Nature Exchange to Slovakia,
Ipel Union 2009
Introduction
The nature exchange is aimed at furnishing beneficiaries with vocational, rather than academic skills and experiences. Many of these trips take place across Europe each year and 6 lucky individuals were able to secure a place on the Ipel Union, Slovakian exchange.
The 7-day Slovakian nature exchange took place between the 28 August and 4 September 2009. The exchange was based at a Honey Farm B&B in Ipelsky Sokolec near a small town called Sahy close to the Slovakian/Hungarian Border. The exchange focused on the natural and cultural heritage of the Ipel river watershed and surrounding area.
Our guides during our visit were Ida Wollent and her father Joszef. Both Ida and Joszef work for the Ipel Union, a non-government organisation based at Sahy. The aim of the Ipel Union is to promote environmental educational, research and sustainable rural development and rural tourism, through providing information and support to the local population.
The nature exchange was funded within the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci programme of the European Commission. ARCH promoted and arranged our trip with the Ipel Union who were our hosts for the week.
Six people attended the exchange: Jenny Grant (SNH), Brigid Primrose (SNH), Jackie Cumberbirch (FCS), Jim Smalls (FCS), Andy Buntin (FCS) and David Galloway (FCS).
Day 1 Friday the 28th August (David Galloway)
The first day of our trip concentrated on travelling from Scotland to Slovakia and involved passing thorough 4 European countries in one day!
Starting off in Edinburgh at 8am, we flew to Paris before taking a connecting flight to Hungary, arriving at Budapest airport at 6pm. At arrivals we met Martin Clark. Martin is the managing director of Grampus Heritage and Training Ltd., a company not dissimilar to ARCH and who specialise in facilitating and organising European exchanges. Grampus and ARCH work closely together and by chance Martin was passing thorough Hungary on his way to Slovakia, so was able to collect us at the airport and transport us to our hotel.
Martin drove us across the border into Slovakia, then to our accommodation at the Honey Bee Farm B&B. The Journey took approximately two hours and Martin provided an ongoing commentary, displaying his knowledge of the two countries which was very informative.
On arrival at our hotel we were shown our accommodation for the week, before retiring to the Hotel bar for our evening meal.
Day 2 Saturday 31st August 2009 (Jenny Grant)
Our Host Village - Ipelsky Sokolec
Our first day of learning about Slovakia, started with a post breakfast tour of our base village, Ipelsky Sokolec with Martin. Martin was an Englishman involved with designing the programmes delivered by Arch Network and had picked us up from Budapest the night before.
He had already pointed out lots of things that previous evening in the fading red light; which part was Buda and which part was Pest, farmers camping overnight to protect their watermelon crop from both human and wild boar and he discussed with us the politics between Hungary and Slovakia and Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It was interesting to learn how Hungary used to be richer than Slovakia as a major producer of wheat for fodder but its economy is now struggling to stabilise enough to allow them to have Euro as their currency.
We even sampled our first beer and traditional dancing in the bar of the village that night. Well, immersing ourselves in the culture was very important.....
In the morning it was down to village scale politics as Martin gave us a tour of a traditional Slovakian house he owns. The traditional house starts off as single house. A couple builds up from adobe bricks and moves in and they have children. When one of their offspring grows up and marries, an extension is built at the back of the house to accommodate them and a third section is then added for the family of one of their own children. Now at this point at the front of the house the original couple are quite old. So they move to the back house, their grandchildren to the middle house and then the parents to the front and so the cycle continues.
It’s a bit like a house conveyer belt over many years. The system in theory worked quite well allowing for the younger generations to care for the older.
In each house there is a room with a bread oven that is also used for smoking meat. Meat is hung from acacia beams in the loft where the air is cooler and circulates.
A lot of the wood used in the house was false acacia (Robinia). It’s an excellent hard wood and bees like it to make very good honey. It is however a non-native invasive species so, should it stay?
Each of the traditional houses would have a plot of land which would have an orchard and vegetable plot together with one or two livestock which the shepherd would collect each day and deliver at the end.
In the first world war Slovakia was part of Hungary so was not occupied but in the WWII the Nazis occupied the village and Martin found flags with the swastika while clearing out the house. At this time members of the Ipelsky Sokolec community were not allowed to speak their own language.
It was a shame to hear that a lot of traditional skills and houses and plots are being lost as with any other rural environment the young people are going to the cities.
I was pleased to hear though from Martin that the bears were 40km north (having had a scary encounter with them in another country) but excited to hear we would be visiting a nearby national park where lynx were known to roam. The village had four stork nests. We saw one. They are believed to be the sign of a healthy ecosystem.
Next stop the Ipel Union Office.......
