Introducing the 4IM project

Back

Project areas

Roamings at Bábonyibérc

The areas of the 4IM project, Bábonyibérc and Tetemvár, are embedded in the colourful and interesting historical and sociological background of the city of Miskolc. Below we trace the history of Bábonyibérc over the centuries.
Inhabitants 150 thousand years ago
Bábonyibérc is a green suburb of Miskolc, close to the city center, to the north-west of it. Bábonyibérc is made up of several hills, among which flow various branches of the Pece stream. It is bordered to the south by Bodótető and Vologda districts, to the east by Szentpéterkapu (St. Peter's Gate), and to the north and west by undeveloped green lands. Built predominantly in the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century, it is a completely detached neighborhood, while Bábonyibérc-Újtelep, which is home to people in difficult circumstances, is located in the central valley of the district, by the main branch of the Pece.
The origin of its name refers to the "Bábony culture" or Bábonyien culture, which was one of the cultures of the Middle Palaeolithic era in Hungary. The archeological sites of this culture are located in the North Central Mountains, named after Sajóbábony, on the outskirts of which the first such finds were excavated on the Méhész-tető (Beekeeper's Hilltop). The tools of the culture are characterized by double-sided manufacturing, which shows affinities with the Micoquien culture that spread from the Rhine to the Caucasus. Typical tool types were chopping tools, scraping knives and leaf-shaped tools. It probably existed during the last warming of the Ice Age and the beginning of the subsequent glaciation 150-93 thousand years ago in the Hámor settlement of Miskolc, as a predecessor of the Szeletian culture, named after the finds in the Szeleta cave. The Szeleta cave is the origin of the only Hungarian cultural name established in the international literature, while the "Bábony" site is related to Viola T. Dobosi, who completed her excavations in Sajóbábony in 1974.
“Stone needles" on the mountainside
Bábonyibérc was one of the vine-growing hillsides of Miskolc, alongside the vineyards of Avas and Tetemvár. The vineyard hill is mentioned in the early Miskolc border district next to the Keresztúr-Bábony stone road. The first mention of the names of the vineyards of Miskolc in documentary sources on the Szentgyörgy (St. George) Hill dates back to 1376, while Bábonyibérc was first mentioned in 1490.
Miskolc has been planted around with vines since the Middle Ages: Szentgyörgy is the hillside and vineyard bordering Csaba (Hejő) and Tapolca, while the southern slopes of Ágazat and Bábonyibérc border Miskolc from Bábony, i.e. from the north. According to the documentary sources of the 14th-15th centuries, cultivated vineyards of Miskolc, Szentgyörgy, Bábonyibérc and Ágazat covered the area completely. The vineyards and cellars in and around Miskolc were fully developed by the 16th century, including Bábonyibérc.
Hedgerows and roads were important elements of the topography of the vineyards, allowing the owner to access the vineyards. The cellars were initially without any fittings and vestibules, probably in connection with the exclusive use of the term "stone hole" in the 16th century, which is still sporadically used in the 17th century. According to an entry from 1569, "Sabbathe Pentecon Estván Pentecon redeemed the stone hole of Mrs. Ferencné Szabó..." in 1593 "Chepan Andras inherited a stone hole for Mate Antalne, two of them were bought." The name of the stone hole, which term was sporadically found in the early 17th century, is recorded in 1613 for Bábonyibérc. According to this, "I, Gergely Boros, bought a stone hole in the Babony bercz valley from István Csorna the young Andras Csorna." The drinking toast was drunk in the presence of the judge, and therefore Gergely Boros hoped that" no one is going to hurt me because of the stones I have acquired."
These stone holes were carved into the volcanic tufa of the surrounding hills, after having recognized its very good qualities: dry, good heat regulator, relatively soft, hardy despite its easy carvability, and the noble mould on its inner walls, which has greatly improved the quality of the wines from the Miskolc area. At first, the stone holes were only used for storing wine and produce, but later the grape presses, the yields were placed in the front of the caves. The cellar spaces were designated by the council, for which the new owners paid a drinking toast "according to the law of the city". Cellars were designated on all three hills in Miskolc, and in 1627 4 cellars were built on Bábonyibérc by the will of the officers and the council.

