Shoenborn’s park

Thanks to the geocaching we managed to visit one very beautiful and interesting place, which is not very popular among travel companies. And there is very little information about it. I’m talking about a park, which belonged to Duke Shornborn. The Shoenborn dynasty owned a vast territory at the Transcarphatians. I already wrote about Shoenborn’s castle, which also has a park. But this story is about another park, which is situated near the town named Turya Paseka on the way  from Svalyava to Uzhgorod.

The park is absolutely new and has been reconstructed by a group of patrons and historians who tried to restore its original state as accurately as possible. Next to the park there is the SPA center “Voevodino”, where you can have a rest from city life. To get to the park you have to walk through the center. It was a surprise for us. But it wasn’t a problem. We left our car in a free parking lot  and went further.

The entrance to the park consists of different interesting buildings. At the beginning of the park there is a gate, which represents a portal between two eras in the Transcarphatians – Austria-Hungary and modern Ukraine. On the two towers of the gate you can see two state emblems and flags of Austria and Hungary. All visitors are greeted by two guardians – models of two soldiers from the Innsbruck infantry regiment and the Debrecen hussars regiment.

<a href="http://travelforfun viagra non prescription.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/IMG_1504.jpg”>Entrance to the park

In front of the gate there is a bust of duke Shoenborn.

Duke Shoenborn

On the opposite side there is a reconstructed narrow-gauge railway station. At the time of Austria-Hungary  narrow-gauge railways were often used in the Carpathians to transport timber.

Narrow-gauge railway station

Next to the station there is a small museum with models of different buildings – houses, churches, mills.

Small church and mill

Shoenborn was a big fan of astrology, astronomy and so on. That’s why in the park you can find a druids’ calendar with trees, which correspond to different times of the year. Seven street lamps like seven days of the week illuminate the road from the entrance. Along the road there is a river with 12 bridges with 12 zodiac signs on them.

Near the druids’ calendar a beautiful bridge of four evangelists was built.  It’s decorated with sculptures of St. Luka, John, Mark and Matthew. These sculptures are similar to the sculptures on the Karlov Bridge in Prague.

The bridge of four evangelists 

In the center of the park there is  Lake Tur. According to different scientists, the name “Tur” is originated from the ancient word “tur”, which means “water”. Near this place there is the River Turya, which gives names to the lake and to the nearest town Turya Paseka. An island decorates the center of the lake. The shapes of the island are similar to the shapes of the border of Austria-Hungary. The road around the lake is illuminated by 24 lamps, like the number of hours in a day. On the bank of the lake 22 benches are installed. On each bench you can find  state emblems of different countries, which existed in this region at different times.

To reach the island you have to use a raft. Both the island and the park are very popular places among wedding photographers.  During our trip we saw at least three weddings.

Lake Tur

After the lake there is a St. Jan water mill in use.  It is built of stone and metal, and inside there are real millstones.

St. Jan water mill

The mill is situated at the end of the park. But you can go further into the forest along the trail, which leads to abandoned golden mines of the 19th century. Each year in May a golden miners festival takes place there. If you go even further, you will find the statue of St. Gubertus, patron saint of hunters. A hunters festival takes part there each September.

We really liked this park. There are absolutely no shops, ads, grumpy guardians and so on. You can just walk and enjoy the nature.