The Renaissance manor house
The manor house in Fintice has an irregular floor plan. It is believed that it was based on a mansion built by the first owners of the manor house. The manor house’s tower was built in the 16th century by the Darhol family who owned the municipality of Fintice. At the entrance, a Doric-style column and a part of a Renaissance staircase have been preserved. In the Baroque period, the manor house was rebuilt into its current form. At that time, the building was owned by the Dessewffy family. The family rebuilt the manor house and added a granary – a building with a very impressive exterior design (pilaster strips). Inside, the granary hides a barrel vault with lunette sections. The Dessewffy family placed great emphasis on education. That is why the manor house once featured a large library, representation rooms, including a knight’s hall, where, in addition to a large collection of musical instruments, they also kept a number of musical scores, which today form the so-called Fintice collection of music now stored in the archive of literature and art of the Slovak National Library. František Dessewffy was a vigorous supporter of music and very much liked to spend the summer in the manor house. His friends included people from upper classes like General Brunswick or Sigismund de Fint. The legend has it that van Beethoven himself also paid a visit to the manor house. However, there is no evidence which would support that claim.
The manor house is unique in several ways. The cellar by the stream served as a natural freezer – it contained a large pile of ice brought to the cellar during the winter. In the courtyard of the manor house there were stables and an aviary. The manor house was connected to the church by a hall – this allowed the inhabitants of the manor house to attend the mass without leaving the comfort of the indoors. Today, the entrance to the tomb of the Desseffy family, in which the grandson of the church’s founder is buried along with other family members, leads from the corridor.
