The smoke house from Felsőszenterzsébet is the oldest type of dwelling presented in the Village Museum. When it was first documented by architectural survey, it had already been altered, featuring a chimney, a separate room and glazed windows. At the Museum, however, it was reconstructed in its earliest known form to illustrate an authentic 18th-century house type, believed to have been built around 1724.
As inhabitants of a border region, the people of Göcsej also served as border guards. For this reason, their homes were not clustered into villages but were built at some distance from one another while remaining within sight of neighbouring homesteads. The L-shaped house was enclosed by a fence to protect both the family and their livestock.
Smoke House from Felsőszenterzsébet
In the 18th century, houses generally had neither separate living rooms nor glazed windows. Instead, a narrow opening was cut into the log wall and covered with a sliding wooden shutter known as a tolitu. This allowed a small amount of daylight to enter the otherwise dark interior.
The house’s only heated space was this traditionally furnished smoke kitchen, where the family worked, cooked, ate and, at night, slept. Every corner of the warm room was used by the large household. In addition to the bed, family members slept on benches, on the hearth ledge, or even on top of the masonry stove.
