# The Walling of the Houses

In forest regions wood was, and in part still is, the most important basic material for all building projects. The much greater expanse of medieval forests made possible a more general use of wood in architecture. The word ró (join), describing the work process, and ács (carpenter), the name of the artisan who does the work, are both pre-Conquest words (the first Finno-Ugric, the second Old Turkic), showing that the Magyars learned this technique early. Recent work in archeology and ethnography has enumerated an increasing number of arguments to prove that the ancestors of the Hungarians had already become acquainted with wood-architecture on the South Russian plains. As written records increase from the beginning of the 11th century, {139.} sporadic data also occur in relation to wooden buildings. That wooden architecture became more general is all the more plausible because the Carpathian Basin falls into the forest region of Central Europe, where this mode of building was frequent even before the Magyar Conquest.

Fig. 26. Setting the logs into an ordinary cross beam.
Székelyland, early 20th century

A wooden house was built directly on the ground, or perhaps on larger beams, and in some places they put a stone foundation around the entire base of the house. Primarily pinewood was used for building, because it was the easiest to process and because it gives the lightest and largest beams, but oak structures also occurred. The log was cut in half and rounded or roughed out cornerwise and thus built into the house. The logs were joined at the corners, fitting them into each other with a dovetail joint. Naturally, gaps occurred between the round logs which were filled in with moss. They either left the logs in the natural state or plastered them. In that case notches were cut on the outside of the wood, so that the mud plaster should adhere better. As a next step in development, the beams were split in half (for example in the region of Göcsej), then sawed and thus smooth surfaces were gained in the interior of the building. The technique of fitting slabs into styles (zsilipelés) appears to be a newer building technique, in which a groove was carved into the styles that were fastened into the foundation log and then dovetailed beams–well processed and cut the same size–were fitted into these.

A great advantage of a wooden house is that it retains heat in the winter and is cool in the summer. On the other hand it easily is destroyed by fire, and often entire villages burned to the ground. Wooden houses are relatively quick to take apart and move. As early as the 13th century, landlords prohibited their serfs to carry their houses away with them, but they were allowed to sell them locally. From 1495 on a national law prohibited serfs from removing any kind of building fastened to the ground.

Fig. 27. Setting the wood with grooves called “tooth-of-a-wolf” or “tail-of-a-swallow”.
Székelyland, early 20th century

The most monumental survivals amongst the wooden structures are belfries and church towers, which preserved Gothic and Renaissance elements in their construction (cf. Ill. 4,15,51). The most beautiful ones have survived in Transylvania, especially in the region of Kalotaszeg. The ground-plan is usually rectangular, the lower section terminating in an arcade, out of which soars the usually octagonal spire. Four small turrets on each corner make the structure even more attractive. The influence of this style towards the north of Transylvania can also be demonstrated, and the villages of the Tiszahát have preserved some beautifully shaped belfries up to the present day. The lower section of these spread out like a skirt, and thus provide a larger area around the bole, where the old folk can gather before or after the church even in rainy weather. The belfries of Western Transdanubia are more simple (cf. Ill. 3). The four small spires are missing, and there is a smaller arcade or none at all. The lower section is elongated and better emphasizes the unity of the building.

Forests decreased more and more in the central part of the Carpathian Basin from the 18th century on, and as a consequence, wood as building material became less important. Larger sized beams (main girder beams, purlins, bressummers) were shipped on rafts along the rivers that flow from the Carpathians toward the Great Plain. In present-day Hungary {140.} we find wooden buildings only occasionally in the Palots areas, and in somewhat greater numbers in Western Transdanubia. In the Hungarian linguistic regions of Transylvania, on the other hand, especially in Székelyland, 90 to 100 per cent of the houses were built from wood according to a 1910 survey, and even today a good proportion of the houses are still built from logs.

Fig. 28. The cross-section and the ground plan of a belfry hewn out of wooden beams.
Szabolcsbáka, former Szabolcs County. 1770s

The other natural building material is stone. Its importance for peasant buildings grew at the time when the thinning of the forest in the mountain regions led to a search for some easily accessible building material. The regions where an earlier period of building with stone can be demonstrated are Upper Hungary, the Palots region, Tokaj-Hegyalja, and Transdanubia, especially the area north of the Balaton. At other places, if stone was available at all, it was used only for the foundation of the building. In the Bakony the quarried or field gathered stones are shaped only at a corner. Cementing was done in three ways: by putting clay soil between the rocks; much stronger and more generally used is the process of mixing a thick mortar from lime and sand and filling the gaps between the stones with this; and earlier by mixing a thin mortar from lime and sand, or perhaps from broken rocks, and pouring this between the fitted rock in such a way that it completely filled the gaps.

