Roofing in Hungary

Hungary's folk roofs were built mainly from the products of farming and wetland: straw thatch (zsúp) across most of the country and reed in marshy regions such as the Great Plain and the Bodrogköz. Shingles were used on timber buildings in the uplands, and some northern villages used local slate. In the 19th century, Hungary also developed a distinctive decorative roofing tradition of glazed ceramic tiles, made famous by the Zsolnay factory of Pécs.

Climate and hazards

Hungary lies in the Carpathian Basin, with hot summers, cold winters and modest snowfall. The main historic hazard for roofs was fire, which led authorities to restrict thatch and wooden building. In Hollókő, a decree of 1783 banned wooden construction, yet the village kept burning until a last major fire in 1909.

Roofing history

Hungarian ethnographers trace the purlin-type roof, in which a ridge beam (szelemen) under the gables carries the roof's weight without pushing outward on the walls, to the New Stone Age. It was used mainly on wattle and earth buildings, and its oldest form rests on forked posts (ágas) at each end. The rafter-type roof (szarufa), with inverted-V rafters resting on a wall beam and tied by a collar called the kakasülő ("rooster's perch"), spread from west to east and became common in Transylvania and Upper Hungary; corner rafters at the ends produced hipped roofs. The chair-leg roof (széklábas), demanding greater carpentry skill, was a newer and less common peasant form.

Brick tile, factory slate and sheet metal (tin) are recent coverings that replaced traditional ones in many villages, a change pushed by fire risk and official bans on thatch.

From 1853 the Zsolnay factory in Pécs developed ornamental ceramics. Its frost-resistant pyrogranite, in production by 1886, and the iridescent eosin glaze introduced in 1893 were used on prominent buildings in Budapest, including Matthias Church, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Central Market Hall and the Hungarian Parliament Building; the frost resistance of pyrogranite made it suitable for roof tiles.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

• Zsúp (straw thatch): the most widely used folk covering. Flail-threshed straw was preferred in some areas, treading-threshed straw in others, and pea straw (east of the Tisza) or buckwheat straw (in Transdanubia) was used as a base layer. A steep roof needed 15-20 cartloads of straw. Thatch was laid by spreading (teregetés) or by knotting. Smoke from chimneyless houses hardened the straw, and a well-packed roof could last a century with occasional repairs.
• Reed thatch: used in wet regions such as the Great Plain, Transdanubia and the Bodrogköz, laid in stepped rows, with ridges finished with a reed fringe or two nailed boards.
• Shingles: split shingles nailed to battens on timber buildings; in Székelyland, metre-long beech planks were laid overlapping.
• Slate: used in some Palóc villages close to slate sources.

Roofing today

Reed thatch is still built on some new houses, including architect-designed holiday homes.

Codes, standards and regulation

As an EU member, Hungary applies European product standards and the Eurocodes for structural design, including Eurocode 1, Part 1-3 for snow loads.

Industry

The Zsolnay manufactory in Pécs, founded in 1853, is the country's best-known producer of architectural ceramics.

Notable roofs

• Hollókő, a UNESCO-listed Palóc village in Nógrád County, about 100 km (60 mi) north-east of Budapest, rebuilt after 1909 with half-timbered houses on stone bases, overhanging porch roofs and a church with a shingled tower.
• Matthias Church and the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, with Zsolnay ceramics.

Local roofing terms

• héj - roof
• zsúp - straw thatch
• szelemen - ridge purlin
• ágas - forked post
• szarufa - rafter
• kakasülő - collar tie ("rooster's perch")
• esővető - eaves or porch
• teregetés - spreading method of thatching

Sources and gaps

Current material shares, details of the national building code for roofs and information on other domestic roofing manufacturers: published information is limited. The Zsolnay sources name buildings where its ceramics appear but do not confirm a tiled roof on every one.