Balassa M. Iván, Cseri Miklós szerk.: Népi építészet Erdélyben - Az 1999. március 21-27-én Tusnádon megrendezett konferencia anyaga (Szentendre: Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1999)

Zentai Tünde: Térhasználat az erdélyi magyar parasztházban

The use of space in the Hungarian peasant house in Transylvania TÜNDE ZENTAI Subject of the lecture is the peasant house of modern times. We use the definition of period in a wider sense, it means the period from the 16th century till today. With the introduction of the notion „use of space" we want to suggest the demand on a complex analysis of rural homes. We intend to demonstrate the development of the elements of shape and structure in the built environment and of the functions, which presuppose each other. Normally, the research of vernacular architecture and of the objects of the interiors and their use are carried out separately. Our purpose is to examine the interrelationship of the development of the house and of the interior. Our essay is no more than an experimental draft, which needs to be completed by the results of further research. The historic overview begins with the description of the situation at the end of the Middle Ages, after which we confront ethnographic knowledge with evidences found in archives. We discuss the local types of the traditional farmer house of the 19th century and we study the forerunners of dominant elements and shapes by using sources from the 16th and 17th centuries. Besides the characteristics of architecture, we focus our interest especially on everything, what can be found in the building and how people used to live in them. In the case of the period between the 16th and 18th centuries, we rely mainly on two groups of sources, the Erdélyi Magyar Szótörténeti Tár (Hungarian Ethymologic Collection of Transylvania) and on the confessions in witch processes. The ethnographic studies of Károly Kós serve as our main source for the presentation of the recent period. Our short overview reveals that the Hungarian peasant interiors in Transylvania show an own, homogenous picture before the end of the 19th century, although the level of development is different depending on regions. This level is rising from West towards East and farther towards East, it sinks again. The highest level is in Kalotaszeg and in the southeastern region, and the lowest level is east of the Carpathians. As a consequence, the effects of the industrial revolution and the process of creation of middle-class succeeded in the different regions in a different manner and to a different extent. We have seen that in the peasant interiors in Transylvania radical changes took place in the course of the 20th century. The transformation begins in the second half of the 19th century and is completed until 1950-70 almost everywhere. Characteristic is the integration due to the rise to middle-class and the use of factory made mass-products. A real renewal takes place, the medieval traditions disappear completely. A new living comfort is created with the spreading of smoke abatement by closed systems, of the economy kitchen range and of the houses with several rooms. The condition of separating the different living functions in the house was established. The so-called „clean room", a dwelling room, kitchen, pantry and summer kitchen were already existing. The reason why the separation of the functions could not fully get through is not the lack of higher demands - as some opinions suggest - but the fact that the basics of the way of life, the agricultural, village environment remained unchanged. In my opinion, the reason for not making full use of the available bigger space - that the scene of the daily activities continues to be the kitchen and the summer kitchen, while the living room's function is limited to be a place for sleeping and storing - is partly a consequence of above mentioned facts, partly the result of keeping the traditions due to the necessities of practical life. The use of the whole house is practised only in the last decades as running water and central heating become widespread. The regional differences in the life-style and interiors disappear in the second half of the 20th century, together with the dying out of traditions. The process of homogenisation was supported by the efforts for centralisation by the state. Today we can find such traditional elements, which can be compared to the centuries old, written sources only in the poorest places or in richer villages, where people are proud of their historic culture.