Lime is not only an important material for architecture, but also, especially since the 18th century, for limewashing houses. At places where larger quantities of suitable limestone could be found, lime burning was also done. The largest number of lime burners worked in the Bükk Hills, in the hills of Eastern Transdanubia, and in Transylvania. Quarried limestones were piled into huge kilns, where they turned into raw lime after being burned with wood for 72 hours. When a large quantity was collected, either the lime burners themselves or the hauliers put it on a cart that was covered with rush matting or canvas and took it to the Great Plain or other areas poor in limestone. Here they sold it, or, earlier on, exchanged it for goods in kind.

Stone served not only as raw material for building; artificially excavated caves, houses, barns, and chambers were also made from it. We find examples of such primarily in the Bükk Hills, and in the hills around Buda. Such caves can be traced back to the 16th century. At every period they served as dwellings for the poor. However, in the Bükk Hills cave-architecture (dwellings, cellars, hives, etc.) is more complicated and might have Oriental origins. (Research in this field has only begun.)

In the central part of the Carpathian Basin soil served as the basic building material at every period. According to data from a 1910 statistical survey, the walls of more than 50 per cent of the houses in the country were made of soil, and their numbers were rising steadily. There are several ways of using soil for walls, and here we must restrict ourselves to only a few.

62. Wooden belfry
Nemesborzova, Szabolcs-Szatmár County

Two basic forms of timber framework construction can be distinguished from each other. In one case the upright beams are cut into the groundsill, and these are held together on top by a cornice beam. In this way the frame was especially solid in construction and stood solidly on the ground. In the other case, the upright beams were dug one metre deep into the ground, but these too were held together on top with {142.} a beam. Although this frame was sunk in the ground it was not as solid as the previous one. The frame made by such methods has walls made of various materials.

Reed played an important part in the making of walls in the regions Sárrét and Kiskunság, and other places as well, where this formerly so important plant grew in large quantities. In the 12th century, Otto, the bishop of Freisingen, speaks of reed houses. Besides houses and farm buildings, larger structures were also made of reed, such as the Presbyterian church of Komádi at the end of the 17th century. Commencing the work, the stronger beams were dug into the ground at the corner of the building, weaker ones at the centre, and were tied together on top by lathing. The longest and thickest reeds were sorted out and the ends dug into the ground, gathered together in two places by wicker, rolled in at the edges, the reed cut at the desired height of the wall. The space for the door was left out, the window space was cut from the wall with a scythe-like tool. After this, the builders applied several coatings of mud mixed with chaff on both sides, until the gaps between the reeds were completely filled. When they achieved the desired thickness, they smoothed the wall inside and out. However, no matter how hard they tried, reed walls could be recognized by their unevenness from afar, though if well-built they could last for a hundred years.

The half-timbering was in most cases filled in with wickerwork. This method of walling is extremely old. Archeologists digging in the Carpathian Basin have found wattle in many places dating from the New Stone Age and the Bronze Age. Stakes were frequently placed between the beams of a wattle wall in order to strengthen the wickerwork. This form was well known amongst the Slavic peoples who lived in the region at the time the conquering Magyars settled. That the Hungarians also used it can be demonstrated from the Middle Ages on. It spread as a fortress building technique. Wattle walls were erected two to three metres apart and the space between was filled with earth. The outsides were plastered, thus protecting them from being set on fire.

An extraordinarily large number of versions of the wattle wall are known, from split wicker cut in half, to thin willow and furze wicker. Methods changed from region to region and by periods. In one characteristic form holes are bored at inch intervals into the foundation log, stakes are put into them, and strips of sapwood or wicker are woven into the spaces between. It also happened in some places that prefabricated wattle wall insets of predetermined size were made, and these were built into the corresponding frame structure all at once.

The various kinds of wattle matting were plastered with mud, with yellow earth or clay got from a pit near the village. This was broken up finely with a hoe, watered, and mixed with chaff, bits of straw or broken rushes. In some places horses were used to trample the mixture, and at other places men stamped it barefoot until it cohered, was free from lumps, and tensile. At first it was plastered roughly on the wicker matting, then, after reaching the height of 30 to 40 cm, the plaster was smoothed inside and out. The great advantage of such building in flood regions is that the waves wash away the mud rapidly and can flow {143.} through the wattle matting without knocking down the walls. After the flood waters withdraw, the walls can be plastered again.

