The log house from Kávás, distinguished by its beautifully carved and painted gable, was the very first building acquired for the Village Museum. In 1952, during one of his first ethnographic field trips, Imre Szentmihályi, Director of the Museum, discovered this uniquely decorated farmhouse. Its owner wished to build a new home, as the old log house could no longer be modernised, and in 1959 the original building was successfully purchased for the Village Museum.
The farmstead where the house originally stood belonged to a prosperous family. The owner’s wealth is reflected in the spacious multi-room stable and the enormous barn in the courtyard, which provided room for large agricultural equipment as well as a year’s supply of animal fodder.
Courtyard of the Kávás Log House
Did you know that the Göcsej Open-Air Museum was originally planned for a different location?
Today, only those researching local history are generally aware that the Village Museum was originally intended to be built next to the Calvary Chapel. The museum’s first building – a 19th-century log house with a painted gable relocated from Kávás – was actually erected in the nearby May 1st Grove, beside the Calvary Chapel.
In December 1960, while still at its original location, the house caught fire. Most of its roof structure was destroyed, but the decorated façade and log walls were successfully rescued and relocated to the present-day site of the Village Museum.
After the fire, it was decided that the open-air museum would instead be established in the Ola district, around the protected 18th-century Hencz Watermill and the former channel of the Zala River. The rescued house from Kávás was also relocated to this new site.
Stable from Hottó
Behind the farmhouse stands a stable with mud-plastered walls. The building contains cattle and horse stalls, a storage room and a covered open shed. The shed houses several ploughs, carts and handcarts, while yokes and cart sides hang on the stable walls.
In the entrance hall stands a traditional shaving horse used for woodworking, while another yoke hangs on the wall, ready for use whenever the farmer needed to harness his animals.
Barn from Lendvajakabfa
The courtyard is enclosed by a large barn fitted with a woven gate. The centre of the building is occupied by the threshing floor, with an open hay shed on the left and a lockable storage room on the right. The side adjoining the storage room is plastered, while the hay shed has log walls, allowing the stored hay to remain well ventilated. Above the storage room is an attic where grain was spread out to dry and stored in traditional measuring bins.
Storage Pigsty from Bagodvitenyéd
In front of the barn stands a whitewashed outbuilding. Its left-hand section contains a lockable storage room, next to it is a central passage, while the opposite end houses two animal pens.
After 1921, the former pigsty was converted into a chicken coop. It was common in village life for buildings and tools to be adapted to new purposes as needs changed. Peasant households made every effort to use their available resources as efficiently as possible. Very little was ever discarded, household waste was minimal, and worn-out objects were almost always given a new function elsewhere on the farm.
Wheel Well from Kávás
The courtyard of the Kávás farmstead features another traditional type of Göcsej well – a wheel well. These wells were dug where groundwater lay deep below the surface. A timber well house with a thatched roof was built above the opening, and fresh, clean water was drawn up using a rotating wooden drum fitted with a chain and bucket.
Brandy Distillery Hut from Csöde
One of the most distinctive buildings in the courtyard is the hexagonal brandy distillery hut, built at the end of the 19th century. Its skilled builder reused the log beams from a dismantled barn.
A wide variety of fruit was grown in Göcsej. It was eaten fresh, fed to livestock or processed into other products. Fruit was dried, made into jam, wine or vinegar, while plums and apricots were distilled into fruit brandy (pálinka), some of which was sold commercially.
The brandy distillery hut displayed here remained in operation until 1914. During the First World War, copper vessels were collected throughout the villages for military use, including the distillery’s copper still. Without it, the building could no longer function as a distillery and thereafter served only as a storage room.
