A Balaton-felvidék népi építészete. A Balatonfüreden, 1997. május 21-23-án megrendezett konferencia anyaga (Szentendre-Veszprém, 1997)

Selmeczi Kovács Attila: Gazdasági épületek a Káli-medencében

Farm buildings in the Káli-Basin ATTILA SELMECZI KOVÁCS The Káli-Basin is a sub-region of the Balaton-Uplands with a special agriculture, developed on an extremely stony soil being a geographical particularity. The arable land and meadows of poor quality did not guarantee the necessary conditions for the traditional cultivation of grain crop. This is also confirmed by archival records dated from the end of the 18th century. For centuries, the settlements in the Káli-Basin have lived on wine-growing, viniculture and animal husbandry. Medium-sized farms kept 68 cows and from the beginning of the 20th century on they used to have a pair of horses as well to respond to opportunities of haulage work. The farm buildings in the farmyard were built of stone like the dwelling houses. The variety of huge barns built in the yard lengthwise was probably more frequent in earlier times, however, today we can find only a few specimen (picture 1) of them. The erecting of a barn crosswise in the long, narrow farmyards was a more practical solution because a loaded wagon could easily drive into the middle bay. The two spacious lateral bays could be used for different purposes than originally built for (stable, garage). The barn was closed by a big two-winged gate (picture 2), which was operated by a rotating shaft in the corner (picture 3). The saddle roof similar to the dwelling house, was normally covered with tiles but we see sometimes reedthatched and straw roofed buildings as well (picture 4). From 1920-30 on the 3-division barns shared a roof with stables in big farmyards. As the barn has been used in the Káli-Basin also for storing fodder and hay for centuries, this construction had the advantage to be able to shift the fodder to the stable through an opening cut in the common wall. Later and especially in smaller farmyards, one of the barn bays was used more and more as stable (picture 5.). Following the tradition, the stable and the dwelling house were built under a common roof. The stable had a separate entrance, the upper part of the door could be opened separately for the purpose of airing of the stable (picture 6.). In a stable of average size (5x8 m) 6-8 cattle and 2 horses were kept. The horses have been separated from each other and from the cows by a wooden log hanging on two chains from the ceiling (picture 7.). In earlier times pigs were kept in wooden constructions on stilts (picture 8.). These were replaced from 1920 on more and more by stone pigsties. Their sizes and dimensions depended on the number of animals. These buildings also housed poultry and sheep (pictures 9. and 10.). 332