Larger buildings, country mansions and churches were also made with this technique. Thus in Békés, during the first half of the 18th century, the population newly settling in Mezőberény, a village destroyed under the Turks, built their first church from wicker. They raised a church with the same technique at Sára in Zemplén County, which was replastered after a flood withdrew.

As forests diminished, the number of houses with wattle walls increased for a while. The number of houses that were made entirely of earth rose even more markedly. Mud to make these was prepared by methods described above. Among these techniques the so-called “swallow walling” (fecskerakás) was especially widespread. First, a ditch was dug in the ground half a metre deep, and filled with mud. Mud was piled on the standing wall with a fork, but only a metre high at one time. They let each course settle for a length of time depending on the weather, and then continued the work. When the desired height was reached and adequate time for settling was allowed, the wall was carved straight with a spade, the window and the door opening were cut out, and the door casing put in right away. This method is frequently used in the Great Plain and the eastern section of Transdanubia, but it occurs at other places as well.

The pounded wall (vertfal) is, to a certain degree, a variation, and basically made in a similar fashion. At ground level, the mud is put between a framework of two planks, and pounded hard with a club made especially for this purpose. This process is repeated until the desired height is reached. Formerly the openings were cut after the walls were already finished, but lately suitable moulds were fitted into the desired spot and filled in well all round. Houses have been built this way up till the present day, primarily in the region east of the Tisza.

Since the 16th and 17th centuries, houses have been built from elements made from earth. The most primitive form of this kind of element is the mudball (csömpölyeg), about the size of a child’s head and slightly elongated, and used while still wet. In the southern Great Plain, lathing is nailed at irregular intervals onto logs or stakes and the mudballs pounded onto and between these. At other places the mudballs were put next to and on top of each other without such aids, just as in the case of swallow walling. In such instances the wall is allowed to settle. When it is finished, it is plastered, two or three times outside and once inside, then smoothed and, when completely dry, whitewashed.

The hant is really a piece of sod, which, on firm pastures could always be cut up into the desired shapes. We often find it in the Hungarian earthworks of the 16th century. Thus in the eastern part of the Great Plain, the four battlements of Nagyvárad were thereafter regularly laid with sod against the Turks. Those who mastered this skill merited a very important place, gaining mention in 1669: “masons, sodlayers, bricklayers”. The carefully laid sodwalls were plastered and occasionally even whitewashed. Hearths were also built with sod. In recent times sod has almost ceased to be used, occurring rarely even in the walls of farm buildings.

{144.} The material most widely used at present for building is adobe. These are bricks, made out of mud mixed with bits of straw, chaff, husks and sedge, and sundried but not fired. It first appeared sporadically in the first half of the 18th century, but the authorities and landlords strongly urged its use in order to decrease the destruction of the forests. People refused to take to this way of building for a long time, and it became widespread only in the 19th century, and in certain regions only at the end of this period. Adobe was the basic walling material during the first half of this century in the regions of the Great Plain, Transdanubia, and in the Mezőség of Transylvania, and has begun to decrease in use somewhat only during the last two decades.

Adobe is mixed usually outside the village beside the so-called adobe-making pits, where suitable material has been dug out. More rarely the clay is carried into the yard and the adobe made there. The mud is kneaded in the fashion described above, which is generally a job for the men. Formerly it was spread into the desired thickness and the required sizes cut out of it with a spade. Recently the mud has been pressed into a mould made out of planks. It is smoothed, the frame lifted up, and the finished adobe bricks piled up next to each other in rows. The women also participate in the mixing itself. The dried adobe bricks are piled into a triangular, open-work pyramid, with its top plastered against the snow and rain. Thus the bricks can last for several years until they are used up. The poor peasants and hired labourers make their own adobe bricks. However, adobe making is a characteristic gypsy occupation. They get chaff and husks from the customer, who otherwise makes payment, usually per 100 bricks, in money or in kind.

From the adobe bricks many kinds of walls can be made. It is cemented together with mud or mortar, and in some places black earth is put between two rows, which not only makes the wall stronger but also prevents the seeping up of moisture. Recently bricks have been used for foundations and a few rows of them are mixed with the adobe bricks, serving both as insulation and as strengthening. Otherwise bricks rarely occurred in the past as a building material among the peasants, although archeological excavations can show traces of it in village buildings. It became more widely used only in recent times. Its origin is probably western, as its name, tégla of German origin, also implies.

The walling of the house depended very greatly on the prevailing natural and economic circumstances, and changes in these can be well measured. The same can also be said of the roof structure and roofing, which is so closely related to the wall that its determining character can always be interpreted from it.