Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
mm . .... ..... — .... ........ . = THE 19TH CENTURY - THE CENTURY OF GREAT CHANGES 153 The outer hussar barracks 1848/49, erected on the initiative of Alajos Degré, former officer, by public subscription, to Ferenc Krenedits's design. The victims of the Battles of 1849 of Vác lie in a common grave in the cemetery across the road. Before we reach the Stone Bridge of Gombás Stream, we find a popular spot favoured by the "high society" of Vác near the road: the Shooting House, which is visited by the townsfolk in great numbers, especially on Sundays and holidays. The area near the Zöldfa mill-pond - whose water is used for driving the wheels of the Zöldfa Mill and for watering the vegetable garden of the bishopric - was granted to the Civic Shooting Society, which was founded in 1793, by Bishop Ferenc Splényi. This is the first civil association of the town. In 1793 there are only some banquettes and a bowling alley made of wooden planks, but in 1808 a garret-roofed shooting house and a wooden dance hall are built. In 1873 the latter is replaced by a banqueting hall, and the fenced front garden is converted into an English-style one with sycamore and chestnut trees in it. Besides shooting the society plays a cultural part as well: they organize balls, exhibitions, evening parties, maintain a library and subscribe to newspapers. However, in 1893 the report by the society complains: "Our generation has neither the money, nor the time or peace for that." (The Shooting House is pulled down in 1951.) The manorial farmhouse of the town is on the southern edge of the Market Place (today Honvéd Street), but in 1874 its place is taken over by the recently organized 6th cavalry regiment, which is the first military corps stationed here permanently. The impressive barrack building is finished by 1894 with some stables and a winter horse-riding school in the courtyard. The St Joseph Boys' Boarding School is also built in this street in 1905, with a flat for the headmaster, a chapel and three dormitories, and is controlled by the Roman Catholic Teachers'Association ofthe Diocese of Vác. Draft of the facade of the inner hussar barracks (today town library) We are changing direction now, continuing our way in the former main street of Vác, the road leading from Pest into the town (today Budapest Main Road] with single-storey houses even today, which make it look like a small country town. It is only the three-storey building of the small cavalry barrack (today the town library) that rises above the streetscape. In the first half of the 19th century, between 1832-1856 the new building (single-storey at the time) is the central building of the boys' boarding school ofthe 32nd Infantry Regiment named after Archduke Francis Ferdinand. On 11 April 1849 Austrian General Christian Götz, wounded mortally in the Battle of Vác, dies here. Between 1867-1873 we can find the 31st Hunters' Battalion staying here, which explains the name of the pub called Two Hunters on Draft of the facade ofthe hussar barracks
