Verkhivnya branch of the Zhytomyr Agricultural Technical College
The branch is located in the village of Verkhivnya, Ruzhinsky district, Zhytomyr region. On the territory of monuments of garden and park art of the second half of the 18th century. The college itself is located in the premises of the Gansky estate, where the outstanding writer Honore de Balzac once stayed. Also, the Honoré de Balzac Literary Memorial Museum is located in the premises.
Verkhivnya Agrotechnical College has its own, interesting and exciting history. In 1922, an agricultural school was founded in the former Gansky estate. A year later, it became a branch of the Kyiv Agricultural Institute. Future agronomists and their teachers lived in rooms on the second floor, and studied on the first floor. Now there is an agricultural college here. During its existence, it gave the national economy more than four thousand agrarian specialists. But not about that, now we will talk about what happened before college…
The Gansky estate is a monument of history, architecture and garden culture of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Located in the village of Verkhivnya, Ruzhinsky district, Zhytomyr region. Entered into the register of national shrines of Ukraine.
Verkhivnya Park is a monument of garden and park art of the second half of the 18th century located in the village of Verkhivnya, Ruzhinsky district, Zhytomyr region. Staus received the park in accordance with Resolution No. 22 of the Collegium of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR on Nature Protection dated July 26, 1972. The area is 33.75 hectares. It has historical significance as the place where Honoré de Balzac lived from 1847 to 1850 in the Gansky estate.
The park was founded in 1780-1790 by Jan Hanskyi. The species composition of the trees is mainly from local breeds. Oaks, ash trees, lindens, and poplars are planted here, each one and a half hundred, or even more, years old.
Nowadays, the Verkhivnya branch of the Zhytomyr Agricultural Technical College is located on the territory of the park.
What happened before:
During the years 1780-1790, a park was founded by Count Jan Hansky on the territory of the modern estate. Then, in 1800, a palace was built in the Empire style, a distinct feature of which was a return to ancient art. Ian’s son Vaclav Gansky, who inherited the Verkhovna lands from his father, was already finishing the construction. The estate was built by craftsmen who were invited from Podillia and Volyn. The construction was supervised by well-known architects at that time. Building materials were imported from many countries.
The guests of the Hans were received in the luxurious hall of the palace with bas-reliefs on the mythological themes of ancient Rome and Greece. An orchestra of serf musicians played on the balcony. From the hall there was an exit to the dining room. On the first floor there were rooms for recreation. When the balls ended well past midnight, you could spend the night here.
Two outbuildings were built near the palace, which were connected to the palace by underground passages. In one there was a kitchen, from where food was brought to the masters through an underground passage. In another outbuilding, there was a carpentry workshop, and the manager, Vaclav Ganskyi’s brother Karl, also lived there. Also on the territory of the estate was a house in which a family doctor, a veterinarian, a gardener, and an agronomist once lived.
In 1810, a chapel (tomb) of the Hanskys was built near the palace. The chapel used to have two floors, but after the October Revolution of 1917 and the civil war, only one floor remained.
After his marriage to Evelina Rzhevutska in 1819, Vaclav Gansky gave her the village of Verkhivnya with an estate. In 1847, when Ganska was already widowed, her lover (husband from 1850) — Honoré de Balzac — moved to the estate, where he wrote the play “The Stepmother”, worked on “The Deputy from Arcy”, “Mademoiselle de Vissard or France for of the time of the Constitution”, “Petty bourgeois”, “Woman-writer”.
The last owner of Verkhivna was Evelina’s brother Adam Rzhevusky. It was to him that her daughter, having become impoverished, sold her inheritance.
Beginning of college:
In 1922, an agricultural school was founded in the former Gansky estate. A year later, it became a branch of the Kyiv Agricultural Institute. Future agronomists and their teachers lived in rooms on the second floor, and studied on the first floor. Now there is an agricultural college here. During its existence, it gave the national economy more than four thousand agrarian specialists.
In 1959, on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of the birth of Honoré de Balzac, a room-museum of the writer was opened in the premises of the then agricultural technical school, which operated on a public basis until 1995. Thirty years later, the palace is being restored, and in 1995, thanks to the initiative of the technical school team, three memorial rooms were equipped, which became the Honore de Balzac Literary and Memorial Museum of Verkhivnya.
At the moment, the Verkhivnya branch of the Zhytomyr Agricultural Technical College is training leading specialists in the specialty “Agronomy”. There are full-time and part-time forms of education. Types of training, both state and contract. Branch director: Dmytrenko Oleksiy Oleksiyovych. Deputy Director of Education.