Ipel Union
With a late morning thunder storm brewing outside we settled down with our hosts to hear all about the Ipel Union. Our hosts this week were Ida and her father Joszef. Ida is a trained English teacher, working for the Ipel Union and she would interpret for us over the coming week. Joszef had founded the organisation 17 years ago in 1992. Joszef was also a founding member of the Czechoslovakian Green Party. The family is from the area so are ethnic Hungarians and their first language is Hungarian.
The Ipel Union is an environmental and cultural union for the Ipel River catchment. There is 5000km2 within catchment, two thirds of which is in Slovakia and the rest is on the Hungarian side of the border. The area as a whole is ethnically Hungarian but had its border redrawn after the Second World War.
The Ipel catchment area has always been agricultural and never industrial with a cooperative of farm. These are the main problem for the environment; canalisation of the river to try and straighten the flow and produce more arable land took place in the ‘60s and ‘70s and this lead to the loss of wet meadow and forest. The canalisation of the Ipel River led to the loss of 12 species of fish, otter and beaver populations.
The main goal of the Ipel Union is to conserve what is left and revitalise the area. This requires cooperation with the Hungarian government, NGOs and other European partnerships. They receive no state funding at all and so rely on grants from the EU.
The activities carried out by the Ipel union can be broken down in to four broad categories;
1) Research on the flora and fauna in cooperation with the state (Ministry for the Environment).
The Ipel Union is trying to decipher what they have left, what has been taken and then plan to use the data to make plans to conserve and revitalise the habitat in the catchment. They have determined that there are still some fairly large areas intact, with natural meander systems and alluvium. The longest stretch of non-canalised area is 12km situated in the heart of the Ipel, close to the Union’s office. This is also a Ramsar site (called Poiplie) in this part of the catchment and they are developing interpretation along here. It represents a mixture of open water surfaces, wetlands rich in rare plant species, reptiles, amphibians and a large community of water fowl, water meadows and alluvial forests.
The Slovak Environment Agency (Slovakia’s closest equivalent to Scottish Natural Heritage) has offices throughout the country, in the cities, but don’t have people to work in the rural areas. They have responsibility for the Ramsar site but don’t seem to know a great deal about it and work only from plans of the area. Most haven’t seen the sites they are working on. They deal with land use and policy development but nothing hands on. The Ipel Union have to negotiate with them everything to do with the Ramsar site but the Environment Agency can’t provide funding at the moment. They are developing though and beginning to cooperate with local communities and NGOs more and more.
Stock Piled Pesticides - one of the research projects carried out in the Ipel River catchment is a chemical research project focusing on obsolete pesticide stocks. In communist times the chemicals were subsidised and so stock piled and stored in buildings by cooperative farming systems. There the chemicals remain, toxic and out of date, and this is having an effect on the environment as they continue to contaminate ground water.
Between 2002 and 2004 there was an initiative funded from the Netherlands to investigate the pesticide stocks in several post-communist countries. In the Ipel River catchment there were 230 municipalities looked at to see how many had huge amounts of pesticide stores. Many of the buildings are too dangerous to enter and so interviews with the old cooperative members were carried out to find out what might be in the buildings. The owners are by law responsible for cleaning up the stocks but they do not have the funding to do so. As a result this NGO initiative more successful than a similar project carried out by the state authorities because owners are worried they will get fined by the government. When the state tried to found out how many stocks there were they determined there was 9 stores. The NGO recorded 63.
There was a second phase of the project which involved a much larger area. In 603 municipalities the project found 142 stocks. Each stock had between 5 and 10 tonnes of chemicals.
The bad news is they are still there and a solution has not been found. There is a desperate need for funding for this project. A non-incineration method has been developed in Canada and France but would be very expensive to bring to central Europe. Even if funding came from Europe, the government can’t afford to match fund 40% of the costs. Other post-communist countries have no idea how many stock piles they have.
2) Environmental Education is a further priority area for the Ipel Union. It is not part of the curriculum as its own subject but there must be a certain number of lessons of it written in to other subjects. This new law has been in place for 5 years but most teachers don’t have the knowledge or materials to implement it. This is where the Ipel Union contribute. They provide teachers with kits and presentations on the subject. Ida showed us an example of one of the habitat kits they lend out to schools. It is a practical and attractive tool.
Between 1998 and 2000 there was a project with 8 schools from Slovakia and 8 from Hungary monitoring the water quality of 2 tributaries in Hungary and 2 in Slovakia. They used portable labs to take samples once a week and at the end of the project there were summer camps to share ideas. Again this was implemented by the Ipel Union.
The Ipel Union also hopes to actively practice Environmental Education through their Kingfisher Centre bought from the municipality 5 years ago. We visited this site later in the day which consists of a number of log cabins for residential courses and an empty building in the centre that hasn’t been used since the change in regime. They want to create a residential centre ideally located between a wetland and forest. It can also be a consultancy for students writing their theses and a conference centre for environmental subjects. It is hoped the Kingfisher centre will provide revenue for the Ipel Union.
