A MEDIEVAL TANNERY WORKSHOP

FROM THE RIVERBANK OF THE

DANUBE
VIKTÓRIA POMÁZI-HORVÁTH1, KATALIN RÁCZ-SZABÓ2
1Várkapitányság Ltd., H-1113 Budapest, Daróczi út 3. E-mail: hovirag92@gmail.com
2Budapest History Museum, H-1014 Budapest, Szent György tér 2. E-mail: raczk@btm.hu

In 2016 a new hotel was planned to be built on the left side of

The paper’s aim is to present the large amount of
the river Danube, in Hungary’s capital city Budapest. In the
leather finds, which suggests that here existed a
Middle Ages the area in question was a part of Pest town,
tannery workshop from the Middle Ages to the
one of the richest towns in the Hungarian Kingdom. Before
Modern Era. In addition, several iron and wooden tools
the construction started the site was excavated by the
Cherry stones from the tan-pits and four tan-pits were found on the territory, which
archaeologists of the Budapest History Museum. Despite the
can confirm this assumption. Besides that the shoes,
fact that the place was inhabited for centuries, the medieval
leather scabbards, purses, and other utility objects help
layers were found unaffected. Fortunately, the wet and
us imagine life in medieval Pest town, some of them
muddy soil by the river preserved the metal and leather A shoe as it was found on the excavation suggesting that the people were trading with distant
objects in excellent condition.
regions.

Remains of a wooden structure used for soaking A board-lined tannery pit from the 16-17. century The boards were made of pine tree (19. century) The drab clay patch of the tannery pit (19. century)
(14-15. century)

Knife scabbards (14-15. century)

In Hungary, leather artefacts can be found occasionally, mainly
We selected one of the several similar objects identified as knife scabbards from the excavation.
because of the poor soil. Only wells, moats and riverbeds can preserve
It is made of three pieces, its whole length is 47 cm, with a width of 5 cm. The end of the case is
these finds, which means that every little piece must be examined
tapered, the other one is cracked, so the original length of the blade can’t be determined. The
thoroughly to get all the information. At 7-9 Molnar Street, we could material is a medium-retained cowhide, from which the bark layer is still peeling. Whether its
collect several types of shoes and boots, among them semifinished, bend is a proof of degradation or it was really a curved blade’s case, it cannot be decided yet.

broken pieces and production waste finds as well.

The front surface is decorated with notched geometric forms. With the use of this technique very
spectacular decoration can be created, but the material becomes very vulnerable this way, as the
bark layer is cut into pieces. During cleaning and restoration process it is a priority to keep and
secure these small pieces at their original places.

A bottom curved bag or purse, made of two flat sheets.

Vamp decorated with cut-out stars (14. century)
The side is sewn along the entire length, but from approx. half of the height the
Another interesting piece of the site is this pierced toe-cap of
opening becomes narrower. The narrower part was folded back, giving it the
a kid’s footwear. Its length is 9,6 cm, width is 7,9 cm. The sole
Ankle boot with laces (14-15. century) closure. This curved front surface of the bag’s „mouth” made it easier to open. Here
part is made of cowhide, the upper part is of goat leather. The
Footwear with a button closure for the left foot, with a sole length of 23,2 cm and can be seen a line pattern sewn with silk thread, which resembles the best a double-
sole and upper part are attached to each other, the cut-off
a height of 19 cm. It had the best in situ conditions among the leather finds of the headed eagle. The overall length is 26 cm, of which the purse body is 15 cm, the
runs in the same line. Fortunately, some details of stitching
archaeological site of Molnar Street, while just a little part of the toe-cap is width is 16 cm. It is made of calfskin, is highly torn, and more than one third of the
remained to us, so it can be said that it is a fragment of a boot
missing. The buttonhole lining is missing, but the two stiffener pieces of the toe- embroidered part and the body are missing.
with closed toe-cap, which was reached the ankle. In the
cap, the opening’s seam and the tongue were also in their original places. The
center of the foot the pierced pattern is represented by a set of
material is a very well kept sheepskin. During wet mechanical cleaning and glycerol preservation, we could notice several
four quadruple holes, each of them punched with a cross-
technical and/or chemical details in connection with the use of the bag. On the one
shaped punching tool.
After being wet-cleaned and preserved with glycerol, the leather material has had, while the two sides of the folding opening were simply sewn together, the
become flexible and fine. For the completion we used leather material suitable in edges of the body part overlap and curl as if they were wrapped around a string.
Although the remaining part of the sole is not large enough
color and in softness, which was glued with a mixture of rice starch and aqueous On the other hand, the object could often be stuffed while using or there were heavy
to tell whether it was for the left or right foot, we would
dispersion glue. The good condition and softness of the material allowed us to things kept inside, because it appeared to be severely split when the ruptures were
prefer the left one because of the location and orientation of
sew the footwear with the use of the remained holes, like it could have existed joined together. The process of the restoration will primarily be determined by this
the decoration on the upper side. After cleaning and
originally. Inside it is wadded with black textile around, which holds the object fact and the fragility of the skin.
preserving the parts with glycerol, the skin was still too stiff
during storage and it is suitable for putting it on an exhibition.
to sew them together.
The openwork technique was very popular in the Middle
Ages, similar ones can be found throughout Europe. The
nearest parallels are from Kraków, Poland.

The archaeological finds were restorated by the experts of Budapest History Museum.