Publication details
Segments of the ancient cultural landscape in the “Hungarian corner” of Moravia: A valuable pre-industrial heritage
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Hungarian Geographical Bulletin |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.15201/hungeobull.72.1.3 |
| Keywords | disputed territory, Bohemian Kingdom, Hungarian Kingdom, historical heritage, village ground plans, segments of pre-industrial cultural landscape |
| Description | After a brief historical overview, the paper discusses two basic types of natural and cultural heritage in the territory of the "Hungarian corner" of the Czech Republic. For 300 years, this area called a "confinium" in the southeast of today's republic was disputed territory between the Czech and Hungarian states. Settlement therefore proceeded slowly in waves depending on the political situation. The present international border was established around the year 1333. Numerous documents of the ancient landscape, probably of medieval origin, have been preserved in the current landscape. They are the ground plans of the cores of municipalities, whether they were founded by Czech or Hungarian landlords on one hand, and the remains of ancient land distribution in the form of narrow strips of agricultural land on the other hand. Other areas succumbed to land consolidation during land reforms in the 20th century. While the ground plans of the village cores are only subject to minor changes, the small-scale use of land is still threatened by further merging. The ground plans of the municipalities and land division at the present time were compared with the situation documented by the stable cadastre maps from the 1820s-1830s. Only identical areas in both sources represent segments of the pre-industrial landscape, whose roots go back to the Medieval Ages. On selected examples well-preserved ground plans of village cores are documented, probably both of Hungarian and Czech origin. Similarly, well-preserved examples of the ancient division of agricultural land in flat and dissected terrain both with poly-functional and mono-functional land use are demonstrated. They represent a little-known historical heritage in both cases. The best-preserved remnants of the ancient pre-industrial landscape are equal in value to protected areas of nature and cultural monuments. It is therefore necessary to properly inform the public about their value and the degree of threat. |