Aerial Photos of My Nondescript Village

3/7/2024

I have often referred to the small village I inhabit in northwestern Hungary near the Austrian border as nondescript, which, in many ways, it is.

All the same, the place possesses a certain charm, particularly when seen from the air against the backdrop of The Little Hungarian Plain, an area of flatland characteristic of this region. I stumbled upon these aerial photos of Fertőendréd taken by a chap called Ferenc Holper back in 2007.

Flat though this region may be, Fertőendréd's residents are privy to remarkable views when they gaze west.

There, stretching out the horizon are the rolling highlands around nearby Sopron and behind those towers the Schneeberg -- the last and most eastern Alpine mountain.

For reasons I cannot fathom, the photographer appears to have showed no interest in looking west and incorporating these prominent background landscape features into his aerial photos.

Or maybe he tried, but the day was not clear enough?

8 Comments

Anthony Probst

3/8/2024 00:28:04

Google Earth has been snooping around there too. But I like the color quality of Holper's photos better.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6069849,16.9056654,3a,75y,272.12h,87.51t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sloq3mIfzPAw10hTJYiQ_dw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dloq3mIfzPAw10hTJYiQ_dw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D178.40117%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

Francis Berger

3/8/2024 05:03:14

@ Anthony - Interesting. As far as I can tell, they missed going down my street, which is odd because the village doesn't have too many streets!

bruce g charlton

3/8/2024 09:07:40

I don't think any UK village is set-out on a rectangular grid. Is that a common feature in Hungary?

3/8/2024 12:01:47

@ Bruce - The village has existed for over five centuries and during the bulk of that time it was a single street settlement that was probably no bigger than the fist photo with the church in it.

The rectangular expansion came much later in the 1950s and 60s during communist times. Communists and their geometric utility. Nuff said.

The communist period also heralded the arrival of the "Kádár cube" style of house, which replaced traditional rural houses almost everywhere in Hungary. For better or for worse, my house is also a Kádár cube.

https://www.new-east-archive.org/features/show/13144/the-kadar-cube-comeback-how-the-humble-1960s-hungarian-home-inspired-high-fashion-and-eco-friendly-living

3/9/2024 09:33:01

That's interesting. I was very struck by some geography I learned at school about how villages and towns developed - they fall into relatively few patterns such as spring-line villages (which was the kind of village I spent most of my childhood in), or at a cross-roads or bridge.

The villages consisting of houses along both sides of a road would, I think, tend to be very small places - more of a "hamlet" than a village, often without a church.

Unless of course there was a particular reason why the village should be in that particular place on the road, rather than somewhere else. Maybe a good well in an area where water was lacking, or something like that.

Do you know why your village should have grown up at that point along the road?

houska

3/9/2024 02:22:30

A few questions:

Where does the village's water come from?
Where does the wastewater go to?
What fuel heats the homes?

3/9/2024 17:11:22

@ houska - The village has sewage lines and piped water. It also has gas lines.

I heat with gas, but I also have a wood option. Most of the villagers continue to heat with wood because they think it is cheaper.

Before the sewers and waterlines, people with some indoor plumbing dug septic tanks. Those without indoor plumbing used outhouses. I have an (unused) outhouse on my property.

The village has three artesian wells from which people retrieved water (they still do so today). People also dug wells on their properties (I have a well on my property, too).

3/9/2024 17:04:25

@ Bruce - There's a river that runs just behind the church, and on that river is an old mill that is no longer in operation.The river and earlier versions of that mill were probably what the village grew up around. None of the other villages in the surrounding area are near the river; nor do they have mills.

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Aerial Photos of My Nondescript Village

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