3) Rural development and Rural tourism is the third area which the Ipel Union focuses on. The catchment has very fertile soils and the Union wants to encourage the production of agricultural products with the least amount of chemicals. They also want to encourage the use of traditional skills and knowledge and develop it in to tourism by helping locals find funding and writing applications and promoting their businesses. There is no tourism infrastructure in the area so they are only scratching the surface at the moment. They believe 20-60 year olds have lost their connection with the environment because of the communist regime.
4) Working with other European Partners is the final area of the Ipel Union’s work and they work with national and international organisations. They find that it’s generally better to work outside the country.
For the remainder of the day we visited the Kingfisher centre (in need of funding for completion) and took a walk from there in the only rain we were to see all week! We followed part of the tourist trail through the forest, viewed the wetland from a wooden watch point and saw the beginnings of interpretation that forms part of the Ipel Union’s work. It was a great introduction to the week, to the area and to the fantastic work the Ipel Union aims to do.
We travelled back past the sunflower fields to Ipelsky Sokolec in time to ‘immerse ourselves in the culture’ once again.
Poiplie Ramsar site from the watch tower.
Day 3 Sunday 30th August (Brigid Primrose)
Turkey Oak forest and Cabrad Castle
After a wet day previously, it dawned sunny and hot and this time stayed that way all day!
Today was a trip out through another part of the trail which we walked yesterday from the Kingfisher Centre. The full length of trail from the Kingfisher Centre to Cabrad Castle at the other end is intended to be 35km. The intention is to promote the trail as multi-purpose for hiking, mountain-biking and horse trekking. It will also form part of a network of educational and tourist trails in the Ipel catchment area. There is already a farm business nearby which offers accommodation with activity options of horse treks and mountain biking in the trails around the area.
So there is already tourist potential there. In addition to the multi-purpose trail the Ipel Union would like to develop low key camping facilities at occasional points along the route. These would be in the form of open areas to pitch tents with safe woodland campfire opportunities but without additional formal facilities. The route as it stands is an ideal opportunity for use in these ways.
A walk in the Woods
The route taken meanders through turkey oak and hornbeam forest, which is native and actively managed in a sustainable manner. The track through it is based on a (largely original) mediaeval roadway which represents the original ‘amber’ road from the Baltic to the Black Sea – a traditional trading route between the countries of the north and south now served by the main Route E77. The existing route surface would require very little work to make it easily passable for pretty much all abilities as it was obviously very well constructed and maintained. However there are one or two places where some repair is needed to erosion channels.
It’s easy to see that the forest is actively managed and has been for some time but at the same time it’s notably low key management and probably largely without the use of large machinery. The woodland is interspersed with small areas of meadow which had all been recently cut for hay but which now had the crop of autumn flowers showing such as autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) and common chicory (Chichorium intybus). Butterflies and other invertebrates were abundant in these areas as well as being relatively common along the woodland edge. Some of the species seen were Silver washed fritillary, small heath, common blue, speckled wood, ringlet, meadow brown, and possibly high brown fritillary. Also a rather spectacular looking beetle which was black and shiny with blue-green patches on each wing – unfortunately it didn’t stop shooting about so we could get a good view or a photo.
Silver washed fritillary Turkey oak and hornbeam
Rising out of the ashes
The trail down through the forest took us out at a small river and the track then led through to a grassy park area with an old chapel, well and a newer building where we later had our lunch. However first we headed up through the wood again via an un-made path to Cabrad Castle which sits on a high rise out of the forest at about 300m looking out over the Litava Valley. The castle is a national cultural monument and a popular site with locals and tourists alike.
Cabrad Castle was built in the 13th century, sitting on a steep hill as a good defence point for the mining villages of the area. In the 1520’s the fortress was an important defence point against Turkish attack and managed to keep them at bay without ever falling into their hands. It was eventually abandoned in the 17th century and according to one record finally destroyed by fire in the early 1800’s.
The castle ruins cover a huge area and rear up out of the vegetation which has overrun them. There has been no restoration of the ruins apart from that of a gate house which is being restored by student groups learning for example the traditional method of roofing with wooden shingles. There are numerous paths through and around the ruins and care does need to be taken in places in order not to slip and end up in the dungeons! In the UK the H&S Executive would faint at the thought of people being allowed to roam freely around in such a ‘death-trap’.
So let them faint I say!
The ruins are spectacular and in the most part stable enough to take a fair bit of foot traffic. The ground beneath your feet, although uneven, is really no worse than the tracks walked to get there and the whole experience of being in touch with un- reconstructed history and the wildness which engulfs it is tremendous. The ruins are apparently home to a large bat colony, and the native flora running throughout supports numerous butterflies and other invertebrates, as well as reptiles and birds.
