Cseri Miklós – Tárnoki Judit szerk.: Népi építészet a Kárpát-medencében a honfoglalástól a 18. századig – A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok közleményei 58. (2001)
Mesterházy Károly: Többosztatú falusi házak az Árpád-kor építészetében
Village houses with partitioned inner space in the Arpadian age KÁROLY MESTERHÁZY The author treated this subject exactly ten years ago, therefore he makes use of the examples mentioned earlier only to a limited extent, he rather wants to refer to new results. Hardly any data are available for the elaboration of the subject mentioned in the title. Therefore, he could examine the appearance and spread of partitioned dwelling houses in the Carpathian-basin only in a general way, based on very incomplete data, which are available today. It is surprising that we have a few buildings dating from the 11 th century, there are however no relics from the 12 th century. This might be due to faulty dating, lacking enough data, or to inadequacy of research. No doubt, Hungarians knew at the time of the Conquest (of the country in the 9 th century) stone and brick architecture (from the area of the Black Sea, from Italy), but we have no evidence that they would have built such themselves. When the first solid buildings appear at the end of the 10 th and in the course of the 11 th century, those are royal dwellings (Zirc, Belényesszentmiklós, Dömös, Visegrád) or monastery buildings (Feldebrő, Esztergom), being local achievements of western architecture, carried out by immigrant settlers and by church and state organisations. From this time on, during the Arpadian age (11 th — 13 th centuries) two construction types coexist in Hungary: dug-outs from oriental origin and more or less unknown wood architecture on the surface, this latter having a variety in shape and appearing in increasing numbers. Buildings with undivided inner space are typical in the 11 th —12 th century, we hardly meet houses divided into two (Visegrád) or three parts. Between the end of the 12 th and the end of the 13 th century, we find stone buildings partitioned into two. After the Mongol invasion (1241 ) and at the end of the 13 th century, foreigners settle down in Hungary and with them, townscapes change their look (like rows of houses with inner space divided into two in Pozsony). Défendable towers as dwelling places are constructed on the countryside, which will be extended and reshaped later on (Párisháza, Kistapolcsány, Pásztó, Ják). We find two-parted farmer's houses from the 12 th century onwards (Kardoskút, Esztergom Szentkirály, Csekefalva in Transylvania). Village three-parted houses spread from the 14 th century and become generally accepted in the 15 th century, which shows 100 years of lag behind Bohemia. 63
