The Révay Family was a Hungarian noble family, who owned estates in Turóc county, the
Kingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
(
TuriecTuróc , , /comitatus Thurociensis, ) is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary...
region in today's
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
) until the early 20th century. Their property included i.a. the
Rococo-classical manor house in MošovceOne of the most interesting and most beautiful historical monuments of the Turiec region is no doubt the Révay Rococo-Classical Manor House in Mošovce. It was built in the second half of the 18th century.- New manor house :...
, the so-called
Old Manor houseA manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the administrative centre of a manor , the lowest unit of territorial organization in the feudal system...
demolished in the middle of the 20th century, the
Noblemen's MansionA mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. realtors define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
and the
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
in
MošovceMošovce is one of the largest villages in the historical region of Turiec, currently in the Turčianske Teplice District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia.-History:Many preserved historical buildings are the evidence of the 770 years of its existence...
, a castle in
BlatnicaBlatnica is a village and municipality in the Turiec region of Slovakia. Administratively it is a part of the Martin District in the Žilina Region. The village is situated under the Greater Fatra Range, at the opening of the spectacular karst Gader and Blatnica valleys...
, lands and a castle in
SklabiňaSklabiná is a village and municipality in the Veľký Krtíš District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia.
-External links:*http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html...
, as well as a manor-house with a park in
Turčianska ŠtiavničkaTurčianska Štiavnička is a village and municipality in Martin District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia.-Geography:The municipality lies at an altitude of 435 metres and covers an area of 14.072km². It has a population of about 802 people....
.
The Révay family have been known since the 13th century.
The Révay Family was a Hungarian noble family, who owned estates in Turóc county, the
Kingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
(
TuriecTuróc , , /comitatus Thurociensis, ) is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary...
region in today's
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
) until the early 20th century. Their property included i.a. the
Rococo-classical manor house in MošovceOne of the most interesting and most beautiful historical monuments of the Turiec region is no doubt the Révay Rococo-Classical Manor House in Mošovce. It was built in the second half of the 18th century.- New manor house :...
, the so-called
Old Manor houseA manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the administrative centre of a manor , the lowest unit of territorial organization in the feudal system...
demolished in the middle of the 20th century, the
Noblemen's MansionA mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. realtors define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
and the
parkA park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment. It may consist of, rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas....
in
MošovceMošovce is one of the largest villages in the historical region of Turiec, currently in the Turčianske Teplice District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia.-History:Many preserved historical buildings are the evidence of the 770 years of its existence...
, a castle in
BlatnicaBlatnica is a village and municipality in the Turiec region of Slovakia. Administratively it is a part of the Martin District in the Žilina Region. The village is situated under the Greater Fatra Range, at the opening of the spectacular karst Gader and Blatnica valleys...
, lands and a castle in
SklabiňaSklabiná is a village and municipality in the Veľký Krtíš District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia.
-External links:*http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html...
, as well as a manor-house with a park in
Turčianska ŠtiavničkaTurčianska Štiavnička is a village and municipality in Martin District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia.-Geography:The municipality lies at an altitude of 435 metres and covers an area of 14.072km². It has a population of about 802 people....
.
Family history
The Révay family have been known since the 13th century. They come from the region of
SyrmiaSyrmia is a fertile region of the Pannonian Plain in Europe, between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia in the east and Croatia in the west....
. In 1556 and 1635 the family was promoted to
BaronBaron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman."...
s and on 17 June 1723 to
CountA count is a nobleman in European countries; his wife is a countess. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The British equivalent is an earl...
s. The coat of arms of the
Masters de Reva, which can be seen at the
façadeA facade or façade is generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
of their manor house, is composed of a wolf
TennéIn heraldry, tenné or tawny is a "stain", a rarely used tincture, an orangish brown colour. Some authors consider it the same as orange, but that is not the case in continental heraldry....
growing from a
crownA crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art the crown may be shown being offered to those...
of
OrIn heraldry, Or is the tincture of gold and, together with argent , belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it may be represented using a field of evenly spaced dots...
, holding three
roseA rose is a perennial flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colours. The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles...
s.
MošovceMošovce is one of the largest villages in the historical region of Turiec, currently in the Turčianske Teplice District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia.-History:Many preserved historical buildings are the evidence of the 770 years of its existence...
became the property of the Révay family in 1534, six years after the donation of the
King of HungaryThe King of Hungary was the head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 1918.After 1688, the principle of hereditary monarchy was enacted, and the son was typically crowned after his father's death.-Beginnings:...
,
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman EmperorFerdinand I was a Central European monarch from the House of Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526. He ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs most of his public life, at the behest of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and...
. The last member of the family, who resided in Mošovce, was
countA count is a nobleman in European countries; his wife is a countess. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The British equivalent is an earl...
Ferenc Révay. Today the descendants of the family live in
TrnavaTrnava is a city in western Slovakia, 47 km to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a kraj and of an okres . It was the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric . The city has a historic center...
,
BratislavaBratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic and, with a population of about 429,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n
GrazGraz , with a population of 291,574 as of 2009 , is the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna and the capital of the federal state of Styria....
as well as in
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
. The last letter of the name is sometimes "i" instead of "y" in some printed versions or as an affair of modernization in the late 19th century Kingdom of Hungary.
After
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the property of the Révay family in Turiec was nationalized. In 1993, the niece of Ladislav Révay, the last of the counts, filed a request for the restitution of their property. The request ended up in court as the Révay family and the state had differing opinions as to the extent of their claim. In 2001 the restitution claim of the Révays was rejected by the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic. 5 years later, however, the
European Court of Human RightsThe European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is an international judicial body established under the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 to monitor respect of human rights by states...
in
StrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the ninth largest in France...
issued a ruling allowing the matter to proceed, thus opening a possibility for a reconciliation of both parties. This resulted in a financial compensation of the state for the husband and wife of Ladislav Révay's niece (who died in 1995) in the amount of SKK 150 million (just under 5 million EUR).
External links
Further reading
- BEŇOVSKÝ, J. a kol.: Mošovce v premenách času. Martin: Osveta, 1984. 304 pp.
- LIPPAN, M. a kol.: Mošovce. Banská Bystrica: Stredoslovenské vydavateľstvo, 1971. 405 pp.
- REŤKOVSKÝ, P.: The Tourist Guide of Sites in Mošovce. Mošovce: Obecný úrad Mošovce, 2004. 38 pp., ISBN 80-969156-1-4
- TATÁR, J.: Mošovce v historickej, kultúrnej a prírodnej mozaike. Mošovce: Obecný úrad Mošovce, 2003. 124 pp., ISBN 80-968976-0-8
- TATÁR, J.: Živý poklad (Povesti z Mošoviec). Mošovce: Obecný úrad Mošovce, 1994. 64 pp. ISBN 80-967232-0-0