?I shall return in a quarter of an hour? says the sign on a bench at the basket-weaver?s. Inside the spare peasant?s house sits a young woman weaving a basket of reed. Beside her sits a little girl with creamy blond hair. It is as if they stepped out of a painting by Albrecht Dürer.
Everything in the Medieval village in Bikal which opened in April is true to the period. The Roman-style houses, the winding cobblestone streets and the costumed actors, whether a princess, a priest or a fortune-teller. Whether one wants to or not, visitors become part of the game.
?I give you blessings and true love,? cries the fortune-teller, spreading rose petals along her way. She dances, waving an enormous scarf. Around the corner, a man dressed in brown is playing Renaissance music on a flute. Here no one is as they appear.
?Do you like the sweet cake? Stuff yourself, just stuff yourself! You, come here, eat some savoury cake! See how the blacksmith hammers the iron?? says Crazy, leading the visitors around the village.
We find ourselves in front of the blacksmith?s, where a long-haired man is indeed pounding iron in the flames. There is no time to muse; each moment brings a new experience.
The village has so far drawn 26,000 visitors. None have complained. Rather they have left the village revitalised with a bit of the Middle Ages.
The venture has still not turned a profit, but the village has proved convincing to visitors ?overcoming that space between the ear and the brain?, says owner László Kollár. A while ago, a couple from Brazil in their eighties came to Hungary especially to see the village, he added.
Author: Réka Barcza
