Holiday apartment in Brhlovce: Rock dwellings and folk architecture

In Brhlovce, the Skalné obydlia Brhlovce exhibition offers an insight into a special form of residential culture. Its furnished living spaces illustrate the development of the residential culture of the inhabitants of Brhlovce and the wider Tekov and Hont regions. At the end of the courtyard, the exhibition includes rooms carved into tuff rock on up to two levels. Skalné obydlia Brhlovce was opened to the public in 1992.

Culture

The Brhlovce Folk Architecture Reserve is located in the Dolné Brhlovce district of the municipality of Brhlovce, in the Levice District. It was approved by government regulation and designated by Government Resolution No. 272/1983 of 14 September 1983. In Dolné Brhlovce, the reserve includes the historic areas of Dolina and Šurda. The Dolina-Šurda area features an extraordinary settlement form with a rock settlement. The rock dwellings found mainly in Šurda Lane date from the 18th to the 20th century.

The rock dwellings are also connected with the local history of work. In the 19th century, stone working became the main livelihood of the people of Brhlovce. The inhabitants learned techniques for extracting and working stone from the Italian builders of the local manor house. The Skalné obydlia Brhlovce exhibition includes a stonemason’s workshop in the farm buildings. Its equipment illustrates the traditional livelihood of the inhabitants of Brhlovce.

The reserve’s most important urban and historical value is the rock formation as a dominant feature of the settlement. Another defining building is the Evangelical church on the Horvát parlag hill, which in a sense forms the centre of Dolné Brhlovce. The church is a 19th-century late Classicist building with an elongated hall layout, a rectangular floor plan and a projecting prismatic tower. It has an altar from the second half of the 19th century featuring a painting of the Garden of Gethsemane.

Landscape

Brhlovce lies in an extensive geological area of volcanic origin shaped by volcanic activity during the Tertiary period. Layers of trachyte as well as porous andesite tuffs and tuffites formed from lava and volcanic ash. In the Šurda area, the Búr stream forms part of the southern boundary of the Brhlovce reserve. The Búr is a right-bank tributary of the Ipeľ.

Getting there

A public car park is located approximately a four-minute walk from the Rock Dwellings Museum. The Rock Dwellings Museum is approximately a two-minute walk from the “Brhlovce, Obecný úrad” bus stop.

Local flavour

Local cuisine includes Podlievané buchty, a speciality of Brhlovce. The rock dwellings in Brhlovce are also home to Pivnica BRHLOVCE, a family winery. Nový dvor in Brhlovce combines crafts, a café and a gallery: it showcases the handcrafted production of leather goods such as bags, belts and shoes, including sandals.

Other places: Vyškovce Nad Ipľom, Jabloňovce, Žemberovce, Sikenica, Ipeľský Sokolec, Kalná Nad Hronom, Malé Ludince, Pukanec.

To the higher-level travel overview: Levice.