carpathian forests.
The healing natural resources of the Carpathians and the modern medical and technical base make it possible to obtain a significant effect in the treatment of diseases of the liver and biliary tract, gastrointestinal tract, metabolic disorders, defects of the musculoskeletal system, disorders of cardiovascular and nervous activity.
They say that once the Armenian radio was asked: “Is it possible to build communism in a single Transcarpathian region?”, to which the Armenian radio replied: “It is possible, and it is not far off there!” And although local residents call their region Prykarpattia or Subcarpathia, yet - unlike Transcaucasia, Trans-Urals, Trans-Volga - it remains Transcarpathia, no matter which way you look at it. Part of the East Slavic world, separated from it by mountains.
Transcarpathia leaves a feeling lost world. As one of the Galician writers called it a hundred years ago, “a world boarded up.” But at the same time - quiet, cozy, open and overflowing with heritage rich history. We will now talk about history and color.
To begin with: Transcarpathia is not mountains. Mountains are constantly looming somewhere on the horizon, but they are quite far away. Moreover, since Transcarpathia stands on the bend of the Carpathians, they are here from different sides - sometimes in the north, sometimes in the east, sometimes even in the south and west. But Transcarpathia itself is the foothills:
Moreover, the Transcarpathian region is another one of the smallest in Ukraine, only 12 thousand square kilometers (4 times smaller than the Moscow region!), but at the same time quite long - from Uzhgorod to Rakhiv more than 250 kilometers. And as a result, Transcarpathia is very cramped, a step to the left - a step to the right, and you will stumble upon the edge:
Despite its tiny size, Transcarpathia borders on as many as 4 states: Poland (corner to corner, and therefore its influence is not felt here), Slovakia (visible from Uzhgorod), Hungary, but almost half of its length is Romania. Here is Chop - along with Brest, the western gate of the USSR, near which the borders of Hungary and Slovakia meet. The sign in the center of Beregovo is very eloquent:
The second property of Transcarpathia is that it is very southern. A striking contrast even with neighboring Galicia! If you divide the whole of Europe only into “north” and “south”, then on the other side of the Carpathians there is still north, and here it is definitely south. In these cities there is something even Mediterranean, at least Balkan - it’s not for nothing that the Croats moved to the Adriatic from here? And in the countryside, the abundance of vineyards is amazing:
By the way, homemade wines are constantly offered at tourist resorts here. And the village of Sredne near Uzhgorod is famous for its wine cellars.
If we talk about nature, then the outlines of the approaching mountains are very characteristic here. This is the so-called Volcanic (or Vygorlat-Gutinsky) ridge, framing the Ukrainian Carpathians from the south. After all, the Carpathians are young mountains, or rather “revived” (that is, when old mountains rise again), there are quite strong earthquakes here, and along the inner side of the Carpathians there is also a chain of extinct volcanoes. Overgrown volcanic domes cannot be confused with anything:
And since they have never erupted in human memory and are unlikely to ever erupt again, people quickly found a use for them. You can erect a cross on the top of an extinct volcano:
Village church:
But the best thing is the castle! This is Mukachevo, by the way, and notice how the gray panel meets the red tiles:
And they really love tiled roofs in Transcarpathia. If on the other side of the mountains they prefer to cover houses with metal or slate, in Transcarpathia at least half of the residents of private houses remain faithful to the noble material:
Although houses are gradually being replaced here by mansions, which, according to more knowledgeable people, reach a height of five floors. At least three-story ones - completely commonplace:
They are built mainly by guest workers returning from the USA, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and Russia with good money. There is a high birth rate here, there are many large families, and the mentality is simply this: I will go hungry - but the house must be at least a centimeter higher than the neighbor’s! Many of these mansions take years to build, and every season some of their inhabitants travel to work. They say that often the residents of these palaces do not have enough money to heat them, and in winter they huddle in some very small room. In villages, building materials stores are no less popular than grocery stores...
