Vinné Castle

Vinné Castle is situated at the village of Vinné, near Lake Vinné. It was built in the 13th century after the Tatar raid to protect Polish Road. The castle was situated closely to an important crossroads. It fulfilled observational as well as signalling function at the natural pass called Polish Road. It belonged to noblemen frm Michalovce. Present-day ruins of the castle stand on a volcanic hill in the southern part of the Vihorlat Hills, north-west of the village of Vinné. The castle was destroyed at the beginning of the 18th century. You can find the location of the castle on the map.

Brekov Castle

Brekov Castle was founded on the spot of an older castle from the period before the Great Moravian Empire (8th – 9th centuries). The first reference comes from 1307 mentioning it with the name of Castrum Barko. In the times of anti-habsburg uprisings it changed its owners many times until it was conquered and destroyed by the soldiers of Imrich Tököli in 1648.

Great Vihorlat Lake (Morské Oko)

The natural reserve of Great Vihorlat Lake (Morské Oko) is situated within the Vihorlat conservation area. Surrounded by woods of the Vihorlat Hills, the surface of Great Vihorlat Lake reflects mysteriously 618 metres above sea level, with the area of 13,8 hectares and water surface of 750 m long and approx. 25 m deep lake with waters from the pure surrounding streams. The lake provides home for trouts, minnows and perches. A tourist instructional path of the Vihorlat conservation area leads from here to the dominant natural sight of Sninský Kameň Hill with the height of 1005 metres.

Nowadays there is 13 species of fishes in the lake and its streams, the most dominant being dace - Leuciscus cephalus, but there is also the species of Gobio gobio, Alburnus alburnus, barbel - Barbus carpathicus, as well as already mentioned species of trouts. 

Vihorlat Conservation Area

By the regulation N. 111 / 1999 Coll. Of Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic from 19 April 1999, the Vihorlat Conservation Area with the area of 17 485,2428 hectares was founded. The area is situated within the counties of Sobrance, Michalovce, Humenné and Snina. The Vihorlat Hills belong to the mostly wooded hills in Slovakia with mainly deciduous, particularly beechen forests. It stands out over the vast East Slovak Lowland and its highest peaks exceed the height of 1000 metres.

This area is important from more aspects, water management and forestry being among them. It is the main resource and regulator of water supplies. The development of tourism is, from the point of view of demands for relaxing and recreation, of the secondary importance. Growing tourism in the Vihorlat Conservation Area is influenced by the location of the nearby Lake Zemplínska šírava, where during summer a number of tourists spend their  holidays. The visitors of the Vihorlat Conservation Area can use the instructional paths leading to Great Vihorlat Lake (Morské Oko), Sninský Kameň Hill, Snina Ponds, as well as to the highest peak within the conservation area – Nežabec (1023m).

Protected bird sanctuary of “Senianske Rybníky” ponds

(100 – 104metres above sea level, 1490 hectares)
It is one of the most important ornithological sites in Central Europe. It consists of a network of commercially used ponds as well as of the natural conservation area of Senné Ponds. The area is an important nest-place for waterbirds and some species of birds living close to water. Herons and some other waterbirds nest here. This „bird’s paradise“ of an international importance is located between the villages of Senné and Iňačovce on a geological na geologickej flatland, so called „Senné Marshland“.

The abundance of the present bird species (so far 145 species have been recorded!, with 55 species nesting, and with other 25 species, for which Senné represents the only and the most important nest location in Slovakia) led to the incorporation of this area among the most important bird sanctuaries (IBA - Important Birds’ Areas) and in 1990 among Ramsar locations. 
 
 

Wooden churches

Slovak wooden Greek-Catholic churches represent part of great cultural heritage of Carpathian Rusyns, nowadays living in the north of Šariša and Zemplín regions, as well as in Polish Bieszczady, the Ukrainian Poloniny Hills and Romanian Maramureš. Massive growth of constructing religious buildings in the region around the Dukla Pass is identified with the period after 1648, when the Orthodox Church was unified with Greek-Catholic Church by so called Union. The most of these buildings were constructed in the 18th century.

Inovce

Archangel Mikhail’s Church, which is a part of national cultural heritage, was built in 1836. This three-spaced timbering building with a chancel, square nave and an open space under the tower, is covered with the hip shingle roof. The ceilings are flat and boarded. The tower is set on the construction of the space below with the overlapping roof and wooden fittings. The main altar with the iconostasis has neo-baroque ornaments and comes from the time of the church construction. The icon of Christ is from 1760 - 1780. The icon of Pieta from 1842 is an oil painting on wood by Michal Markovič with the author’s signatureje.

Ruská Bystrá

St. Nicholas – the Bishop’s Church from 1730. The three-spaced timbering building consists of the altar room, nave and the room under the tower. The altar room has polygonal shape. The roof is shingled. Its regular hip shape, reminding of traditional peasant houses, is disrupted by a higher tower and a lower tower above the altar room. The interior comes from the time of the church construction and is constructed in baroque-rococo style.


More information about the wooden churches