You can visit a historical cave house in Budapest

In District XXII, Budafok, there is a special historical place very few people know about: the last cave house of Budafok. This cave house is about the same age as Budafok itself. You can get to know this ancient place for free through Barlanglakás Emlékmúzeum, Femina.hu reports.

The cave house at Veréb Street 2-4 is furnished in a historically accurate way (original furniture) to reflect how real-life people lived decades ago. The cave house aims to represent a special piece of Budapest’s history. Visitors can have a tour for free if an appointment has been previously made with curator István Megyeri.

Natural caves of the limestone hills along the Danube were complemented by side walls and homes were made. The cave houses required no further construction. Approximately 40 families lived in these cave houses at first, mostly miners. Later almost 120 families lived in cave houses similar to the one that can be visited in Budafok today. After several landslides, the cave houses were cleared out by the 19th century.

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When the mining business started to flourish again in the area, the hills got quite busy again and people moved back in. Poor cottars moved into the cave houses and besides adding windows and doors, they started to furnish them nicely for their families. Garden was created and the families started to keep animals.

Later, poor factory workers started to move into these cave houses as well. The wealthier families purchased more than one cave house and rented the spared one to the people who could not afford to buy their own. By 1910, thousands of people lived in 2700 cave houses in Budapest. The number of people living in cave houses started to decrease after 1910.

Apart from Veréb street, there were cave houses in Halk street, Park Street and in Kiskőbánya street. There were a few cave houses in Kálvária-mountain as well. The area where cave houses were to be found was called Promontor.

Photo: Facebook.com/barlanglakasemlekmuzeum/

The only remaining cave house that can be visited today used to belong to an old lady called Tóth Győzőné. The cave house together with all of its original furniture is being maintained by the local government of district XXII.

Featured image: www.budafokiborfesztival.hu

Source: www.femina.hu