Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
234 SIGHTSEEING KISVÁC The northern part of the town is commonly known as Kisvác (“Small Vác”). It was an independent seif-village and became known under this name at the beginning of the 18th century. Calvinist Reformed worshippers settled here in VJIZ because the bishop did not allow them to live in his town. The village was formed as an independent settlement and administrative unit outside the boundaries ofNagyvác (“Big Vác”) under the bishop’s authority. The separation was so marked that even the boundary between the counties ofNógrád and Pest ran between the two settlements. Over time, they were linked by a continuous street called “Big Road” (Nagy utca). In rj6i Bishop Károly Eszterházy had the area north of the "Viennese Gate” (Bécsi kapu) parcelled out. This part of the town joining Nagyvác with Kisvác was named Carolina after the Latin form of the bishop’s first name. The separation of over halfa century was put to an end in l]]0 when the bishop approved of the unification of the two settlements. However, the Calvinists had not been allowed to build a church of their own until Joseph II issued his Edict of Religious Tolerance; before that they had attended religious services in Tótfalu. They had a school, a community house, a farmers’ circle and several cultural groups. The wide road and the row of wealthy households had a kind of “village avenue” atmosphere. The layout of the plots reflected the needs of farmers. The "alley" of mulberry trees in front of the terraced houses was planted by the Piarist chief architect Gáspár Oswald. The tree leaves served the purpose of silkworm-breeding and also filtered the dust of the road. Most of the population of Kisvác had occupations relating to the Danube: they were fishermen, millers, shipwrights. There were dozens of water-mills providing jobs for a lot of people. The millers’ wives turned their in-kind payments into cash by feeding boarders and baking and selling fresh loaves in the market. Snapshots of Kisvác
