In 1888, Mária Hollósyová (1.2.1858 – 15.4.1945) from Opojá worked at the Kerestúr post office, where Countess Majláthová and Countess Šarlota Zichyová noticed her costumed dolls. They liked the dolls so much that Countess Zichyová requested them for Queen Elizabeth. Not long after, they attracted attention at the exhibition in Pest, where they were a great success and attracted the attention of the Minister of Trade, Count Baroš. We can say that these dolls started the interest in the talented Kerestúr postmistress. Mária Hollósyová became the head of the embroidery school in Cífer, and Cífer embroideries simultaneously won awards at domestic and European exhibitions and reached the noble courts in Austria-Hungary, Spain, France, and Belgium.
After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, the embroidery school in Cífer also disappeared. Frajlenka Hološka and her closest collaborators mainly worked on orders for associations. In addition, together with the women from Vajnor, they embroidered miters for the first Slovak bishops who were ordained in 1921 in Nitra. The last known work of Mária Hollósyová is the banner for the Velehrad basilica from 1927. She lived the rest of her years in modesty, closed off from the environment. She died on April 15, 1945 in Cífer and is buried in the local cemetery.
In 2013, we commemorated the 155th anniversary of the birth of Mária Hollósyová, an honorary citizen of the village of Cífer in memoriam. On this occasion, the municipal council declared 2013 as the Year of Mária Hollósyová in Cífer.
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