The abandoned village - Nagygéc (GCNGCT)
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Related Web Page
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The village of long-ago called Nagygéc is accessible through the road starting from (N 47° 51.505' E 22° 45.321' , 124 m) on the road 49, just 1 km before reaching the border crossing point of Csengersima. There is an access road leading to the village, but there is no sign indicating the direction.
On the night of the 16th of May 1970, the river Szamos has flooded this village. The whole population has been evacuated and it was forbidden to come back and rebuild anything for 20 years. Thus, this village in Szatmár-Erdohát situated closest to the Romanian-Hungarian border has ceased to exist.
Everything is covered with bushes, the thorns grew to the size of trees, only some concrete basements, some fences, a well, some buildings and the unused medieval church reminds us of it's stirring past.
Many of the former citizens established themselves in the nearby village Csenger or the neighbour one Csengersima, or moved to other places in the country. There were words about moving the church to the open-air museum at Nyíregyháza-Sóstó.
Kálmán Czagány has played an important role in preserving the church. Being an architect and art historian, he initiated the creation of a memorial with the help of the organization called "The Guards of our Heritage" established by young art relic protectors. By inhibiting the demolition of the church he has justified his new initiative. In front of the church, a memorial house has been created, an original reed-covered country house has been transported from Penészlek.
You can find a plaque at the church and in the park you can read citations from the book of psalms. Unfortunately the initiative was just partially successful, after a nice beginning this place started to decay.
The Village
It's name was first quoted in a warrant issued back in 1280. During medieval times, it had strong relations with the neighbour villages Komlódtótfalu and Szamosdara. During the 18th century it was owned by the families Ibrányi, Luby and Péchy. After the end of the War of Independence, the evil Haynau has bought the near-situated village Kisgécpuszta, which has later joined Nagygéc. The old mansions were unfortunately all demolished, nothing remained.
The church
It has been built in Roman style, in the 13th century. The west part and the south columns are from those times, you can still see the original loopholes and the beadle. In the 15th century, the small temple has been enlarged, the ending has been rebuilt in Gothic style with a longer nave and a shrine. In this part of the nave, there are three Gothic tracery windows and you can still see the original vaulting of the medieval building. On the north wall, you'll see a tabernacle made in late Gothic - early Renaissance style. The composition above the window over the shrine implies the existence of a local, Szatmár-based art school.
The church is owned by the Reformed Church since the 17th century, it has been reconstructed a number of times, it's tower has been built in 1896. Should you be interested to see the church inside, please ask for the assistance of the cleric in Csengersima.
The Flood
The river Szamos has overflown it's barriers on nine places on the 16th of May near Szatmárnémeti, flooding the villages in the area. Half a day later the water has demolished the obstacles at Nábrád and Tunyogmatolcs, so the water was coming from two directions. Besides the weather the reason of the flood was that neighbour military authorities demolished the barrage at the Fernezely reservoir to save the missiles hosted nearby. Once the water went down, 5 villages (Nagyhodos, Kishodos, Nagygéc, Komlódtótfalu and Garbolc) found themselves outside the protection of the Szamos-Túr barrage, thus building activities were prohibited in the area. Although this has been withdrawn in 1993, the lower parts of the area are still unprotected in case of a barrage defect in the neighbour country, 3-4 meters of water are anticipated, thus the villages would need to be evacuated as soon as the water reaches 800 cm at Csenger.
[Translated by SocratesTheBlack (volunteer translator), original taken from geocaching.hu]
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur pnpur vf va n unatbhg ba n gerr va gur cnex arne gur puhepu.