Although in some places there are clearly old huts with roofs almost reaching the ground. Only instead of straw there is now slate:
And earnings for Transcarpathian Rusyns have been the main specialization from time immemorial. In Kolochava there is even a monument to the “Zrobitch residents” - they say that even before the First World War, half of the men in the village went to work, and many were caught in a foreign land by the war. But for the same reason, Transcarpathia is so calm, clean and cozy - people return here to relax, to recuperate before working in a foreign country.
An old mechanized mill somewhere between Beregovo and Vinogradov. And in the village of Lisichevo, for example, even a water-powered forge from the 17th century with its own name “Gamora” has been preserved.
But in general, the population density here, the giant villages replacing each other, naturally dazzles the eyes. Here is an indicative view - in the foreground is the city of Khust, then a field, then some village... and behind it, there is no doubt, there is another field:
And even luxurious mansions cannot hide the poverty of this region. According to official data, the Transcarpathian region, along with Lugansk, is the poorest region of Ukraine, and if you walk through its cities and villages, talking with people, you understand that this is really so. In this frame, by the way, there is another relic - the Borzhava narrow-gauge railway:
The speech heard on the streets of these villages is very different - Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech (tourists)... The thesis about some special Russian-speaking nature of Transcarpathia has not been confirmed, many here do not understand Russian, which is almost never seen in Galicia. But at the same time, the Ukrainians here form a special subethnic group - the Rusyns, or Ugro-Russians, whose language/dialect and culture are so isolated that some even distinguish them as a separate, fourth East Slavic people, and trace their ancestry back to the same "", which I no longer mentioned it once. But in general, Transcarpathia is a classic “multinational community”, the representatives of the peoples inhabiting it are more similar to each other than to the inhabitants of the outside world, and it is not easy for an outsider to immediately understand who is in front of you - Ukrainian, Magyars or Romanians (although They, of course, recognize each other immediately).
It’s difficult for me to judge interethnic relations here. It seemed to me that the Magyars keep to themselves, but at the same time they get along well with the Ukrainians, but their attitude towards all Romanians is unimportant - they are considered to be “in their own heads”. Already in Rakhiv, in the evening, a local boy opened up with me and told me how a Romanian foreman sold him and several other people into slavery in the Krasnodar region, where they worked on a farm in bestial conditions for almost a year, until someone ran away and reached out to regional deputies. But this is what I know from hearsay: in personal communication, the Romanians gave the impression of being calm and friendly, but a little depressed people, and I can’t say anything about the Magyars (although I talked to them here more than once), they didn’t evoke any special emotions in me. Only the Hungarian language “by ear” is very beautiful and strange.
Another representative of the local ethnographic mosaic is the gypsies. There are really a lot of them here, and they just look extremely stereotypical:
The largest Roma community is in Beregovo, where they make up about 6% of the population. I heard that in the Transcarpathian towns there are also the most terrible gypsy villages, their appearance reminiscent of African slums, where people naturally live under awnings and no laws apply (except their own, gypsy) laws... but I was either lucky or unlucky.
Portrait of a young gypsy woman:
What they do here is also more than stereotypical - they beg, tell fortunes, and it’s okay if they don’t steal horses. And when, upon returning to Galicia, I began to feel ill, there was even a version - they were jinxed! And there are a lot of beggars in Transcarpathia even without gypsies. More precisely, A LOT. Especially not even at train stations, but in historical centers where tourists go. On average, in such places they approached me 5 times a day, I gave a hryvnia, and in response to indignation, why so little?, I calmly answered: “Do you know how many times today they have already approached me? If I I’ll give you 5 hryvnia, soon I’ll be left without money!”
It is interesting, by the way, that according to official data, Ukrainians here make up 79% of the population, Hungarians - 12%, Romanians and Russians 2.5% each, Roma - 1%. But at the same time, in the Beregovsky district there are about 76% of Hungarians (including 48% in Berehovo itself), in Uzhgorod - 33%, in Vinogradovsky - 26%, Romanians are 11-12% each in the Tyachiv and Rakhiv districts, that is, the routes of the majority tourists pass through ethnic enclaves. In the mountainous regions, the share of Ukrainians is close to 100% (Russians have gotten in a little more)... however, the Hutsul-Boykov Verkhovyna is no longer Transcarpathia, in this post we will not touch it (more precisely, Rakhiv and Kolochava).