Whom is the hiding glass for?
The numbering of the cellars started with 319 on the Bábonyibérc side, 319-382 on the Galagonya side, 384-466 on the Hámor side, 467-509 on the upper line, 510-561 on the middle line and 562-580 on the lower line. The first accurate survey of the cellars of Miskolc was made by István Domby in 1817, according to which there were 262 cellars in Bábonyibérc at that time. The small size of the wine storing vessels and the desire for private ownership made it necessary to have a large network of cellars, with must being transported from the Miskolc area and neighboring villages.
From the 18th century onwards, and especially from the second half of the 19th century, the wine houses built over the cellars became the favorite places of urban industrialists and farmers. The role of the cellar and the wine house in the life of the people of Miskolc was summed up in a description from the beginning of the century:
"Heated rooms in winter are the best place to stay for the people of Miskolc. Here
the spirits blossom, the song sprouts out. This is where many tasty Miskolc stories take off. This is where local and national politics are discussed. Here they forget about anger. This is where friendships are made. This is where the songs of Miskolc have been born from time immemorial."
Wine cellars were the birthplaces of playful customs, with visits from cellar to cellar, row after row. The "hiding glass walking" is known as a peculiar Miskolc custom. The hiding glass was rimless, with a round bottom, passed from hand to hand, and had to be drunk one by one up to the bottom, because if you put it down, it would fall over.
There were also cellars where, formally or 'in a corner', both food and drink were served to the passing guest. It is not possible to know exactly how many taverns and cookshops there were, because the number of them changed frequently. There were a smaller number of these little taverns in the Tetemvár cellar row, in Bedegyölgy and in Bábonyibérc, in whose cellar row the owner of the cellar called "Buffalo" sold unadulterated Tokaj wines at very reasonable prices.
in 1929/30, only 9 of the 92 Miskolc taverns remained in Bábonyibérc, Tetemvár, Bedegvölgy, Mélyvölgy and Nagy-Avas.
Wine production in Borsod has largely ceased due to the phylloxera epidemic, which is why Bábonyibérc has slowly begun to change from a wine-growing area to a residential one. In the spring of 1932, a settlement called Honfoglalótelep was established at the bottom of Bábonyibérc, where the inhabitants lived in shacks and cave dwellings, initially inhabited by refugees who had left their homes because of the Trianon peace dictate. The relatively newer cellars and press houses of Bábonyibérc have gradually deteriorated, with only a few places still resembling the old cellar row. The original cellars of the so-called Upper Row, once a single system, have also become inaccessible due to the deterioration of retaining walls and roads.
Press product Déli Hírlap reported in 1969 that Bábonyibérc is the most crowded part of Miskolc, where small family houses and cellars are lined up next to each other. In the decades that followed, a number of replanning programs were carried out, while today the district has been transformed into a garden-style inner area.
SOURCES:
István Dobrossy: A miskolci vendégfogadók és a vendéglátás története (The history of innkeepers and hospitality in Miskolc), 1745-1945., 1985.
István Dobrossy - Miskolc város története (History of Miskolc city), 1996.
Őskori emlékek és gyűjtemények Magyarországon (Prehistoric monuments and collections in Hungary). Archeolinguia. 2008. Ed. Erzsébet Jerem, Zsolt Mester.
Magyarország a XX. században (Hungary in the 20th century). Ed. István Kolléga Tarsoly. Ősrégészet. A magyar régészet korszakai a 20. században (Archaeology. The periods of Hungarian archaeology in the 20th century)
Miskolcipince.hu
Miskolciszemelvenyek.blog.hu
wikwand.com

Roamings at Tetemvár, questions and answers

PART I.

From wine cellars to the city center
The areas of the 4IM project, Bábonyibérc and Tetemvár, are embedded in the colorful and interesting historical and sociological background of the city of Miskolc. First, let's explore the history of Tetemvár over the centuries.

Why is it called Tetemvár?

