Solovka

Solovka (Hungarian: Szalóka, Ukrainian: Соловка) is a village in Uzhhorodskyi Raion, Transcarpathia, Ukraine.^[1] It is located 11 km southeast of Chop, 3 km from Lónya, 46 km from Uzhhorod, on the right bank of the Tisza River, next to the Hungarian border.

Solovka, first noted as Zalók in the 1240s and later as Zalóka in 1464, is an old Árpád-era village. Back in 1240, it was royal land given by King Stephen V to Mihály I of the Rosd family. By 1464, it was owned by the Lelesz provostry, which kept lands here into the early 20th century, though the Betke and Lónyay families also held property in the area.

Most villagers turned to the Reformed faith during the Reformation. In 1910, all 791 residents were Hungarian -11 Greek Catholic, 762 Reformed, and 11 Jewish, and it belonged to Szabolcs County’s Tiszahát district until the Treaty of Trianon.

Kálmán Soós (1962-2011), a historian and past rector of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Hungarian College in Berehove, was born here.

Now, it has 896 people, with 97% Hungarian.

Its Reformed church, built in 1783 in Baroque-Classical style to replace an old stone one, stands out with a cassette ceiling where each panel shows a unique Hungarian flower design. In 2009, the church was renovated—getting a new roof to stop leaks that threatened the ceiling, a cleaned exterior, and restored text on three panels.