The Secret Library of the Voderady Manor: How Rare Books Ended Up in the Trash

Around 1970, a hidden room filled with thousands of books was accidentally discovered in the Voderady manor, next to the chapel that at the time served as a gymnasium for the apprentice school. This extraordinary find was made by an employee of the local vocational school, which had been housed in the manor since the 1950s. However, as quickly as these books saw the light of day, they vanished just as swiftly and irretrievably.

One day, Mr. Jozef Májka was asked to do some extra work, commonly referred to as a "brigade" in those days. The chairman of the local national committee (MNV) wanted him to help cut openings for a new central heating system being installed for the agricultural vocational school and offered him a monetary reward. Mr. Májka accepted the offer.

For several days, he cut holes in walls and later in ceilings for heating pipes. To break through the thick ceilings, he used a specially adapted steel pipe over a meter long. Some ceilings were easy to pierce, but others, especially the vaulted ones, posed a greater challenge.

When he reached one particular room and couldn’t find the end of his pipe on the floor below, he began to wonder where exactly the hole had led. After some calculations, he concluded that the hole must be behind one of the corridor walls downstairs. He tapped on the wall and, judging by the sound, determined that it was a thin partition with a hollow space behind it. He decided to make an opening. After removing a few bricks, he realized he had broken into a dark room. Shining his flashlight inside, he saw a vast collection of old books.

He decided to widen the opening so he could step inside. Before him appeared a hidden room filled with old books once owned by the Voderady counts. Some books had beautifully painted wooden covers, others were bound in leather with decorative clasps for fastening or locking. Many were adorned with metal or wooden decorations, or embossed paper designs.

As fate would have it, just as he was examining the books, Mr. Ivan N., a tractor driver from the local cooperative, arrived. He had been sent by the chairman of the MNV to help with the work. At first, he just stood there in amazement, surprised by the discovery of the secret room. But since he had no particular interest in books, he didn’t linger long. Standing among the shelves, he suddenly decided to inform the chairman of the find—despite Mr. Májka's pleas to wait so they could try to save at least some of the books. From past experience, Májka knew—and told Ivan—that if the chairman found out, it wouldn’t end well. He vividly remembered how many valuable furnishings and decorations from the manor had been tossed out of windows into the park and taken to the dump at the chairman’s command. Nonetheless, Ivan ran off to get him.

Realizing he had little time, Jozef Májka quickly decided to hide at least a few books. He called his two daughters, placed some books in a wooden crate, and sent them to hide them in the bushes behind the manor. But they were unlucky—moments later, the chairman arrived, with Ivan in tow. The chairman noticed the two girls struggling to carry the crate full of books. He called them back, ordering them to return with the books. Frightened, they complied, and their father received a stern reprimand.

The chairman then ordered a tractor with a trailer from the local collective farm (JRD) to be brought in. Following his command, all the books from the hidden room were loaded onto the trailer. This entire precious find—an estimated thousands of books, according to Mr. Májka—was transported to the village dump in Hliníky. There, again on the chairman’s orders, all the books were buried by a bulldozer in a pre-dug pit. In this way, a significant part of the Zichy family library was likely destroyed forever. Throughout the village, people murmured quietly about it: who had ever heard of throwing books into the trash? But no one dared to protest publicly over the books discarded from the manor. At that time, it would have been utterly futile.

This tragic story reveals how Slovakia lost a vast number of unique books, which the Voderady Zichys had collected over generations from around the world. The books were undoubtedly valuable relics—not only witnesses to history but also significant and costly pieces acquired by the counts across Europe and beyond, including ancient volumes dating back to the Middle Ages. The Zichys carefully selected extraordinary works on their travels, assembling a remarkably precious collection in Voderady. When the books were loaded up and taken to the dump, no one likely even considered what they might contain. These were rare volumes full of valuable knowledge and history—perhaps even family archival materials, the contents of which we will never know.

With the destruction of this significant part of the library, we lost not only a priceless cultural heritage but also invaluable resources for future generations. The chairman of the MNV, through his decision to send these books to the landfill, inflicted irreversible damage. This incident serves as a reminder that we must cherish and protect our cultural heritage to ensure that such events never happen again.

It is an interesting paradox that the chairman of the Local National Committee (MNV), who ordered the destruction of this valuable library—or at least a major part of it—later had a son who became a writer, i.e., a person whose work was closely tied to books and the written word.

Mr. Jozef Májka, a direct witness to this event, dared to reveal the story only years after the fall of socialism, when he no longer feared the possible consequences.

The rare books that the Zichy family had carefully walled up during World War II to protect them from destruction ultimately fell victim to postwar ideology and the decision of a local official in Voderady.

The memories of Mr. Jozef Májka, as recounted at the age of 80, were heard and written down by (ra).