Cabrad castle
Spot the grasshopper
This contrasts markedly with Holloko Castle visited a few days later which is fully renovated and seems particularly sterile in comparison to Cabrad, being apparently devoid of any wildlife apart from the lichens which cling to the rock it’s built from. The whole experience for the visitor at Holloko Castle is significantly less in my opinion.
Back at Cabrad - after lunch near an old chapel and a well below the castle we retraced our steps through the forest, a round trip of about 9 miles. We saw a few other people out walking either in the woods or at the castle so the area is already used and valued by locals. With a little promotion the opportunities provided for gentle outdoor recreation and experiences of the natural and cultural heritage here could be extended to a wider audience.
It is interesting to note that people are only starting to get back into the idea that they can use these areas for pleasure and casual pursuits rather than them being a place of work or there being no time or encouragement to get out there and enjoy yourself. Time under Soviet rule doesn’t seem to have allowed for that and there are a couple of generations now able to regain the benefits afforded by leisure activities both personally and economically.
Day 4 Monday 31st August (Jim Smalls)
Another beautiful day greeted us, clear blue skies, not a cloud in sight and we’d been warned it would be along day. After our hearty breakfast we were collected by Joszef and Ida and began our journey back into Hungary.
We crossed the Danube via the Mária Valéria bridge, joining Slovakia and Hungary. The bridge had been destroyed in 1944 and only rebuild in 2001. A short stop at the riverside allowed Joszef to exchange currency, while we took in the breathtaking views.
As a Forest School Leader, I was looking forward to this part of the trip, a visit to a Hungarian Forest School. I’ve visited numerous Forest Schools in the past few years but nothing had prepared me for this. No tarpaulins strung between trees or hastily erected tents here, this was Forest School at its best.
Run by an independent Forestry Company on State Land, the centre is the best in the country. And as for the centre itself, think ‘Lord of the Rings – Hobbits House’, only much, much bigger.
The Centre was designed by Makovecz Imre, one of the most prominent proponents of organic architecture . His building is both functional and breathtaking. Blending the functionality with the natural materials used not only in its construction but also in its use. From the exterior to the furnishings, everything just fits. I know any number of Forest School Leaders who would gladly give an arm and a leg for such a centre.
The centre can cater for 150 pupils at any one time, residing in purpose built chalets on site. The pupils attend for a week at a time and undertake all manner of activities such as plant ID, using the herb gardens which surround the centre. The herbs are collected and dried, then stored in a glass topped table, through which the dried herbs can be seen.
Other crafts, including felt and paper making, animal and insect ID, cookery, cheese making and archery are all taught at the forest school.
I was disappointed that there were no pupils on site, so that I could see first hand the operations of the centre but the teacher Gyorgyi Moor, through Ida’s translation, was more than happy to explain the function of the centre and guide us round the improvements they had been making.
Sturdy furniture
Around the walls, hang shields depicting the signs of the zodiac and a nearby telescope shows that astronomy is part of the curriculum. They have a soft play area,
and an area with stuffed birds, animals and skins, which they were reluctant to use at first until they realized that many of the pupils would never have had the chance to see the real thing.
There is a small kitchen in the centre where the children fill a jug with milk on their arrival, allow the milk to sour and then make cheese. I can just see the faces of the Environmental Health Officials if I was to suggest such a venture, the words Listeria and E’coli, would be ringing in my ears for weeks.
Even the views from the centre take your breath away and for pupils attending from inner-city schools, must be amazing. The new craft centre, with a design based on that of the main centre building is beautiful and will allow much of the equipment stored in the main building to be redistributed.
The accommodation provided is occupied by one adult and about 8 pupils all in comfort. The centre is undergoing a great deal of renovation and improvement, from the accommodation, the Craft Centre to the new Kindergarten accommodation. The Yurt in the foreground in the picture above is the old accommodation and soon to be removed. It’s covered in fibreglass and when I asked what was happening to them Gyorgyi said they were getting rid of them. I just had to ask, “If I give you an address could you post me one?”
A nearby building holds the Toilets and shower facilities and like everything else in these wonderful countries, it’s heated by wood fuel, and even the fire area has a touch of class.
Toilet block Campfire area
And the crafts mentioned earlier:
Felt making Paper making
And if you thought the kitchen was too small for 150, well they jut happen to own a small restaurant, just down the road.
So if you are looking for me over the next few months, I’m off taking Hungarian Lessons and then moving over there.
After our visit to this amazing facility, Ida treated us to lunch in that very restaurant, the food was excellent and the setting - what more can I say?
Ipoly Danube National Park
After our visit to the forest school, I couldn’t have wished for more but then we were collected by Joszef and driven to our next site. A visit to a state Forest guided by the Ranger Laci Dara’nyi and his son (also Laci). After a short stop to fill up on brambles, a visit by a praying mantis and a short walk through the forest,
Laci explained that there are four levels of protection in Hungary, the National Park status being the highest. National parks are usually 40k to 80k hectares. This one being 60k, split into two areas of 30k. There are 8 Rangers, 5 carrying out office and admin tasks and 3 outdoor tasks. This includes enforcement and issuing fines. We didn’t see it but I’m assured this man is armed.
