A Lecture on the Landscape-Shaping Activities of the Benedictines in the 18th Century

A conference entitled “Local Forms of Everyday Life in Hungary in the Light of 18th–20th Century Archival Sources” was organized by the “MTA-ELTE Lendület” Historical Folkloristics Research Group on February 20th.

At the event held at the Institute of Ethnography of ELTE BTK – which was also the project presentation of the research group – Tamás Dénesi presented the landscape-shaping activities of the Benedictine order in the Bakony Mountains (Bakonybél) in the 18th century. The monastery, abandoned in the 16th century, was difficult to find in the wild Bakony Mountains at the end of the 17th century. The presentation described the process that transformed the Gerence stream valley into a cultural landscape again in a few decades by clearing forests, organizing manor farming, creating fishponds, building churches and monasteries, inviting settlers, and establishing villages.

The conference program can be found here: