Cseri Miklós - Horváth Anita - Szabó Zsuzsanna (szerk.): Discover Rural Hungary!, Guide (Szentendre, Hungarian Open Air Museum, 2007)

II Upland Market Town

20% of whom worked as craftsmen. The peculiar viniculture led to the establishment of towns in the region. The white wines of Tokaj, which are Hungarikums, the red wines of Gyöngyös and its surroundings became popular even throughout European countries due to long-distance trade. Vineyard owners had certain privileges; e. g. they did not have to pay taxes in kind for twelve years after planting grapes. The lowest layer of market town society was that of wage-workers, hoers. Vineyard owners cotters or serfs - followed them. They did craftwork in winter time. Among the merchants of the towns, there were local shopkeepers and rich tradesmen too. The noble owners of vineyards - such as the members of the Rákóczi family - did not live permanently in the towns, however; their mansions, cellars and tithing houses were prominent features of the townscapes. The buildings of the regional unit represent the local l8th-19th century stone architecture. The buildings differed from town to town, depending on the quality of quarry stone and the dressing of the material. The houses were built with a varied layout in narrow yards and were complemented with taverns, cellars and workshops. On the first floor there is a room heated with a panelled stove and a kitchen with a central oven. Downstairs, press houses with wooden ceilings or vaulted cellars opened from the yard or the street. The quantity and variety of valuable furniture, glassware and pottery show a way of life very different from that of the neighbouring villages.