There is 70Km3 of felling in the 30k area, mainly for landscaping reasons. 30% goes to an energy plant, 30% goes to a furniture market, mainly Beech and Oak, and the remainder is sold as firewood.
The forest is home to red and roe deer plus wild boar. There is a lynx in the area which takes about 50 deer per year, there are no plans to introduce any more due to public pressure. Laci has worked the area in one form or another for 28 years and has never set eyes of the solitary Lynx but he knows its there due to motion detection cameras he sets up at sites around the forest.
The conservation of the Forest is ongoing, 4000ha is untouched, 2000ha are in a highly designated area and another 2000ha is to protect against erosion. This is due to increase to 6000ha in the near future. There are no plans to thin the crop, all of which is allowed to self thin. Examples of goat willow and elm on the site are being protected for diversity reasons. There are also areas of larch, which is a valuable tree but there is a debate as to whether or not this is a native species.
Young crop Natural regeneration
All restocking in the Park is done through natural regeneration and felled areas can be clearly seen to have mature seed trees remaining.
There are restrictions on access to the park, with areas where the public are allowed, areas where they must stick to specific routes, areas where they must be led by a Ranger and areas to which access is prohibited. There are also areas within the park, where nothing has been done for 40 years and these areas are now reverting to something like primary forest habitat type.
Just one more very interesting day on our amazing exchange and needless to say, the group ate a hearty meal on our return to the Hotel.
Day 5 Tuesday 1st September (David Galloway)
Breakfast at 7.30am, before heading off on a 2.5 hours drive north to the Vydrovo Valley, near the village of Cierny Balog.
The main attraction for the day was to visit the Open Air Forest Museum. This invloved a steam train journey departing form the station at Cierny Balog. The train is called the Ciernohronska railway – a historical narrow gauge forest railway, which was constructed to transport timber from the surrounding forests.
Narrow gauge railway and steam train
Today the steam train has been beautifully restored and pulls carriages full of people up the Vydrovo Valley. The railway to this day still transports a small amount of timber. Much of the effort to save and restore the railway came from a local youth group whom later formed the Vydra Civic Association.
After a very pleasant, if not slightly sooty journey on the steam train we arrived at the Vydrovo Valley station from where the Open Air Forest Museum starts and finishes. Also at the station is a small visitor centre, gift shop, café and amphitheatre where cultural performances are held throughout the summer season.
After lunch at the station, we set off round the 3km open-air forest museum trail, which was opened in 2003. The museum was founded by the Forests of the Slovak Republic State Enterprise. The day to day management and maintenance of the museum is undertaken by the Forest Enterprise, Cierny Balog with support from the Ciernohronska Forest Railway, local municipality and many others.
The forest museum illustrates the different stages in life cycle of the forest over time and is very well compiled. The trail is set in 150 hectares of mainly coniferous forest. The forest landscape is beautiful, with towering spruce trees. The timber is slower grown than in the Scotland with a rotation length of 80 years minimum. The quality is fine, with drawn stems of large diameter.
Beautiful stem quality!
The forest museum comprises of 64 interpretation points at intervals along the trail. A sample of the interpretation points of interest include:
• Forest Birds
• The importance of ants for forest ecosystems
• How much water does the forest retain
• The First Thinning
• Cleaning
• Natural Forest Regeneration
• Forest Road
• How does the Wild Boar Live
• Forest Art
Art in the forest - roots varnished and displayed.
Perhaps one of the best parts about the trail and the interpretation was the ‘live’ points of interest, which nearly all of the interpretation points utilised. An example of this was The Importance of Ants for Forest Ecosystems which displayed a real and functioning ants nest for visitors to view.
On average the Forest Museum has 40,000 visitors per year and is a major attraction within Slovakia. Whilst this is a significant number in its own right, it does highlight some of the differences in culture and recreation time between Slovakia and Scotland. For example, Glentress in the Scottish Borders is one of the more popular forest based tourism attractions. It regularly has around 200,000 people per year visiting. Ida explained that generations of Slovakians grew up without recreation time and therefore it is not something that Slovakian people are accustomed with. However she explained that it is becoming more popular as Slovakia becomes wealthier and communism becomes more distant.
The museum trail proved very popular with the nature exchange group. So popular that we spent 3 hours going round, an hour more than anticipated. The interpretation boards are very well written and are translated into English. The majority of the group read almost all 64 boards in their entirety. The information prompted many discussions amongst the group on the merits of the trail. A common observation was the cleanliness of the trail, free of a littering, dog fouling and general vandalism. We all agreed that a similar trail would be ideal for Scotland, however the group did raised concerns over whither the Scottish population would respect and look after a similar attraction as well as the Slovakians, without strict supervision.
