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Meteorite Knyaginya

🕒 Date of last update of the article: 11.11.2024 at 9:40 p.m   |  🖋 Author: Viktor Shatrov

On 09.06.1866, near the village of Knyaginya, Uzhgorod district, Transcarpathia, a unique event occurred – the fall of a huge meteorite. After a terrible explosion and stone rain, people, having recovered from fright, began to collect the debris. As luck would have it, no one was hurt by the rockfall. Superstitious peasants attributed miraculous powers to the mysterious black boulders. A trade in meteorite fragments began.

Метеорит Княгиня

Photos and video of the Knyaginya meteorite

Brief overview

🔰 Place of fall Knyahynya village, Uzhhorod district, Transcarpathian region
🗺 Coordinates of the fall N49°00′18″ E22°33′24″
🕒 Date of fall June 9, 1866 at 5:00 p.m
🌑 Type Chondrite
🌠 Weight Over 500 kg
☄ Number of debris Over 1200
🧭 Distance from Vyshka 20 km
🚙 The road for Car, on foot
🏕 Stay with a tent No
🏡 Housing nearby Vyshka, Velykyi Bereznyi
☕ Cafes and shops Vyshka, Velykyi Bereznyi

Detailed description of “Knyaginya”

Special committees were set up to scientifically study the event, collecting and studying the meteorite fragments. In total, more than 1,000 pieces were found. The largest of them was found at a distance of 8 kilometres from the village of Knyahynya on Mount Stynka, in the Chorni Mlaki tract, by a simple peasant Vasyl Kryvianyk. He noticed a depression in the ground in the hayfield that he had never noticed before. After digging even deeper, he managed to find a large fragment of the Knyahynya meteorite weighing 279 kg 766 g. The forester of Velykyi Bereznyi, Andrii Pokornyi, managed to buy the find for a couple of oxen and then resell it to the Imperial Museum in Austria. Today, this fragment can be seen in the exhibition of the Vienna Natural History Museum.

The remaining fragments of the Knyaginya are in more than a hundred collections in many countries. The weight of all found pieces of the meteorite is almost half a tonne. This is the largest meteorite found in Europe.

The Transcarpathian Museum of Local Lore in Uzhhorod houses a fragment of a meteorite found in 1866 by Yuriy Volf. Yuri’s descendants, who kept the stone at home as a family heirloom, donated it to the museum in 1960. By its bright optical and powerful acoustic properties, number, shape and size of fragments, the Knyaginya meteorite is the most unique phenomenon of those times. It fell in the most favourable conditions – during the day, in clear sunny weather, in full view of tens of thousands of people. The phenomenon was immediately subjected to scientific research, which gave a strong impetus to the development of cosmogony. An official scientific commission visited the crash site on 12 July 1866.

On the map

What’s interesting nearby?

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Tours and excursions

uzhan valley
10 hours
From 700 ₴

Accommodation nearby

Туристична база «Едельвейс»
Sil village, 1
+380 ....

from 1300₴/day
Готель «Новий Сезон»
Vyshka village, house 288
+380 ....
from 950₴/day
Готель «Верховинський двір»
the village of Kostryno
+380 ....
from 1200₴/day
готель «перлина красії»
resort Krasiya, village Vyshka
+380 ....
from 1300₴/day
Готель «Alpen House»
with. Vyshka, 1, Zakarpattia region.
+380 ....
from 1700₴/day
Готель «Mont Blanc Family Sporthotel»
with. Vyshka, Transcarpathian region.
+380 ....
from 4500₴/day
Садиба «Майфайна»
the village of Vyshka
+380 ....
from 190₴/day
Садиба «Ерташ»
Ertash-Kuba tract, Vyshka
+380 ....
from 1300₴/day
Приватна садиба «Теремок»
with. Vyshka, 3A, Zakarpattia region.
+380 ....
from 1000₴/day
Садиба «Золота модрина»
with. Vyshka, 4-a, Transcarpathian region.
+380 ....
from 750₴/day
Приватна садиба «Ліщина»
between the 4th and 5th exit supports, Vyshka
+380 ....
from 889₴/day

Leisure activities nearby

Ресторан готелі «Перлина Красії»
Transcarpathian region, Vyshka village
+380 ....
Ресторан «Alpen House»
Transcarpathian region, Vyshka village, 1
+380 ....
Віктор Шатров

Historian, publicist, blogger, public figure

Social media profiles:

Author of the article: Viktor Shatrov

Number of articles: 1100+

Knowledge of languages:: Ukrainian, English

Favourite quote: “Travelling – the only thing that makes you richer

He was born and lived all his life in Uzhhorod. He graduated with a gold medal from Uzhhorod School No. 1 named after Taras Shevchenko (now Uzhhorod Lyceum named after Taras Shevchenko). He studied at the History Department of UzhNU, graduating with honours in 2009. He worked as a senior researcher at the Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, a lecturer at the East European Slavic University.