Like the whole of Western Ukraine, Transcarpathia is permeated with religion - all these chapels, crosses, churches and chapels line the roads in dozens, and the cemeteries look like shop windows. The appearance of rural churches here is very characteristic - a “Kirch-like” composition, and very often with turrets like these with five spiers:
Cross-domed churches are extremely rare, and these are mostly new buildings:
I did not find exact data on the religious composition of Transcarpathia, but the presence of Orthodoxy (primarily the Moscow Patriarchate), Roman and Greek Catholicism and Reformation is clearly visible here. Here is a very revealing shot - a church, a Uniate church and orthodox cathedral in the style of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior:
Moreover, Uniatism here is also not the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which dominates in Galicia, but a special, local Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. It was formed in 1646 by the Union of Uzhgorod, which was signed by the Bishop of Mukachevo and 63 priests. In 1664, Mukachevo itself joined the union, and in 1713, Maramorosh. Now the Russian State Catholic Church consists of three parts independent from each other - the Mukachevo diocese (the center of which was moved to Uzhgorod in 1775), the Czech Exarchate and the Pittsburgh Archdiocese in the USA.
29. Holy Cross Cathedral in Uzhgorod - the main Greek Catholic church in Transcarpathia:
The center of Orthodoxy remains Nikolaevsky Monastery in Mukachevo, and as you can see, the local Orthodox began to emulate Russia in architecture back in the 19th century:
In addition, I mentioned certain “reformers”. This is also an interesting phenomenon, Hungarian Protestants, of whom there are 20% in Hungary itself, and their center is Debrecen, the largest city in eastern Hungary, that is, in Transcarpathia this percentage is probably even higher. Formed in 1529-1646 in Switzerland and the Netherlands, Reformation is one of the forms of Calvinism; John Calvin himself even headed this church at one time. If Lutheranism proceeded from “everything that is not prohibited is permitted” (by the Bible), Calvinism - on the contrary, “everything that is not permitted is prohibited”, and as a result, Calvinist churches were the most cruel almost in the entire history of Christianity. At least the Calvinist Inquisition sent many more people to the stake than the Catholic Inquisition - including in America in the 18th and 19th centuries. And in general, I was a little scared to enter a temple with Calvin’s name on the door - now they would accuse me of immorality, brand me with an iron and put me in a yoke in the central square! No, in fact, these are, of course, things of the distant past, and in the church they greeted me very kindly (although the service was going on, and I was taking photographs):
Another church somewhere between Beregovo and Vinogradov:
But in general, the Hungarian presence here is very well felt. In the Beregovoye and Vinogradovsky districts, even the inscriptions are all duplicated in Hungarian, and sometimes not duplicated in Ukrainian:
You will see Sandor Petofi here no less often than Taras Shevchenko:
And at all places important for the Magyar past, there are ribbons in the colors of the Hungarian flag. It's time to tell the story...
In general, Hungary itself is a real European phenomenon. Moreover, Ukrainians still call it more correctly - Ugorshchina. Or, if you prefer, Ugoria. Or Yugoria. Or - Yugra. But the fact is that a long time ago, Ugric tribes roamed, including taking part in the Huns’ campaign against Rome. But somewhere in the 9th century, the Bashkirs (or rather, their ancestors) survived from their native places. Some of the Ugric people migrated north to the Ob swamps, and their descendants are the Khanty and Mansi. The other part, with the support of Khazaria, went west. In 896, the Magyars, under the leadership of the leader Arpad, crossed the Carpathians, invaded the fertile plain of the Middle Danube, and, having finished off the remnants of the Avar Khaganate, settled there. The latter was mainly a Slavic state - the Avars (obry) constituted only the elite (where, however, the Slavs were not allowed). According to legend, Uzhgorod was founded in 872 by Prince Laborts, and probably the name “Ugrians” (“Hungarians”) comes from its Magyar name Ungvar. One of the Hungarian attributes is the turul, an ancient Magyar totem, a sculpture of an eagle in an aggressive pose. These were installed en masse in 1896, on the 1000th anniversary of the crossing of the Carpathians, and were preserved in Uzhgorod and Mukachevo:
