Already in 1223 a salty spring was used near Prešov, today the town district of Solivar. That is why it was valuable, which made it a kind of „real estate“ for the owner. In 1288, King Ladislaus IV of Hungary gave the nobleman To George, the son of Simon the salt spring and the brine flowing out of it with the territory from the Torysa River into the ownership. Since then, his heirs started using the surname „de Soóso“ or Šóšo in Slovak. However, it is little known that according to the mentioned donation from 1288, the nobleman Juraj and his descendants owned not only the territory in the valley of thed Torysa to the ridge of the Slanské hills, but also the opposite territory east from the ridge to the Topľa River. In the 14th century the Šóš family, owners of the Solivar manor, began to assert their claim to the aforementioned ownership of the estates, which they had confirmed by a court decision in 1346 and thus became (de jure) lords of part of the district and today's Hanušovce nad Topľou (then Johansdorf, in the 15th cent. Hansdorf, according to the letter bratrikov and Hanušovce), which had already been made a town by the Hungarian king Charles Róbert of Anjou in 1332.
The small manor house in Hanušovce nad Topľou, which was not even known to be one of the noble residences until 1980, was the property of the „Soľnoban“ Šoš family at least since 1564, and after 1592 it was the only family residence when their castle above Soľná Báňa was destroyed.
It was built as a two-storey block building bearing all the period architectural features (layout, stonework and sgraffito decoration) of a representative noble residence intended for the housing of the landlord and his family. At the time of its construction, the manor house was plastered with smooth lime plaster with typical corner leaf sgraffito. The window openings were fitted with profiled stone lining, the main entrance opening with a stone portal in the lintel with an inscription: SOOS STEPHANUS YES 1564. The stone cells were later removed and used as secondary building material. In connection with the beginning of the anti-Habsburg uprisings in Hungary at the beginning of the 17th century. A round tower was added to the southern corner of the manor to increase its defensibility. The construction of the tower changed the character of the manor into a residential and defensive residence. During the 17th century, the residential function gained a new identity. prevailed over the fortification function. The guns as a defensive element have not been preserved. Later, the window openings and the stucco decoration of the vaults were modified. The stucco decoration of the vaults is preserved throughout the entire extent of the first floor.
The manor house was acquired at the end of the 17th century. Its final Renaissance form. In the following period, the Dežöfi family, among others, acted as the owner of the estates in Hanušovce nad Topľou, who built a new Baroque manor house with Renaissance features near the Small Manor House on the hill. It is said that the outbuilding near the Small Manor House was used as an apartment for the administrator of the new manor house. Considering that the new landlords of Hanušovce nad Topľou lived in a new, much more representative manor house and the building adjacent to the Small Manor House was converted into a caretaker's flat, it can be assumed that the so-called Small Manor House was also intended for more inferior, perhaps economic, but perhaps also residential functions at that time, but probably not for housing members of the landlord family.
In the manor house, until 1711, the year of the death of a nobleman named „Joan de Soóso“, there was probably also the family archive of the Šoš family. The aforementioned Joan, Ján in Slovak, has been buried since 1711 under the pavement of what is now the Roman Catholic church in Hanušovce nad Topľou, about 50 m from his manor house. It is announced by a Latin inscription carved into a stone slab.
Today, the Šoš Manor House (Small Manor House) is used for cultural and social activities, library, gallery, and a small concert hall.
Šošovský manor house is part of the Šariš castle roads
Source/photo: the town of Hanušovce nad Topľou
Map
Gallery