The name of the Tetemvár district comes from the fact that during the plague epidemic of 1679, the cemeteries in Miskolc were too small, so the corpses were buried in mass graves on a hill outside the city. First it was called Csontvár , then Tetemvár, a name that has been preserved in the vernacular to this day.
The first known cartographic representation of the geographical name Tetemvár is on a manuscript map by Andreas Kneidinger from 1773. The name Tetemvár is not one of the oldest geographical names in Miskolc, originally it only meant the inhabited area of the cellar rows and the area around the Deszkatemplom (Wooden church). Even in the 19th century, the streets of Tetemvár were separated from the Reformed cemetery by a ditch and rampart.
Where was Tetemvár built?
The medieval Miskolc consisted of two parts: the area around the church of Avas up to the line of today's Széchenyi Street, which was the Old Town, and the New Town, which developed northwards along the branches of the Pece stream. For centuries, the boundary of the new town and the city limits of Miskolc was the present-day Laborfalvi Róza Street (the former Temetőalja Street). A ditch, and next to it a rampart surrounded the country town, separating the inner and outer parts of the town. This rampart, which surrounded the town, was built and consolidated as a defensive structure during the Turkish occupation. Its last defensive use dates back to 1848-1849, when the National Guard guarded the gates with cannons, and in 1849 the Russians entered the town through the gates and occupied Miskolc.
How big is Tetemvár?
For centuries, Tetemvár and its immediate surroundings were part of the outskirts outside the city gates. Miskolc, as a country town with special rights had significant agricultural lands surrounding it. In addition to the two main cultivations, vineyards and ploughland, the town also had several forests, meadows, hayfields, grasslands, pastures and industrial areas - clay pits and quarries. Of all the cultivations, vineyards were the most important and most profitable, as Miskolc was part of the chain of wine-producing towns in the highlands. Gyöngyös, Eger, Miskolc, Szikszó and the Tokaj hill towns were the most important nodes of the chain of settlements in the zone where the North Hungarian Mountains and the Great Plain meet.
In the Middle Ages, vines were grown on 14 vineyards in the town, the vineyards around Tetemvár being the smallest and of the poorest quality. The soil was mostly characterized by "wet plank grassland, thorny fallow", which was cultivated in the vineyards along the valley of the Forrásvölgy (Fountain valley) and on the high plateaus of the Akasztó hill. Because of its remoteness from the city and the poorer conditions, it was a secondary area compared to the cellars and vineyards of Avas, where mostly owners with a modest income had vineyards and cellars.
What did the tourist of the time see at Tetemvár?
The first references to cellars here date from 1632 and 1657. Scripts from 1676 probably also refer to Tetemvár, in which it is thought that caves may have been dug as early as the 16th century. The Tetemvár cellar row, like the other cellar rows of Miskolc, was gradually developed from the Middle Ages onwards. An entry of 1657 names András Baráth, who was given a cellar outside the St. Peter's Gate, next to the road, while in 1670 a new cellar is mentioned on the crag in front of St. Peter's Gate.
In 1725 the cellars of Tetemvár were already listed, in 1740 33 owners paid taxes, an entry from 1744 mentions 30 cellars. In the 18th century, wine houses began to multiply like mushrooms, and in the 1771 census they were arranged in three rows: Lower row 11 cellars, Middle row 46 cellars, Upper row 52 cellars.
The 1767 Chamber tax register listed 26 families living in Tetemvár, in 1817 there were already 318 cellars in Tetemvár. In 1783 even the Greek Catholic bishop had a cellar. There was no more room for expansion on Avas, so Tetemvár boomed and the Lower, Middle and Upper row of three was formed.
The period of great development occurred in the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, when the population of Miskolc began to grow significantly. At this time, there was a large wave of settlement of nationalities of various denominations - Slovaks from the Bükk, Evangelical Germans, merchants of Southern Slavic origin and Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic Rusyns. By the beginning of the 19th century, Tetemvár had become a part of Miskolc, densely dotted with cellars and houses. At the beginning of the cellar there was a military hospital, which was destroyed by the great flood of 1878.
What was the first building in Tetemvár?
The first known building dates back to 1637, the roof of which was reshingled in 1698. In 1724 a simple chapel was built on the site, called the old Wooden Church (Deszkatemplom). The first property was a tavern in the area of Tetemvár, which was certainly already in use in 1714, rented by Mihály Pipis and his wife. In 1784, the inn became the property of the Diósgyőr manor, which was accompanied by the appearance of illegal drink sales points, the so called "kurtakocsmák" (little taverns) - not only in the cellars of Tetemvár, but also in other cellar rows of the town and even in the city center. Miskolc has never had so much wine that would have required so many cellars, being a merchant city, the wines were stored and matured in these cellars, which were later sent to the Upper Carpathians and Poland. The city fathers often decided to use the income of the city wine sales for local purposes, for the development of Tetemvár. In 1724, the budget for the construction of the second wooden church was supplemented by a donation of the income of the wine sold in the taverns.

What's Tetemvár’s soul hole?