At the trail exit, Joszef had the mini van waiting to drive us back to the hotel. On return to the hotel we had a very pleasant evening meal full of further discussions about the experiences of the day.
Day 6 Wednesday 2nd September 2009 (Jackie Cumberbirch)
Visit to Banska Stiavnica
Banska Stiavnica is in central Slovakia. This town is surrounded by hills (formed from a now extinct volcano) with steep and narrow valleys. The hills are heavily wooded with tree species such as turkey oak and beech and spruce and fir in the higher area. Banska Stiavnica has been an UNESCO site since 11 December 1993, for its unique Renaissance architecture.
Banska Stiavnica
Our guide around the town was Valentina. We found her to be a very approachable and knowledgeable guide; she used plenty of stories about the town, which I personally found both very interesting and informative. It is by remembering these stories that I managed to recall a lot about my visit - a useful tool that I shall remember when taking guided walks myself!
Banska Stiavnica means “miners crook” and began as a medieval mining centre mining mainly both gold and silver ore and also copper, zinc and lead.
This previously successful mining town began; we are led to believe, by two lizards! This local legend starts with a poor local shepherd boy who was out on the hillside watching his and other neighbours’ sheep. As he lay resting in the shade, half-asleep, the glinting of reflected sunlight appeared from the ground and caught his eyes. He decided to get up to investigate. He discovered that two lizards were basking in the sun and they were coated in what appeared to be silver dust on one lizard and gold dust on the other. On spotting the boy, the two lizards scuttled off under a crack in the rocks. On closer investigation the shepherd boy discovered that there were silver and gold veins in the rocks. The boy ran home and told his family and this is how gold and silver veins were discovered and the mining of these precious metals started!
These two lizards are featured in the town’s seal and coat of arms. In fact at the beginning of September there is a festival called Salamandroe dni (salamander days) when people dress up as lizards and weave through the town! We were also shown a modern day mural of the lizards in the town centre. The artist had included a gold nugget in one of the mouths of the lizards but had forgotten to include a silver nugget in the second lizard’s mouth – another untold story here!
The town became a prosperous town at the start of the 13th century. It also become very cosmopolitan as the Hungarian King invited many different people to the town who had both the expertise and technologies to exploit the mines. The silver and gold were in seams of a depth of between 300 – 600 meters. Mining experts from Hungary, Germany and Italy arrived who had previous mining experience. The town became a free royal mining town meaning that mine owners reported directly to the king and did not need to pay taxes to middling nobility. Very ornate renaissance buildings were erected many of which were erected next to the owners mineshaft.
As the town developed so did the number of trolls increase! Trolls lived in the mines. All miners believed that these trolls had to be kept happy, otherwise an unhappy or angry troll would harm a miner. These trolls were kept happy by offering them food at the entrances to mines and observing certain rituals such as breaking bread into small pieces at the entrance to a mine.
The town had its own taxes and it appears that the town was well governed. One such example was that when alcohol abuse started to occur only families that were able to make a profit from mining were allowed to sell alcohol (one such family was the Rubigall family). A sewage system was developed and money from taxes was set aside for injured miner’s families. As more people arrived in the town many different places of worship were built.
A technological university was also created and this became the first technical university in the world – a mining academy that enabled the town to develop its own expertise. I was particularly impressed with this holistic thinking, for example a forestry department was created with an arboretum so that the students developed such skills as being able to identify trees and learn about which timbers were suitable to support mines shaft or use in construction etc. It is here I should note, that I enjoyed seeing a mature Ginko tree (I have only seen young trees before). Through the advances of the technological university the mines used gunpowder in 1627, which was one of the first places in the world to use gunpowder in mining.
There were several earthquakes in the town; the last earthquake was in 1443. During the 16th century the Turks raided the town, however the town was never conquered. The people built watchtowers around the town to watch for raids and signal to other nearby towns of imminent raids. In 1681 the “knocking tower” (klopacka) was built and this acted as the town’s alarm clock, informing miners of changing shifts, it would sound if there was a visitor to the town or ring out a warning if there was trouble from Turks.
In order to revive this tradition in the 21st century, the town council wanted to revive the playing of a bugle every 15 minutes and the sound of bells on the hour. The local residents although supportive of the idea did not like the idea of this happening in the early hours of the day so a compromise was reached so that now this schedule only occurs from 10.00 am until 6.00 pm! Unfortunately both the bugle and bell are tape recordings! In the 18th century, the town was the second largest town in Hungary (though it’s in Slovakia now) but the mining began to stop in the 1760’s.
During the communist era, some of the mines were state subsidised and many people moved from the town into large communist flats found in the nearby valley bottom as many of the old houses became expensive to both heat and maintain.
