Conservation around the Millennium (Hungarian National Museum, 2001)

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the feet are wholly enclosed and they fill in the shoes. The grain layer was polished off from the treading surface of the sole, in other words it was raised, in order that the sole would not slip during walking but it would stick better to the ground. (Picture 2)

The coloured and ornahj- mented women’s shoes found in crypts in Hungary followed the fashion of the period. Women’s footwear was adjusted to western fashion, which arrived in Hungary from France through Vienna. This is mirrored in the materials unearthed in the Rozália Chapel in the Rókus cemetery in Eger in the spring of 1952 and the women’s shoes found in the crypts of the Cistercian church in the Fő square in Vácin 1994-95 6 The coffins found in the crypt in Eger came from the period between 1780 and 1801. They contained the bodies of 35 men, 17 women and 20 children.

Altogether 19 shoes were found, seven of which were women’s footwear.7 In the crypt in Vác, 296 skeletons were found from between 1731 and 1841. A hundred and three were women, and only 18 had footwear.8 We summarised the data of the shoes unearthed in the two crypts in a chart. The charts contain the following data:

2. Wedge-heeled shoe (coffin no. 16) and shoes with round, arched heels (coffin no. 5) from the side

Personal data: 1. serial number, 2. number of the coffin, 3. name of the deceased, 4. age of the deceased, 5. Date of death.

Data of the shoes: 6: condition after excavation. Condition is good when the structure of the shoe is intact, the material is well preserved; it is mediocre when it is relatively well preserved but some elements are missing or torn; it is poor when it has fallen apart, some parts are totally missing and the fabric is weak; 7. technical characteristics: e.g. it was made on a turnshoe last, the sole was sewn to the upper on the reverse; 8. characteristics of the sole; e.g. raised, which means that the grain surface of the tread was polished to the line of the shank; 9. characteristics of the heel: round or wedge-shaped, it was covered with natural or coloured leather, the height is given in mm; 10. characteristics of the lining: insole, counter and shankpiece, leather or cloth lining of the vamp and the quarters; 11. characteristics of the upper: cut in three pieces (vamp and two quarters) f = fabric; 12. characteristics of the decoration: trimmed with silk or metal threads, copper spangles; 13. characteristics of the treatment: c = cleaned cd = cleaned and disinfected, co = conserved, r = restored.

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