Csallóköz TDM

2021. June 18.

Have you ever wondered how the gold seekers extracted gold dust from the water of the Danube? Would you like to know who the ‘burcsellás’ (boatmen) were? We show a couple of old professions that are hardly practiced by anyone in the area now, or have already become extinct, even though they provided livelihood to many people in the age of our great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. Learn more about the forgotten professions!


Tour planning

The river provided our ancestors in Szigetköz (Little Rye Island) with many forms of livelihood. The millers appeared on the Moson Danube in the 17th century and began their work, famous far and wide, in their watermills. People arrived here from Babót, Bodonhely, Kóny, and even, during periods of great drought, from Bakony to have their grain ground. In the Danube branch, the mills that stood in a long line one after the other “rattled like frogs” without break. The heyday of the watermills lasted until the end of World War II, when the retreating German troops set fire to the last operating ship mills of the Little Rye Island.

Today we can no longer see any working watermills in the Little Rye Island, but in the church dedicated to the valiant and martyr St. George of Nagybajcs we can see the huge, 6-rod guild flag of the millers, depicting St. John of Nepomuk, the patron saint of the water millers.

The C50-type diesel locomotive and the spring-loaded dumping car of the memorial site evoke the history of the Little Rye Island’s industrial narrow-gauge railway, which transported crops from the lands of the Little Rye Island to the nearby major railway stations until its final closing in 1969. Agricultural goods were transported by the former manorial so-called narrow-gauge railway in the early 20th century. After World War II, the narrow-gauge railways became the property of the state, their function changed, mainly industrial deliveries needed for the reconstruction were made. During the reconstruction after the flood in 1954, the narrow-gauge railway provided great assistance to the flood-affected villages.

Unfortunately, the 1968 transport policy sealed the fate of several narrow-gauge railways, including the one in the Little Rye Island. The freight transport has shifted to the public roads, and the demolition of the nearly 2,000 km of side-track and narrow-gauge railways was initiated.

Today, however, there are still two narrow-gauge railway bridges which the trains used to cross. One of them is the Bolgányi Bridge near Dunaszeg, through which mainly sugar beet was transported from Dunaszeg and the surrounding lands to Öttevény. The other one is the Lickópuszta Bridge, where the narrow-gauge railway connecting Hédervár with Lébény was running.

Of the many forms of livelihood provided by the Danube, the life of the gold seekers, seems to be the most exciting and most adventurous one to modern people. This profession was practiced by most people in Ásvány (now Ásványráró) village in the Little Rye Island. Gold panning was an extremely tiring occupation, and no one got rich from it, yet they declared themselves lucky because they could be their own masters, receiving their daily allowance in gold. They were called the eternal wanderers of waters.

There are written relics of mineral gold seekers back from the Árpád era. They received a separate certificate from Maria Theresa in 1774, in which she allowed them to seek gold all over the country, only obliging them to deliver some of their washed gold to the Thirtieth Office of Győr.

The equipment of the mineral gold panners was simple and homemade. We can see their most important tool, the washing pan, in the Folklore House.

The Aranyász (Gold Seeker) Street still preserves the memory of this old profession in the village.

There was a lively grain trade on the Moson Danube, mainly between Győr and Moson, until the early 1900s. The owners of the grain-transporting vessels and those serving on the vessels were called “burcsellások” (boatmen). At the beginning of the 20th century, the regulation of the Danube and the Moson Danube allowed the running of steamers, and the construction of railways and bridges allowed for faster land transport, so the work of the ferrymen gradually became redundant.

The “burcsella” itself was a wooden, flat-bottomed boat on which part of the load of the heavily laden ships was transhipped so that they could pass through the shallower stretches of the river or run into the ports with shallow entrances. At the beginning, the ship was towed by human force, later by horses or by oxen. Because of this, the shore was usually wide enough to accommodate an entire horse-drawn carriage.

One of the last thatched-roof houses of the boatmen still stands in Mecsér, on the banks of the Moson Danube.

The Village Museum of Lipót has the richest collection in the area. In the six-room exhibition space, visitors can get an insight into the world that characterized the villages of the Little Rye Island in the earlier times. We can discover many special items related to different professions, and the hunting hall, where the collection of weapons and trophies gives a glimpse into the mysteries of hunting, is especially worth a visit.

In addition to the gentlemen, the villagers must have found a way to put game meat on their tables. In the museum we can also see otter irons, homemade rifles and harpoons.

A ship port operated in Dunaremete until 1992, when the diversion of the Danube River took place, and was an extremely important station for the transport of passengers and cargo on the Danube. After the diversion of the Danube, the traffic of the large ships stopped, and so the port was closed.

The monument and the memorial park located in the port commemorate the boatmen of the Danube who used to serve here. The original engraved stone slab can also be seen with the writing: "Opened in the name of God for the benefit of the people of Little Rye Island (Szigetköz) on 4th May, 1933". Currently, the Sailor of Danube statue, the memorial park, the famous Dunaremete floodometer, and a camp site are waiting for their visitors.

A javasolt megközelítés nem feltétlenül veszi figyelembe az aktuális forgalmirend változásokat.

Overview

Difficulty: Easy
Evaluation:
Distance: 44 km
Duration: 02:54:08
Ascent: 0 m
Descent: 0 m
Refreshing point: Van
Level difference:
Created: 2021.06.03
Number of appearance: 1722
Number of viewing: 6433
Győr Időjárás

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