Majorossy Judit (szerk.): A Ferenczy Múzeum Évkönyve 2014 - Studia Comitatensia 33., Új Folyam 1. (Szentendre, 2014)

Szentendre. Adalékok a Pajor család, a Pajor-kúria és a Ferenczy-család történetéhez - Martos Gábor: Két talált kép „megtisztítása”. Ferenczy Valér ismeretlen nagybányai művei egy magyarországi magángyűjteményből

Studia Comitatensia 2014 - Yearbook of the Ferenczy Museum - New Series 1 — English Summaries

Andrea Kiss -Anett Czinege - Károly Barta - Zoltán Sümeghy -András Grynaeus

Abandoned Vine-Growing Terraces, Intensive Usage of Historical Landscape and Defensive Techniques Against Erosion in Nagymaros

In the present investigation, on the one hand, the land-use changes in Nagymaros, located in the Danube Bend and North-Hungary, and the possible impacts of wine cultivation on the landscape are discussed with special consideration on the spatial extension of cultivation in the area of the endangered steep southern hill-slopes of former vine cultivation. Primary importance of wine production can be proved at least from the early fourteenth century onwards, but the first direct evidence for the description of extensive vineyards in the landscape comes from the early sixteenth century. A decline, primarily due to Turkish wars and the uncertain political situation, can be detected between the late sixteenth and the early eighteenth century. This was followed by a period of intensive wine plantation and a significant increase of vineyards on the hill-slopes (also related to the arrival of German settlers). By the end of the eighteenth century, vineyards in the southern top-hill regions reached probably their greatest extent. Caused by the phylloxera disease, greatest landscape changes occurred at the end of the nineteenth century when hill-slope vineyards were almost entirely destroyed. Due to diseases and several other, mainly socio-economic reasons (reorganisation of the agriculture during the communist period, intensive application of machinery in agriculture, decreased profits of wine production, decrease in rural population etc.), wine production today has minor or practically no importance. Instead, partly other functions, such as fruit and grape production and then tourism, had growing impact on the landscape, while traces of former cultivation were destroyed or are still lying hidden on the reforested hill-slopes.

The other main aim of the present study is to provide an overview of the investigations carried out in an approximately 0.15 km2 selected study area of abandoned terraces on the Kapu Hill (North-East Nagymaros; today partly reforested) in the uppermost sections of the former wine growing area. The area of the Kapu Hill is characterised by a system of relatively large and intact stone hedges, ditches and well-preserved traces of small man-made stone and earth terraces. Latest in the second half of the 18th century this steep slope of south-eastern exposure was predominantly covered by vineyards and thus, it was subject to severe erosion roughly until the late nineteenth century, and to some extent (with changed land use) until the 1950s. Due to intensive vine cultivation as well as effective protection techniques soil structure was strongly modified. In the course of our investigation we provide an inside view to the main characteristics and probable regularities of abandoned man-made features, seeking for the answer of such questions as when and why these stone hedges, ditches and terraces became part of the landscape and in what extent intensive land use (with special emphasis on the formation of terraces) left marks on the present soil and surface of the study area. In order to understand the development and functions of these man-made features, and to answer the aforementioned questions, a detailed historical (scientific literature, original sources and old maps collected etc.) survey, soil scientific investigations (i.e. after sampling the determination of basic physical structure, characteristics of soils), GPS survey and the development of 3D surface terrain model as well as several field surveys (including dendro-chronological sampling and analysis) have been carried out in the study area.

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