🕒 Date of last update of the article: 16.02.2024 at 8:53 p.m   |  🖋 Author: Viktor Shatrov

Photos and video of the mini-sculpture “Tyvadar Chontvari”

Brief overview

Detailed description of the mini-attraction

At the unveiling of the mini-monument, Mykhailo Kolodko noted that the place for the sculpture was not chosen by chance, as part of the railing on which Chontvari was “settled” is part of the old bridge, which has been preserved since the days when Uzhhorod The prototype of the sculpture lived there. And perhaps it is the Chontvari that will help to preserve, and perhaps eventually restore, the old bridge, and thus return the city to its history and European identity. And yet, in the old days, in this place, the river turned into a skating rink in winter, where the skater and genius artist Tivadar Chontvari acquired his skills and competed with his peers. The artist, who was the same age as the great Van Gogh, was far ahead of his time in his work, so the sculptor depicted him on skates as a man rushing forward.

Who is Tyvadar Kostka Chontvari?

The outstanding artist Tyvadar Kostka Chontvari has Ukrainian-Slovak roots. He was born in what is now Slovakia in the city of Sabinov, lived for a long time in Seredne in Uzhhorod region, where his father owned a pharmacy, and studied at the commercial school of Uzhhorod.

In his memoirs, he mentioned the city of Uzhhorod in one line: “I didn’t study very well, but in Uzhhorod I was the best among ice skaters”.

The legend of the Transcarpathian Van Gogh sculpture

An interesting story about the life of Tyvadar Chontvari was written by Nadiya Popadiuk in her book Uzhhorod – the World Capital of Mini-Sculptures:

“For a long time, Tyvadar Chontvari worked as a pharmacist. But he believed that he would become a great painter. In winter, Tyvadar liked to skate on the Uzh River, so he truly felt free from stereotypes. He inspired a local sculptor to create a mini-sculpture on skates in his honour, which he installed on the Uzhhorod embankment. However, Chontvara did not like it, because he always dreamed of being portrayed with a canvas and paints in his hands. One day, when he was 28 years old, while working in a pharmacy, he suddenly picked up a pencil and drew a buffalo cart on a prescription form that he saw passing through the window. Thus, Csontvári began painting, studied in Munich and Paris, and painted more than a hundred paintings that were exhibited in galleries in many European countries, but did not receive recognition in his homeland. In Hungary, the artist was considered a madman because of his strange behaviour and ascetic lifestyle. Only at the end of his life he came to Budapest and brought his paintings there. He tried to donate them to a local museum, but no one wanted them. In 1919, Tyvadar Csontvári went truly insane and died a beggar, alone, ridiculed and unwanted. Today, Chontvari is one of the ten brilliant artists on the level of Leonardo da Vinci.”

How to get to the mini-replica of Tyvadar Chontvari in Uzhhorod?

 Walking route

On the map

All Uzhhorod mini-sculptures

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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.