As they get to know the generous natural riches of Zakarpattia, tourists increasingly include in their routes the town of Perechyn, set among mountain peaks near the confluence of the Turia and Uzh rivers.
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| The town of Perechyn. Zakarpattia region |
This district centre of the Zakarpattia region is known for its popular ethnofestivals, "Lemkivska Vatra" and "Perechyn Carols". Since 2016 the town has taken up and keeps refining a new kind of sporting activity — the running of the Uzhhorod-Perechyn half-marathon.
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| Uzhhorod. The start of the Uzhhorod-Perechyn half-marathon |
The choice of an Olympic sport is not accidental, although the half-marathon is not part of the programme of the Olympic Games, only of the world championships. The famous postman Fedir Feketa covered the marathon distance of 40-60 kilometres every day, delivering correspondence from Uzhhorod to the remote mountain villages of the Perechyn area.
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| Perechyn. The monument to Fedir Feketa |
Postmen, in carrying out their professional duties, become sprinters, and the proof of this is the victory in 1896 of the postman from Greece Spyridon Louis in the marathon race, included for the first time in the programme of the Olympic Games. The Greek postman became a national hero, and the Zakarpattian one — the very first postman in the world to have a memorial sign erected to him.
While the participants of this festival of road running, 22.195 kilometres long, have started in Uzhhorod and are moving north-east across the region to Perechyn, let us take part in a symbolic quarter-marathon at the finishing point, to get acquainted with the town's landmarks.
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| Uzhhorod. The start of the Uzhhorod-Perechyn half-marathon |
Perechyn was founded at the end of the 14th century, and it received town status in 2004. This district centre, with a population of 12,000, has 41 streets and two squares.
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| Perechyn. The flagpole |
The main square is Narodna, where mass folk festivities and holiday events are held. Here, by the monument to the famous postman, the marathon runners will finish.
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| Perechyn. Narodna Square. A cross with a crucifix |
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| Perechyn. Narodna Square. The department store |
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| Perechyn. Narodna Square. The fountain |
Fedir Feketa was called the Envoy, because along with parcels and letters he also passed on news between the inhabitants of the settlements of the Perechyn area. He was awaited and respected everywhere. Over his years of work Fedir lost nothing, mixed nothing up, and delivered notifications and money transfers accurate to the last kopeck. The conscientious postman died, one might say, at his workplace. Having slipped and fallen through the ice on the road, he fell ill and died of hypothermia. In 1839 his grateful fellow-villagers in the village of Turia Remety erected a bas-relief with the inscription "In memory of the Amiability, Sobriety, Honesty and Obedience of the Envoy Fedir Feketa". In Perechyn a two-metre bronze sculpture of the postman has strode confidently across the mountain passes since 2004. The author is the Honoured Artist of Ukraine M. O. Belen.
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| Perechyn. Narodna Square. The monument to Fedir Feketa |
Independence Square appeared at the end of the 1960s, with the construction of four- and five-storey buildings and a kindergarten.
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| Perechyn. Independence Square |
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| Perechyn. Independence Square. The kindergarten |
On Uzhanska Street stand the district state administration, the district court, the library, the school, the hospital and the museum.
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| Perechyn. Uzhanska Street. The district state administration |
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| Perechyn. Uzhanska Street. One of the two libraries |
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| Perechyn. Uzhanska Street. The dental clinic |
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| The dental clinic. Bas-reliefs on the building, early 20th century |
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| Perechyn. Uzhanska Street. The school |
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| Perechyn. The school. A memorial plaque to Milan Stefanik and Tomas Masaryk |
Uzhhorodska Street stretches from the town's entrance sign to Narodna Square over a distance of 3.5 kilometres.
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| Perechyn. Uzhhorodska Street |
The boarding school for orphaned children and for children from distant mountain villages was put into operation in 1962. On graduating, as they bid farewell to their alma mater, the pupils leave the school museum an embroidered towel made with their own hands.
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| Perechyn. The boarding school |
The monument to fellow-countryman soldiers and the common grave of the Soviet soldiers who liberated Perechyn from the Hitlerites in October 1944, and the M-30 howitzer.
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| Perechyn. The war memorial |
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| Perechyn. The memorial plaque about the liberation of Perechyn in 1944 |
A restaurant that differs in no way in design from the thousands of its brethren of the era of developed socialism, and a signboard from those times.
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| Perechyn. Uzhhorodska St. The restaurant |
In the former House of Culture, built in 1965, a night club and a pizzeria have taken up residence. The facade of the building is decorated with a bas-relief floral ornament and a mural depicting a dove of peace, space rockets, a sea vessel, mountain peaks and the sun in a corner of the panel.
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| Perechyn. Uzhhorodska St. The night club and pizzeria |
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| Perechyn. The mural on the facade of the former House of Culture |
In the new centre of culture and leisure, the town's residents hone their amateur skills in the folk-instrument ensemble, the folk choir and the municipal ensemble.
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| Perechyn. The centre of culture and leisure |
The town has several places of worship of various religious denominations. The oldest shrine, the Orthodox St. Nicholas Church, is housed in a former Reformed church built in 1769 on the site of a wooden predecessor.
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| Perechyn. St. Nicholas Church. 1769. |
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| Perechyn. The bell tower and the ancient bells |
The Kostel of St. Augustine, in the eclectic style and 34 metres tall, has risen at the foot of Mount Hurka since 1906. It was built for the foreign workers of the forest-chemical plant on the initiative of the Italian H. Francesca, who provided the plot of land and the funds for the construction.
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| Perechyn. The Kostel of St. Augustine. 1906. |
The Greek Catholic Church of St. Nicholas, with its distinctive architectural feature of two towers, was consecrated in 2003.
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| Perechyn. The Church of St. Nicholas. UGCC. 2003. |
In 2016 a new church, the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God, opened for Orthodox believers. The building of the former synagogue of the 17th century has the status of an architectural monument.
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| Perechyn. The former synagogue, 17th century |
The premises house the Oshchadbank. Perechyn has its own Way of the Cross, which leads to the summit of Mount Hurka with a ten-metre cross at its centre.
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| Perechyn. Narodna Square. The chapel and the sculpture of the Most Holy Virgin Mary |
In 1893 a railway was built in Perechyn. You can reach the Zakarpattia town from
Lviv,
Stryi,
Mukachevo,
Svaliava,
Turka by suburban train. By bus — from Svaliava, Mukachevo, Uzhhorod.
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| Perechyn. The railway station |
While we were taking our promenade through the town, the athletes arrived at the finish one after another, where they were greeted with applause and an orchestral fanfare, and prizes, awards and the congratulations of delighted fans awaited the winners.
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| Perechyn. Uzhhorodska Street. The half-marathon. The finishing straight |
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| Perechyn. The half-marathon. The awarding of the athletes |
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| Perechyn. The participants of the Uzhhorod-Perechyn half-marathon |
Five kilometres from Perechyn you can climb by a serpentine road to the 14th-century Nevytske Castle with its donjon tower.
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| Nevytske Castle, 14th century |
The "Shpaiz" restaurant, with a view of the mediaeval landmark, will surprise you with the variety of Zakarpattian cuisine dishes.
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| The "Shpaiz" restaurant. Zakarpattia region. |
Coordinates: 48°44'8"N 22°28'15"E
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