Kovács Zsuzsa: Göcsej Village Museum. Exhibition Guide (Zalaegerszeg, 2008)

GÖCSEJ VILLAGE MUSEUM A smaller shed, a stable, with a small, enclosed area for the chickens, also belong to the house. The Hungarian word for house is of Finno-Ugrian origin and it means dwelling-place. The word did not change throughout the centuries but the thiiTg it denotes has gone through a significant development. First it referred to a construction with walls and a roof, which was extended later on with a kitchen, a pantry and then a room. At that time each premise had its own name and the house was already a building. This Felsőszenterzsébet house shows the smoky-room completed with pantries, and the other buildings in the museum represent a further step in the development of the house form, since they have a smokeless room. The next stage was getting rid of the smoke in the entire house and modernizing the kitchen with a chimney. 28. SPECIAL PANTRY 'Kástu' is a food and tool pantry standing independently from the house. It had several names here such as 'kastï, 'kástli and 'kásté'. This two-storied pantry's upper part was dry and suitable for storing food, cereals, meat, and wine; the basement was for the tools. The master kept his equipment, tools and carving chair here. If a 'kástu' had an entrance part, then the yoke, wheelbarrow and bigger tools would have gone there. There were various types in this region such as thatched or single storied . The one or two storied constructions could be found not only in Göcsej but also in the Őrség region of Vas county. By the 1960s when this museum was built there was not a single 'kástu' in Zala county so this one was built as a reconstruction according to survey drawings of a pantry from Kustánszeg.