With its picturesque historical core, the museum village Hollókő (Rabenstein) in northern Hungary is an outstanding example of a village culture in the 17th century.
Traditional village of Hollokö: facts
| Official title: | Traditional village of Hollókő (Rabenstein) |
| Cultural monument: | Hollókő, a Palóczen village, also known as »Rabenstein«, with an almost unchanged historical center from the 17th century with characteristic houses built on the slope with skimmed hipped roofs and carved wooden arbors |
| Continent: | Europe |
| Country: | Hungary |
| Location: | Hollókő, southeast of Szécsény |
| Appointment: | 1987 |
| Meaning: | an outstanding example of a village culture that has been preserved to this day from the time before the “industrial changes” in agriculture in the 20th century. |
Traditional village of Hollokö: history
| 13th century | The Hollókő Castle was built |
| 1442 | Negotiations between the Czech Hussite leader Giskra and the Hungarians in Hollókö Castle |
| 16th century | The Turks take over the castle |
| 1703 | Beginning of a peasant uprising under the leadership of Prince Ferenc II. Rákóczi, in the course of which the Hollókő Castle was destroyed |
| 1909 | True to original reconstruction after a fire in the old town |
Medieval village with lively folk art
According to payhelpcenter, the traditional costumes of Hollókő and the surrounding villages, which are still worn today, are not only particularly impressive because of their colors. Married women cover their hoods with a silk scarf tied backwards at the neck, which they stiffen with paper. Over the years, a large part of the hood became visible on the side, as the scarf was tied higher and higher in the neck and thus moved deeper into the forehead. First the women sewed colorful ribbons and ruffles on these unadorned areas, after the First World War they also applied pearls between the ruffles made from linen ribbons. Nowadays, these splendidly embroidered bead patterns are a particularly aesthetic detail of the Palóczentracht.
The many skirts worn on top of each other are also typical. The bottom skirt is made of fairly tightly cut hemp linen, over which up to 15 petticoats used to be worn, today usually only three to four more petticoats. The top skirt of the young women has a predominantly red pattern. Two types of apron can be worn with this costume: on public holidays a wide black apron, on the other hand a narrow apron made of shiny black cotton fabric, which is decorated with colorful embroidery at the bottom.
Hollókő’s idyllic streetscape, as untouched as it was in the last few centuries, embodies a picturesque example of the interweaving and harmony of landscape and rural architecture. At the foot of the castle ruins from the time of the Tatar storms, the comb-shaped farmsteads characteristic of mountain regions have been preserved in the old village. The respective properties of the living village museum, which is still inhabited, are grouped around the Gothic church with its wooden tower.
In one is the post office, in the other the weaving room and in the third the inn and inn. On some weekends you can try your hand at wood carving, beading or basket weaving; in the dance house you learn the step combinations and songs that have been danced and sung here for generations. The houses themselves preserve the most beautiful traditions of the Palêczenbauweise. Erected on stone foundations perpendicular to the street on so-called “ribbon plots”, the clay walls of the houses are whitewashed. Also characteristic are the two small windows, a roof covered with clay shingles with a weather strip and the arcades that extend from the courtyard side, on which wine climbs. The artistically gifted farmers carved crosses, hearts and dates into the wooden gables; Corn on the cob, Peppers and garlic are hung up to dry. Geese cackle and chickens cackle in the idyll of the carefully fenced gardens.
The large Palóczen wedding lasting several days with over 300 invited guests is firmly anchored in Hungarian culture. It is not only characterized by its generous peasant hospitality, but also by a wonderful erotic symbol of procreation: while the bride and groom is serving the main course, in the middle of which is the tail of a pig or a sheep, the women cannot resist shouting: “The tail is mine!”
