Cave houses - Egerszalók

Cave houses bemutatása

1. The cave homes hollowed into limestone began tospread at the end of the 1700s. They were mainly dwelt by poor Hungarian peasant families until the 1960s. 33 dwelling places of this kind can be found in Egerszalók. The village council made a decision in 2010 to reconstruct six cave homes at the end of Sáfrány street, which now can be visited as part of the local heritage. In 2016 the preservation of the values went on and five more freshly renovated cave homes can be dropped by in the Sáfrány Garden too. Besides Egerszalók there are cave homes in 17 other settlements in the Bükkalja region.
The present furnishing of the cave homes has been collected by the villagers from inheritance, cellars and attics. Each cave home contains a fire place which was used for heating as well as for cooking and baking. This is the free flow fireplace. The chimney was carved from the ceiling above the kitchen. It is a beneficial characteristic of this kind of stone that it keeps heat. It is cool in summer and fine in winter. Little energy was needed to heat the homes An armful of wood was enough to heat the home for the whole day and to keep it warm. The fire place in this home is still used in our days: on festive days we bake bread, flat bread or prepare meat dishes in it.

0. If you visit this place, you can take part in a virtual travel-in-time. You can get an insight into the times when the rocks were formed.You can become familiar with the cave homes, the way they are formed, as well as the other sights of the village. Warning: racing dinosaurs!

2. The homes are typically divided into three parts.When you enter you can find yourself in the kitchen. In Egerszalók the bedrooms can be found sideways from the kitchen, while backwards there is either a stable or a farm store. The bedrooms had earthen floor. This is due to the fact, that in most cases the cave homes were situated right on the merge of the rocks and the clay under it, so the floor was in the soft clay. The housewife or the eldest daughter would water the floor every day, or cover it with yellow sand if needed.
Each cave home was dwelt by one family, which, however consisted of more generations. Generally families of 8-12 members lived in each home in really poor and modest conditions. Because of lack of room there was not even an own bed for each of them. Neither water nor electricity was available in the cave homes. Water was carried from the common well on the hill top or from the Sáfrány garden. They used candles or quarry lamps as a source of light.

3.A typical village living room is furnished in this home. It did not show a significant difference from the ones of the peasant homes, occasionally they hollowed shelves, storing places or beds into the walls. The stable was situated behind the “smokey kitchen”. Some families could afford to keep a cow, the animal could reach its place by walking through the kitchen. In the stable you can see the feeder, the manger and some shelves hollowed into the walls. The smaller place behind the stable was used as a farming store place, where forage,wood and tools,were kept. In summer time it was pleasant to stay in the cool cellar.In winters some would sleep in the stable, as it was warmer there. In summerthe stove was put outside the home and dishes were prepared there. In front of the home the front yard can be seen, whose wall was carved from limestone. Hollows of smaller and bigger sizes, storing places were carved into the easily shapable limestone , where hens and small animals had their place among others. You can often trace a kind of practical way of thinking in their formation.
The hole for cooking is generally closer to the home, next to it there are the hutches for the more valuable animals (rabbits, geese, ducks), while further away those of the ones with more unpleasant smells. The cages of the poultry are placed higher than the level of the yard. Auntie Róza lives in this home, who knows all secrets and if you whisper yours into her ears she will make it come true.

4.This cave home has been turned into a lock smith’s workshop, at the back there is a storing place. The inhabitants of the village have taken the tools found in their attic, the farming tools used by their ancestors.
They often slept in the stable, where wine was stored too. As there was no pub at that time, the stable served as a kind of gathering place as well. This was the spot where they could come together, played cards or had achat.
Women and girls came together as well, they were spinning. Everything was carried out by the light of the petroleum lamp. Some of them played the zither, and those joining them brought potato or eggs in return for the hospitality.

Those living here had their kitchen garden on the roofs of the homes, vegetables were grown there.The roots of these vegetables are weaker, they did not breach the rooftop, thus there was no fear ofleaking or breaking in. Nowadays acacia or lilies ta