VÁROS ÉS FALU HATÁRÁN (Kiállítási katalógusok - Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2010)
enjoyed benefits. Border fortresses also grew into market-towns following the battles against the Turks. The border zone connecting the the Great Hungarian Plain and the hills in the north provided especially advantageous conditions for the development of market-towns, whose top layer included the episcopal towns like Eger or the state-owned fiscal market-towns such as Miskolc. The position of a few —for example Sárospatak—was enhanced by their being cultural centres. Our exhibition presents the wine-making viticulture of the Uplands market-towns; we give a cross-section of the features of this type of settlements through their examples. The architecturally confinable market-towns in the Uplands had a peculiar economy and thus meant a distinct ecological zone. The Uplands is the historic name of the area of the hills in the north of Hungary. The market-towns in the mountainous territory between the rivers Ipoly and Bodrog were typical settlements of the region. These towns were given privileges from their secular and clerical landlords and had well-confinable market areas. Trading was mainly conducted by the Jews whose rise to the middle-classes is also presented at our exhibition. A general peculiarity of the markettowns was that field-cultivation and animal husbandry were of less importance due to their narrow borders and the natural resources they had. Products manufactured in the guilds were of great importance; it determined people's life in the era presented at our temporary exhibition. The number of population in these towns was as small as 1000-5000, however, more than 20 percent of the people worked as craftsmen in guilds. What distinguished them from the serves in the flanking villages was the right to hold fairs, select their own judges, move freely and free inheritance. Analysing the then flourishing of the market-towns and the characteristics of their culture we can see that those were and remained capable of surviving where several of the developing powers existed at the same time. The market-towns cultivating viticulture only were ruined by the disappearance of the export possibilities, the tithe on grapes and finally phylloxera (vine-pest) in the 19th century. Of the then 70-80 market-towns in the Uplands as few as 7-8 became modern cities. The interiors of the buildings of the region function as the background of certain elements of the periodical exhibition and as counterpoints to other sections. Pince az erdőbényei ház alatt Fotó: Deim Péter 2006. (SzNM MNÉA F75415) Cellar beneath the house from Erdőbénye, Photo: Péter Deim 2006 (SzNM MNÉA F75415)