Interestingly, many Roma people moved in the old houses left by their owners. Roma people migrated to Europe from India and by the 16th century had spread into Central Europe and appear to be the most conspicuous minority in Slovakia. It appears to me that many of the Roma people are blamed by a lot of Slovaks for crimes and taking advantage of the social welfare system. Our guide explained to me that the Roma people kept the old town alive during the communist period. However after communism, the original owners came back and forced the Roma people to leave. Today parts of the old town are not lived in but this needs to be improved to encourage people back into the old town rather than just a place for discos etc. The town council however is now trying to encourage people to live in the old town.
Today there is only one mine operating close to the town, which is run by a Canadian company.
I enjoyed looking at the buildings in the town and particularly found the shingle roofs (made from split spruce) very interesting as the shingle wood fit together very tightly. As we wandered up one of the valleys we came to one of the very blue water reservoir that was used to wash the mines. As we ascended up the valley, our guide explained that a pink house that we were passing had previously been the home of Dezo Hoffman who left the town and became the official Beatles photographer in the 1960’s. She explained that no one had known this until secondary students had researched this particular building’s “family tree”!
We also visited an open-air mining museum, which was close by the town. I liked the wooden miner’s church and the geology display. I have never been to a geo park before (I have now resolved to visit those in Scotland) I enjoyed touching the polished rocks and relating them to a large map of Slovakia.
At the end of the day, we also visited a large lake (left over from the mining operations) about 10-km from the town. This was obviously a high recreation area and the main path was heavily eroded. The local council manages the site. The amenities around a lake were informal with several restaurants. It felt that people were left very much up to their own devices; there was a very “natural” feel to the place and the site felt accessible to all ages – you just had to go and explore it for yourself!
Day 7 Thursday 3rd Sept 09 (Andy Buntin)
An early start, breakfast as usual while the sun got going and soon delivered another warm and interesting day.
Today’s trip was to be split into two, the morning at The Ipolytarnoc Fossils Nature Conservation Area and the afternoon to the UNESCO world heritage village of Holloko, (Ravens Rock). In between, lunch at the town of Szecseny, which was first class, many thanks Ida!
Both visits were on the Hungarian side of the Ipel watershed, which meant a change of currency at one of the border crossings, (Euro to Forints).
Ipolytarnoc
We arrived at the site about 10.00am and were drawn to the modern custom-built visitor centre. There is a great deal of ongoing work to expand the visitor experience, but what is there now, highlights the difference between east and west, between need and greed.
We set out along the way marked track, which led us back in time giving information as you went. This took us back 24million years to meet our guide, (who thankfully was not that old), at the start of the geological trail.
Before we start on the trail, some background information:
The Bukk National Park Authorities are responsible for the running of this area. The area in question extends to some 510ha and the important centre of this received national protected status in 1944. In 1995, the site officially became part of the Pan European Natural Heritage portfolio and was awarded the European Diploma by the Council of Europe. The site is now on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites.
After this introduction, we started out on the trail.
The first thing that struck you was the noticeable drop in temperature and the dank smell of what could be described as a primeval forest habitat. We learned that 23 million years ago, this was The Eastern Europe Sea or the Tethy’s Ocean and that this area would have been joined to Africa. The sea receded and the now visible rock/soil strata were laid down.
20 Million years ago, a huge catastrophic volcanic eruption took place and the lava, dust and ash burned and sealed the paleohabitat. This catastrophe is what has now given us a rare and diverse set of footprints of prehistoric animals and details of the flora of that time.
The trail continues past remains of a petrified tree protruding from the rock face. This along with some longer lengths in the ditch gives a hint of the wonders to come.
A large wooden shed is the next stop. Dark on entering, you soon get used to the low lighting showing a large expanse of rock. Printed on this due to the volcanic aftermath are animal and bird tracks 20 million years old.
3000 footprints of 11 different species have been identified from small songbirds (Passeripeda) right up to giant carnivores like Amphicyon, a bear/dog creature. Over 900 shark teeth from 9 species of shark have also been found. The condition and clarity of some of these prints leave you in awe for some time. Even the most common prints of the prehistoric rhino are breathtaking.
What next???
The Borokas stream had for many years been eroding its banks slowly exposing a gigantic petrified tree. What is gigantic? 40 to 42m in length.
By the mid/late 18th century, this fossil was bridging the ravine. News travelled and early in the 19-century, scientists began to show interest in this magnificent specimen.
1836, French Cubing (1796-1874) started the first official excavation on the site. He named the tree Petrifactum giganteum Humboldti. This has since proved to be the largest petrified pine in the world at almost 100m tall and a circumference of 8m.
Truly a giant. The remains of this are housed in a specially built cellar with a glass structure constructed to further protect the tree. The detail on this tree make you wonder about time, its passing and also, what else may yet be discovered.