36. Uzhgorod castle.
But Hungary did not immediately become a state - the Magyar barbarians caused quite a stir to all its neighbors, and only the Germans put them in their place in 955 at the Battle of the Lech River. By the end of the 10th century, Hungary gained borders and the ruling Arpad dynasty, the 5th representative of which Geza finally united the Magyar tribes, changed the principle of succession to the throne (power passed only to the eldest son), and finally in 974 he was baptized by a Benedictine monk, ordained personally by the Pope. - this was important, since Hungary did not fall into Germany's orbit. Finally, in 1000, his son Stephen the Saint proclaimed Hungary a Christian state (despite the fact that the missionaries worked for another 30 years, baptizing the Magyars little by little, the pagans rebelled several times), became its first king, and subsequently its heavenly patron. Thus a new power arose in Europe:
37. Mukachevo Castle.
But Hungary’s struggle with Russia and Poland for the Carpathians was just beginning. The border passed along a watershed, then along one foot, then along another. After the Mongol invasion, which destroyed Hungary no less than Rus', the Galicia-Volyn principality briefly took possession of Transcarpathia, and a hundred years later, Hungary took possession of all of Galicia. Around that time, it was the Eastern Slavs who began to move here - first as colonists, then (when things got better in Galicia) - refugees. But the Rusyns lived there unnoticed, mainly in villages. And all the architectural monuments of the Middle Ages were left here by Hungary. The oldest of them is the Goryanskaya rotunda of the pre-Mongol era on the outskirts of Uzhgorod:
Also very characteristic are the Hungarian churches of the 14th and 15th centuries, which later became Reformed churches. There are such in Khust and Tyachev, as well as the villages of Bene and Chetfalva near Beregovoy, and the Tyachevsky and Chetovsky churches have very unusual decoration. Hence the popular composition of a tower with 5 spiers:
And of course the castles. Nowhere in Ukraine, and probably in the entire former USSR, can you see so much medieval castles, which during this time became more like weathering forms. I saw castles in Nevitsky, Vinogradov and Khust, but there are no less worthy ones in Sredny (near Uzhgorod), Korolev (near Vinogradov), and probably somewhere else.
Another Hungarian term that I will use here more than once is comitat. Translated from Latin - “county”, a territorial unit of Hungary that formed back in the 14th century. Very roughly, this is a county ruled by one aristocratic dynasty. They tried to erase the comitat system in Hungary more than once, but it was revived, and by the beginning of the 20th century there were 71 comitat in Transleithania (that is, the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary). This system was abolished only in 1918, but the old historical boundaries are still felt. Transcarpathia partially includes 4 counties - Ung, Bereg, Ugocha and Maramorosh, and in parallel with them I will tell the further story.
Westernmost - Comitat Ung(Uzhansky) with a center in Uzhgorod (Ungvar). From Uzhgorod it extends mainly to the north (Perechyn, Velykyi Berezny); Ukrainians also lived in its mountainous part. About half of its territory now remains in Slovakia. From 1318 to 1684, Ung was owned by the Druget family. Ung was the first of the lands of Ukraine to fall under the rule of Austria, which was not yet called Austria, but simply the possessions of the Habsburgs: in 1526, the Ottoman Empire captured Hungary, defeating its troops on the Mohacs River. And although the emergence of such a bridgehead meant a possible disaster for the whole of Europe, in 1526 it was the Habsburgs who quietly seized Ung. Even now it looks much more “Austrian” than the rest of Transcarpathia:
