Sandor Petofi Literary Museum (Uzhgorod, Ukraine) - Dead Poets' Society Memorials on Waymarking.com

Sandor Petofi (1823-1849) is considered the national poet of Hungary and was one of the key figures in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. He is the author of the “Nemzeti dai” (Hungarian National Poem), which inspired the Hungarian war for independence from the Austrian Empire. Although his body was never found, it is believed that he died in the Battle of Segesvar, one of the last battles of the war. But rumors are that he was captured by the Russian army and spent the last years of his life in Siberia.

The museum is housed in a room on the second floor of the Uzhgorod Children’s School for the Arts. Petofi had spent the night here on June 11, 1847 when it was the Black Eagle Hotel on his way to meet his lover in Transylvania. He kept a diary which was published as “Travel Journals” and this is what he wrote about his one evening stay in Uzhgorod (the city was called Ungvar at that time): “Generally Ungvar is a terribly bad city – dirty and unkempt. You can compare it to a drunk person who fell into a puddle, got dirty and then walked home tipsy.”

Although his recollections were rather negative towards our beloved town, it was a fair description of the condition of Ungvar 150 years ago. The square across the street from the art school is named Petofi Square in his honor.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/22/2012 puczmeloun visited it