We walk on and soon come upon another great shed. After what we have already seen, anticipation is high, what’s next? What’s in here and can it top what we have already seen? Yes, is the only answer I could come up with.
Part museum exhibits of fossils showing footprints, shark teeth and a variety of leaves, which looked like they had just recently been pressed and put on display. Deeper into the building, dark, hanger like in size and at last the reason we were given 3D glasses at the start of our visit. A huge screen taking up most of one wall came to life after our guide had pressed a few buttons. This gave us a history of the past we have just been through and a look at the beasts we have heard about and seen the tracks of. After a 10min film, the lights came up to reveal yet more fantastic footprints, to let us marvel at 20 million years of history so wonderfully preserved and presented to enlighten all who look upon them.
This visit must be up there as the number one, but there were so many you could say the same of. Many debates will have to be had.
There is more to tell about this visit like the trees dug out of the coal mines, like the roller coaster ride in another 3D cinema and the fact that only 50,000 visitors a year which is a great mystery but one which surely will be put right in the near future.
Fossilised trees
Holloko (Ravens Rock)
A UNESCO world heritage village in the mountains, more than a village, a way of life, a landscape from the past, history as it was being lived today. The UNESCO status was granted in 1977.
This area has its own dialect, recognised throughout Hungary and its borders. It has its own castle, and its own unique land use, not unlike the crofting system in North and West Scotland.
Holloko Castle, legend has it, Andras Kacsics who lived in a land near to Holloko, kidnapped a beautiful young girl from the town. Unbeknown, the girl’s nanny was in fact a witch. The nanny enlisted the help of the devil to get her back. The devil’s sons in the form of ravens took down the castle stone by stone until the girl was set free.
That is why to this day, the symbol of the village is a raven with a stone in its mouth.
The castle was the site of many a battle and steeped in history. Built in the 8th century as a stronghold against the Mongolian invasions. The first written script about the castle dates back to the 13th century. In 1411, the estate was split up and Laszio Szecenyi received the castle. We have to assume that this family name has something to do with the town where we had lunch. Surviving the Turkish wars of the 1680s, the castle stood proud on its mountain top perch until in 1711, King Charles 111 demolished it. This was after the Rakoczis War of Independence.
Archaeologists started work in 1966 and for the next 30 years, the castle has been restored to what it is today. This restoration highlights the thickness of the walls and shows just how much of a stronghold this must have been. With access to the armoury, the waxwork, and the chapel, this is a great place to see, to feel and to live the history of this magnificent castle.
There is a well signposted path giving a great deal of the history as well as the legend of the area leading to the castle and a well marked route from the castle down into the village.
The beautifully renovated houses, the cobbled streets, the feeling of the past, all strike you at one and the same time. The old methods are kept alive and there is a woodworker employed full time to ensure the integrity of the renovations. A craftsman if ever there was one.
This is a very religious community, with its small church and shrine to ST Martin who was the local priest in the 1342. There is a strong belief that Jesus Christ himself comes to bless the village every now and then. This takes place at the Corpus Christi procession held each year to commemorate their faith and to ask for blessing.
The other aspect of the area that gives it its world heritage status is the landscape and how the land if used.
The woodland pasture of the UNESCO site extends to 141ha. Included in this is 41ha, which is split into 687 strips of land. These strip were divided up between the people with the idea behind this was to have a fair division of the land in an attempt to abolish serfdom. These strips are still worked today.
The houses with their unique carved name plates, remind us of the eco house we visited one our first day and the feeling of strength in the community is a joy in its self.
A wonderful two hours spent wandering alone here is again something I will remember for a long time to come.
Back to the van, meet up with the others and set of home after what has been another, interesting, educational and totally enjoyable experience.
Day 8 Friday 4th September – Last Day, (Jim Smalls)
It was our last day, another beautiful morning, blue skies and not a cloud; we were fed and packed to go when Ida arrived. Clambering into the minibus we headed off to Esztergom and out of Slovakia for the last time. Ida guided us through the town to the Basilica. A truly impressive building which seems to attract visitors from both sides of the border and from afar. After touring the building we made our way into the town to shop, the local gift shops for some and the local market for others.
All too soon we were back at the minibus having lunch and awaiting the arrival of Joszef to drive us to the airport. It was over, all but for the flights home. The week had flown in but the sights and sounds would remain for a long, long time.
Our flight on time, we arrived home as scheduled, each with their own favourite and each with a lot of stories to tell.
Archnetwork & Leonardo da Vinci programme
As a group we would all like to take the opportunity to thank The Archnetwork and Leonardo da Vinci programme, for making this Exchange possible. Through this trip we each gained something which will be considered in all aspects of our work.
As for Ida and Joszef of the Ipel Union, we could not have had more gracious and welcoming hosts, we can only hope that someday, we can return the favour.