41. Narrow street in Uzhgorod.
The next county, the real heart of Transcarpathia - Shore, and its center de jure was Beregsas (Beregovo), and de facto - Munkacs (Mukachevo). After the Battle of Mohacs, he found himself part of Transylvania, which was a Turkish vassal, but still not “under the Turks.” Since the 1630s, it was owned by two dynasties - Rakoczi (Mukachevo) and Betlen (Beregovo). But in 1687, the battle on the Mohacs River took place again, in which the Turks themselves suffered a crushing defeat from the Habsburgs. For the Ottoman Empire, this was the beginning of the end, but for the Habsburgs it was a triumph: they received rights to the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, that is, Greater Hungary, which also included Transylvania and Croatia. The Hungarians, however, didn’t really want to join the empire, but the Habsburgs didn’t ask them either - and so a new war began.
42. “White House” - the palace of Rakoczi, and later the Schönborns in Mukachevo.
The Hungarian rebels have long had their name “kurucs” (“crusaders”) - back in 1514, local feudal lords decided to raise the peasants on a “crusade”, but at the last moment they got scared of the Turks, tried to give up and ended up with a peasant uprising. The Kurucs in the 17th century were something like the Ukrainian Haidamaks, and their last stronghold in Transcarpathia was Mukachevo Castle, and their last leader was Ferenc II Rakoczy, now one of the Hungarian national heroes. Having finally conquered Hungary in 1711, the Austrians expelled both Rakoczi and the Bethlens, and handed over the county of Bereg to the loyal Schönborns.
43. Central square Beregovo.
Next committee - Ugocha, the smallest in all of old Hungary (1.2 thousand square kilometers - this is a third more than Moscow within the Moscow Ring Road), and even divided by a modern border. Its center and only city was Sevlyush (since 1946 - Vinogradov), and the owners were the Pereni family, the most famous representative whom Zhigimont Pereni distinguished himself in the revolution of 1848. It was after this that Austria became Austria-Hungary, that is, a two-pronged confederation. Moreover, it was divided along the Leyte River - into Cisleithania (in common use Austria) and Transleithania (in common use Hungary), which included the very Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen.
44. Pereni Palace in Vinogradovsky Park.
The last comitat, occupying approximately half of Transcarpathia, but still divided along the Tisza River between Ukraine and Romania - Maramorosh. Its center, Sigetu, remained with the Romanians, but opposite it stands the Ukrainian Solotvyno, an ancient center of salt production, and Khust became the unofficial capital. Maramorosh is already a real Transylvania, one of its most remote places, surrounded on all sides by mountains with the only “entrance” along the Tisza Valley. It also had no obvious owners. It is beyond the mountains even relative to the rest of Transcarpathia. But - where else will you see such an oxymoron, such as wooden gothic rural churches?
45. Church in the village of Aleksandrovka near Khust.
In 1918, Austria-Hungary completely collapsed, and on its ruins the Hungarian Soviet Republic arose (I can imagine: “what is it in the end - these losers Khanty and Mansi will get communism, but we won’t?!”), which existed 4 months, and it included the autonomy of the Russian Krajina with its center in Mukachevo. The Romanians destroyed Soviet Hungary, and Transcarpathia was completely transferred to Czechoslovakia at the request of almost Woodrow Wilson himself. In 1918-38, Czechoslovakia consisted of three segments: the Czech Republic (Prague), Slovakia (Bratislava) and Subcarpathian Ruthenia (Uzhgorod). The legacy of those times is Czechoslovak functionalism, including Galagov, the government quarter of Uzhgorod:
And compared to other East Slavic lands, this was an earthly paradise. Without great experiments and repressions (as in the USSR), without “sanitation” and “pacification” (as in Poland), without Romanian tyranny and tightening the screws. Czechoslovakia was one of the richest countries Europe (after all, even before the First World War, Bohemia accounted for 80% of the manufacturing industry in Austria-Hungary), and the Czechs decided to make Subcarpathian Rus' their showcase. This was the "golden age" of Transcarpathia, and if the Red Army had entered here in 1939....