The wine houses built next to the cellars were more like shacks, the cellar row of Tetemvár resembled a poor village quarter. Close together, most of the buildings were built with earth and gravel dug from the cellar and ventilated by so-called "soul holes" carved out of stone. Most of the cellars were single-branched, but there were also two-branched and even multi-branched cellars: they stretched from 10 to 40 meters long, but there are also much longer ones with 2-3 meters wide and 2-2.5 meters high passages. The cellars were excavated five to ten centimeters apart with incredible precision. Their temperature in winter and summer is an optimal 6-10 degrees.
In the first half of the 20th century, the cellars and wineries of Tetemvár played a major role in the social life of the citizens of Miskolc, as a special social venue for catering and visiting. The wine houses built over the cellars became the "second homes" of the city's craftsmen and merchants.

PART II.

From cellar guards to the Wooden church (Deszkatemplom)
The town's cellars, including those in Tetemvár, had become centres of social life, cultural events, family gatherings and relaxation. The legendary tavern of Tetemvár was the "Turkish Head", a rest and accommodation place for the carriers, hidden somewhere among the cellars. During the Cold War, a war hospital was set up in one part of it and an air basement in another. The construction of road 26, the Arany János Square apartment buildings and the Makropolis office building also required the filling of several cellars. Some of these went as far as Búza Square.
The cellar houses in Tetemvár were low, so it was easy for their roofs to catch fire. Many fires in Tetemvár were caused by drunkenness, carelessness while partying, irresponsible smoking, leaving candles, open flames and fireplaces burning. This was particularly dangerous because of the densely built roofs, which were close together. Local fires have also developed, but city-wide fires had regularly wreaked havoc in the area. In 1822, Tetemvár burnt down, also the great city fire of 1843 spread over, and in the fire of June 1848, 53 cellars were lost. The cellar of András Kormos in the Upper row caught fire, despite the fact that all cellars had to be equipped with a water tub to avoid fires.
Later, so-called "cellar guards" were also set up, the tasks of the “bakters” included extinguishing fires. The name is of German origin, from the words wachen (to guard), wächter (guard, inspector), the Hungarian vakter, bakter. Two bakters were watching at the gate, and six were patrolling around. In 1776, the city entrusted bakter György Kriston with this task: "In his vachter position, he will watch over the city by day and by night, fires, evildoers and vagrants." According to a regulation from 1828, they were obliged to maintain public order and silence, "to shout out almost every hour and quarter in the tower to be assigned to it, day and night, according to the order that follows...", and to signal the fire by day with a red flag, at night with a lantern, and to shout out the location of the fire with a tin pipe. They also had the task of proclaiming the hours, and the sung and poetic texts, modelled on Western European urban traditions, are remembered as Hungarian folklore.
One of Miskolc's landmarks, a dominant building of the Jókai district is the Reformed Wooden church (Deszkatemplom), located in Tetemvár. The place of worship of the Reformed Parish of Miskolc-Tetemvár has been a wooden church since the 17th century, and the present building is the fourth in a succession of wooden churches.
According to unwritten tradition still alive in the 19th century, the first wooden church was built in 1637 in the "New Cemetery" in Tetemvár. We do not know its layout or its representation. The first written record of the church dates from 1698, when it was "shingled for a place of divine service in the Outer Cemetery." It was probably first a funeral parlour, and only later became a temporary and then a regular place of worship when the Reformed community outgrew the church in Avas, and two services on Sundays were no longer enough for the congregation. Based on parallel known from folk architecture, this could have been a rectangular building with a timber-framed hedge wall or boarded walls having hipped gable roof covered with shingles, with an entrance on the longer side and galleries at the two shorter ends.
The second Wooden church lasted from 1724 to 1937, it was built in 1724, during the period of Pastor Sámuel Tarczali and Chief Justice János Faragó, with the work of the Miskolc millers and carpenters, from donations of the congregation and the town. Its greatest renovation was carried out in 1874, thanks to the generous donation of István Bató, one of the richest citizens of Miskolc, the patron of the Reformed Church and the city.
Four applications were received for the third Wooden churh (1938-1997) tender, which was announced in 1937. Among them, the third church known well by the people of Miskolc was built based on the design of the city's chief architect, Bálint Szeghalmy. In its structure, masses and ornamentation, it was inspired by the style of Transylvanian wooden churches and bell towers. The tragic building was the victim of an arson attack and went up in flames on the night of 3 to 4 December 1997. The event shook the entire Hungarian public, and within a short time a broad coalition emerged for an earliest reconstruction. The reconstruction was carried out according to the original plans, with partially modified interior design and safer, more modern technical solutions, with the help of Hungarian and Transylvanian carpenters. On 2 May 1999, the restored Deszkatemplom, the fourth in the row, was consecrated.
Roamings at Tetemvár, questions and answers

Part III.

