Cave sculptures at Noszvaj
Carved out of volcanic ash
I got to visit my sweet-little-medieval-stone paved-wine flavoured student town, called Eger, in the North of Hungary. I studied here in the secondary school (middle school), continued to the art college and got my first teaching job. The art college by now has become University Institute of Fine Arts and Art Theory.
Next to Eger among the rolling hills lies a small village called Noszvaj where cave dwellings used to be in use until the 1970`s. Seventy such cave houses existed in Noszvaj in which 450 people lived. Kőházak és barlanglakások (sulinet.hu)
After the village administration office made the cave dwellers move to built houses, the caves were un,- or hardly used for 25 years. In the late 90’s some of the caves were bought by two sculptors and their friends. Sculptor Péter Balázs, professor of the University and Ottó Horváth sculptor founded the Pocem Farkaskő Egyesület, an art association. They have been taking care of the place and making it happening. They organise international art symposiums with participants from across the Globe as well as local activities like art residencies and concert. The caves can be visited daily.
The interior of the caves have been being transformed ever since the 90’s. Sculptors have been gently carving and shaping the rooms little by little, transforming them into functional art workshops, interior sculptures, acoustic-musical rooms and habitable flats. Recently the hill got water and drainage connection so even a beautiful large bathroom was created.
The hill is made of relatively homogenous volcanic rhyolite tuff which is a light eggshell coloured soft rock. One does not even need a hammer and chisel to carve it. Scratching and knocking with a pickaxe is efficient to reshape the stone. The upper panorama picture is the exterior of the caves and the photos below show the Pocem from the inside. when visiting, I did not know I would write a blog about them so I rather spent my time there to walk around the experience. After returning home, I realised that I took enough photos to show around therefore I wrote this note.
It is exciting to explore the rooms and cavities! With larger openings to the outside, the rooms got plenty of light and good ventilation. My favourites are the acoustic chambers! The walls are carved in such way that the sound can travel and resonate in multiple frequencies. I could sit the whole day in these musical chambers just to hum and sing and listen to the air resonate. It is a therapeutic experience mentally and emotionally. I felt that the created frequencies passed through my body and rendered the resonance of my cells.