But even before the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact there was the Munich Agreement, according to which England and France surrendered Czechoslovakia to Hitler, which he gutted together with Poland, which did not yet understand that the same thing awaited it in a year. The Sudetenland went to Germany, Silesia to Poland, and the Hungarians returned to Transcarpathia. On March 15, 1939, the Greek Catholic priest and public figure Augustin Voloshin proclaimed the independence of Carpathian Ukraine (previously it had been an unrecognized autonomy by the Hungarians for six months), but it lasted only about a day. However, Voloshin is one of the main characters of Transcarpathia, much like Bandera in Galicia:
However, Transcarpathia became part of the Soviet Union in 1944. This turned out to be for the better: firstly, Soviet methods and ideology changed during the war (for example, attitudes towards religion), and secondly, after all the horrors they experienced, people would be glad to anyone who would bring peace here. Moreover, in Transcarpathia there was nothing like the OUN-UPA; the Rusyns, in principle, were not in the mood to fight longer than they would fight with them. Transcarpathia turned into a quiet outskirts of the Soviet Union, where everything arrived in a slightly modified and adapted form. In post-Soviet times, Transcarpathia became one of the “forges of personnel” for the Verkhovna Rada, and in addition, local ideologists perceive it as a kind of “intra-Western opposition”, opposing themselves to Galicia. Suffice it to say that on the eve of the Orange Revolution, Yanukovych received 44% of the votes here in the second round - more than in the Sumy or Poltava regions (map). There are also quite active movements for the recognition of the Rusyns as a separate people and the creation of a Crimean-type republic in Transcarpathia, and you will see how many commentators will now get excited at the mention of this fact... although I cannot judge the true scale of Rusyn separatism - maybe they are the same marginalized people, such as the “Ingrians” in St. Petersburg.
Nevertheless, for example, Transcarpathia unofficially lives according to Central European time, and when asked, say, “What time will the bus be?”, they may well ask again, “Around Kyiv?” However, there are an indescribable number of cars with Central European license plates here - Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech... Many have family ties with their neighbors, and the visa-free nature of Ukraine encourages residents of the former metropolises to go here on weekends. And Ukrainian tourists simply adore Transcarpathia and come here in huge numbers.
50. Czech trailer in Kolochava, one of the most beautiful villages in the highlands of Transcarpathia:
But in general, it’s hard to believe that all this happened. There is amazing peace and tranquility here, turning into sloppiness. A feeling of some sleepy relaxation. Big world- he is there, behind the mountains and beyond the borders, but here is such a quiet, cozy depression, and all the historical storms sweep high, high above it. But the most amazing thing is that although these lands never truly belonged to Rus' and all its derivatives, and for more than a thousand years they were under the rule of one power (even if it itself sometimes became someone’s colony), for some half a century, or rather even in the first few years, the Rusyns reintegrated into the East Slavic world.
CARPATHIAN Rus'-2012
.
On the Galician plain. The real Banderstadt.
, where the Great Troubles came from.
Mountain Boykovshchina. And .
Transcarpathia.
Transcarpathia. It's just around the corner...
Comitat Ung
Uzhgorod. From the station to the castle.
Uzhgorod. Castle and Skansen.
Uzhgorod. Old city.
Suburbs of Uzhgorod. Goryany and Nevitskoye.
Comitat Bereg
Mukachevo. Center.
Mukachevo. Palanok Castle.
Mukachevo. Nikolaevsky Monastery.
Beregovo. The most Hungarian city in Ukraine.
Comitat Ugoca
Vinogradov (Sevlyush).
Borzhava narrow gauge railway.
Maramoros County
Khust.
Wooden churches. Alexandrovka, Danilovo, Krainikovo. Sokyrnitsa.
Kolochava. Skansen and the village.
Solotvino.
Rakhiv and Yablunytsky pass.
Hutsul region.
Hutsuls. Carpathian highlanders.
Yaremcha.
Vorokhta.
Verkhovyna and Mount Pop Ivan..
Kolomyia and Pokuttya.