From the market to the jelly frog
How did the market in Tetemvár develop?
In the 1920s, the market of Tetemvár still existed on the site of today's Petőfi Square and in the surrounding streets. Not only during the nationally renowned Miskolc fairs, but also during the weekly market, the area was packed with crowds of people browsing and shopping. According to the medieval order, the more valuable, finer goods were unloaded on the main street of the town (Piac Street), while the agricultural produce and livestock market was located in the New Town, thus creating the Búza marketplace on the outskirts of the town, which still serves the same function today.
According to the market police regulations of 1868, the innermost area of the Búza market square was the site of the tented drink and food stands, pretzel vendors, bread vendors and fruit stalls. Moving outwards towards the moat that marked the city boundary, the country people from the surrounding villages came to market their poultry, potatoes, legumes, oil, hemp seeds and small produce. Outside the town's moat, and already affecting the surrounding streets, the largest number of milk, dairy and vegetable vendors were to be found. In Fazekas Street, the carters available for transport tasks camped, and here again food stands were next.
At the market in Tetemvár, in the area of today's Petőfi Square, wood sellers offered firewood and building timber in all quantities. It was no coincidence that some of the cellars in Tetemvár were already used as wood warehouses in the 19th century. In the row below the Wooden church, towards the Nyakvágó, the skinners and wool merchants were given a place on the periphery because their goods "smelled very bad." Finally, the wheat, hay-straw and livestock market occupying the largest area was located at the present-day Szeles Street.
In the 20th century, the area around Tetemvár gradually declined. It was not affected by the urban renewal of the 1970s, the redevelopment that preceded the construction of the housing estates. Thus, although most of the old buildings have been preserved, the cellars and residential buildings have massively deteriorated. The neighbourhood has become a place for people in difficulty. In this "dormant" state, it has entered the 21st century, now little reminded of its former heyday.
From where did the jelly frog jump out?
The famous Miskolc legend of the blinking jelly most probably happened in Tetemvár in the "Hungarian Hussar" tavern.
According to the legendary story, “a Slovak from upper Gömör”, a carrier, also stumbled into the Hungarian Hussar at sunset. He asked the innkeeper for dinner, and he asked for Miskolc pork jelly. The woman, whom the imagination of the vernacular had given the nickname of “Carp-eyed Katie" after her special gaze, turned around the corner and brought up a plate from the cellar under the house. She put it on the table for the guest. With a thrifty appetite, the Slovak started the meal, and first of all he wanted to “consume" the meat that was coming out of the middle of the plate. But suddenly he dropped his fork in fright and stood up, “Woe is me, Mrs. Tavern-keeper, that jelly has eyes, and he squints at me!" Mrs. Carp-eyed Katie (Potyka Kati) shook her head and was amazed to see that the guest had spoken the truth. The muscular frog, which was frozen almost up to its waist in the jelly, gave them pleading looks to free it. - "Well, that was unlucky!" said Katie and at the stove she made up for the frozen animal" - the story tells about the smiling frog of the Miskolc jelly, which has since become a symbol and trademark.

Planned results

The intended outcome is that the project will develop and implement an extensible model of integrated service delivery, ensuring targeted coordination of social and employment services:

More than 80% of participants will be active in employment, training or other activating tasks, if they are assessed as ready to participate in the labour market at the start of the intervention; or
Other services will be brought closer to them to help them integrate;
The new service system will be scalable to the whole city, adoptable in Košice and expandable to other cities in Hungary and Europe;
Economic and living conditions are improving in the two pilot neighbourhoods, and residents are becoming aware that they can take action to improve their conditions;
Inter-organisational and inter-personal relationships are strengthened, allowing partners to continue implementing the approach after the project is completed;
Miskolc is embedded in a network of similar urban initiatives.

The measures to be implemented

Reviewing the social situation and the functioning and effectiveness of relevant local policies, regulations, services and institutions;
Household-level survey in Tetemvár and Bábonyibérc;
Implementation of a community coaching process to activate and involve the target group;
Setting up community working groups in Tetemvár and Bábonyibérc;
Establishing a city-level action plan to promote the social and territorial integration of deprived neighbourhoods;
Setting up and implementing an integrated social, employment service and financial support model;
The new service package will be tested in the Bábonyibérc and Tetemvár districts, with at least 300 individuals.