Hungarian museum village to offer new attractions

Several new attractions will be added to the Nyíregyháza-Sóstógyógyfürdő open-air museum village in Northeastern Hungary, highlighting various early industries native to the area, museum director István Páll announced on Tuesday. The new reconstructions will include an old photographer's workshop, a soda water production plant and a distillery like those used to produce the famous Szatmár plum pálinka (brandy).

The village, Hungary's second open-air museum (skanzen), was built on an area of 7.5 hectares between 1970 and 1979. Old buildings roofed with tin, hay, thatch and shingles were moved there from various locations in the Szatmár, Bereg and Nyírség regions. The nearly 100 structures currently housed at the village contain period furnishings, workshops and other "living" exhibitions of 19th-century life. The center of the village features a period church, a bell tower, a priests' home, a school, a firefighters' storage room, a grocer's store, a pub and craftsmen's workshops.

The equipment for the distillery, including a cauldron and other distilling devices, containers and tools, were provided by the Tarpai Manufaktúra Kft. A search is underway for tools for the other two facilities. In addition to the three new attractions, the village hopes to add a summer kitchen, a stable, a sheep barn and a granary, Páll said.

Acquiring "new" old buildings for the village is extremely costly. After being purchased and subject to extensive technical analysis, the structures are carefully disassembled, and their various pieces numbered. If needed, parts are repaired or replaced. The cost of moving a granary, for example, is roughly Ft 20 million (€81,000).

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