Famous Women of Zakarpattia

Everyone loves stories about world-famous people of Ukrainian origin – actors, scientists, writers, and other prominent figures. As it turns out, there are quite a lot of them! And while the question whether to consider Andy Warhol our countrymate or not is still debatable, no one remembers women, whose names are associated with Zakarpattia for sure…

Queen Elizabeth (Erzsébet)

The third wife of Hungarian King Charles Robert often visited Mukachevo. She liked the city, liked the chapel where she used to pray. Due to her in 1376, the city acquired a charter approving its privileged status.

This is one of the favorite Hungarians’ historical figures. And no wonder – her life story is very interesting, though no less horrible.

She got into the Guinness Book of Records as the woman who made the highest number of murders. According to testimony of a witness, she tortured and murdered about 650 people during 25 years.

Krisztina Csáky

She managed to make the Uzhgorod castle, which was an ordinary bastion, a real palace.

40-year-old countess married Miklos Bercheni, who became a widower with three children at the age of 22. They managed to turn the grim fortress into a place that looked like Western European castles.

The family lived here till the defeat of the national liberation war, after which Bercheni chose exile over living there and left to Turkey. Krisztina Csáky went with him.

Olga Koriatovych

Count Koriatovych’s wife took care not only about Mukachevo, but about the surrounding areas.

During their reign, the town began to develop, and the castle was fortified.

Protective walls appeared around Mukachevo and a monastery was built on the mountain.

Zsuzsanna Lorántffy

After her husband’s death, the woman started to rebuild the Mukachevo castle again.

At that time familiar high towers and bastions and a famous inscription appeared. Only two lines have remained to present days:

«If the military art, nature and God deeply respect me, I’m not afraid of guns, and if the positions of the stars are favorable, I will stand here for centuries»

Sofia Bathory

Another hostess of Mukachevo castle has almost as fierce reputation as her bloody ancestor we have already mentioned before. There are legends about her “vampire” inclinations. No one can say now whether it is true or not. However, she made the life of her relatives and servants miserable, that’s for sure.

Her reign was a period of peasant rebellions, which were brutally suppressed. After her husband’s death, she started the policy declining everything he did for years. After her son’s death, Sofia deprived property from her grandchildren just because she hated her daughter-in-law.

Ilona Zrínyi

She was probably the most outstanding woman of Zakarpattia. She even received the award from Turkish sultan, becoming the only woman in the history who was awarded with it.

She led the defense of the castle for almost three years and agreed to negotiate only when she was convinced there was no any other choice.

After Mukacheve surrendered, she followed her second husband to Turkey, and went into exile with him. Ilona Zrinyi’s son, Francis II Rákóczi, later became a leader of a liberation war against the Austrians.

Lizabeth Scott

Emma Matzo (this is actress’s real name) was born in California in a family of immigrants. She became famous due to her image of “fatal woman” in film-noir. She looked great in the pessimistic atmosphere of dramatic detectives of 40s-50s, depicting the spirit of the era. One of the features of her unique image was her smoky voice. For contribution to the art, Lizabeth Scott has her own star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. The film pay Dead Reckoning, where the actress played one of leading roles together with Humphrey Bogart, has been recognized as a masterpiece of world cinema long ago.

Sandra Dee

Grandparents of Alexandra Zack, famous actress and fashion model, were active participants of the Ukrainian public movement in New York. She started appearing in commercials and magazines since she was 4, and at the age of 15 she played her first leading role in the film and received the Golden Globe award.