The history of the Hertník manor began in the middle of the 16th century, when the Hertník manor became the property of the noble Forgáč family from Jelenec /Gýmeš/. One of its members, Baron Simon Forgáč /1526-1598/, received a donation to Hertník from Emperor Ferdinand I in 1553 for his military merits in the fight against the Turks and the princes of Transylvania. As an important military dignitary, he also needed a suitably representative residence for his new estate. However, he did not build the Renaissance manor house on a green meadow, but probably on the site of an older castle, which had existed since the mid-15th century. It was a military-defensive point at the turn-off from the road connecting Bardejov and Prešov to the Sabinov valley and the Šariš castle. It was allegedly built by Ján Jiskra from Brandýs.
Forgáčovský manor house was built as a four-tower two-storey block building with a rectangular plan. The large courtyard was enclosed by a wall with an entrance gate, which was still fortified in several places by bastions and protected by a wide moat around its entire perimeter from the outside. A large, so called "moat" became a part of the manor grounds. Men's garden with fruit and ornamental trees and a pond. Between the garden and the courtyard, there were also outbuildings and a manor house where the servants lived. A chapel was also once part of the manor's furnishings. According to a preserved record, it was adapted and equipped with an altar by the then Countess Forgáčová in 1858. Local legend tells of a secret passageway that supposedly leads from the manor to the church crypt or to the forest.
This building served as the centre of the manor, which, in addition to Hertník, included the surrounding and more distant villages of Osikov, Šiba, Hervartov, Krivé, Križe, Bogliarka, Žatkovce, Livov, Venecia and Lukov, for about 350 years. The building of the manor house was severely damaged in World War II and therefore had to be partially restored in 1952. The last renovation took place at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s and the building acquired its present appearance. There is also a beautiful park in the neighbourhood. Since 1993, the KOR-GYM Integration Centre has been located in the manor house.
Source/Photo: village Hertník, KOR-GYM.
