Curious tourists need only travel half an hour from the Hungarian capital to seemingly find themselves in Hollywood. Korda Studios, located in Etyek and named after the Hungarian-born British film industry giant Sir Alexander Korda, is an enormous and interactive film studio complex that allows visitors to feel as if they have landed in Tinseltown itself. Etyek is not limited to the film industry, however, for it also contains one of the country’s youngest but most prominent wine regions with a heritage of over a century, along with a host of culinary delights. Preserving heritage over generations Etyek derives its name from the old Hungarian masculine name Ete, meaning seventh child. Its favourable climactic conditions are underscored by the fact that in the 9th century BC there were prehistoric settlements on the areas of what are today Kálvária and Kakukk hills. A Roman colony lived in the area until 379 AD, who in turn were followed by the Eravisci, Huns and Avars. From the time of the Hungarian Conquest in 896 the area belonged to the Csák Clan. Etyek later became a possession of the crown until 1543, when for the next 150 years it was part of the territory occupied by the Ottoman Turks. Population exchanges In the 50 years following 1720, more than a hundred German families settled into the town, which was at the time owned by the Jesuits. The local history museum at Magyar utca 7 was founded by the German Association of Etyek. The museum hosts an exhibition featuring the former furniture, folk costumes, religious relics and children’s’ toys of the Swabian population, along with photographs from the era. German speakers outnumbered Hungarian speakers nearly four to one among the town’s 4,000 residents in 1930. The census of 1941 showed a similar ratio. This census also revealed that nearly 20 percent of the population did not speak Hungarian. Following the Potsdam Conference, this data was used as part of the shameful government decree of 29 December 1945, which resulted in the expulsion of Hungary’s Swabian community to Germany. In the following year, 2,300 of Etyek’s German-speaking population were resettled to the area around Stuttgart. In total, only 190 families with roots in the area remained, as new residents arrived from other parts of Hungary and Transylvania. Wine Festivals Those with a good imagination can travel through time by paying a visit to the spring known as the Hungarian Well, which produces 6-7,000 litres of water per minute. Visitors can imagine how in times past women washed clothes on washing boards, men led animals here on a daily basis to drink, and children from the village played in the Nádas Lake that was supplied by the spring’s waters. When Etyek was connected to the water grid in the 1960s, the spring’s three pools were filled in. In the 1990s, however, the town’s abandoned spring was restored, as was the statue of Saint John of Nepomuk, the protector from floods and drowning. The spring’s waters are no longer potable, however, due to soil pollution. Etyek was an agricultural town with famous dairy farms in the 1800s, but vineyards were planted left and right after the turn of the century. Typically with little rain, plenty of sunshine and good soil attributes, the land favours bold and acidic grape varieties, with part of the produce going to the Törley champagne factory in Budafok. The vineyards ranging from Bicske to Pákozd were recognised as a wine region in 1990. Spanning over 800 hectares, the vineyards produce an increasing number of quality wines, among them chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc, pinot gris, and the old Hungarian variety Királyleányka. Wine lovers can sample the local specialities with unique aromas in the town’s 500 cellars. Two parts of the town are comprised of listed rows of cellars, where the cellars were carved into the clay soil during the mid-19th century, with stone vaulted press houses erected before them. A unique feature of the circular cellar row is that the wine tasting locations surround a natural depression, while similarly old cellars make up the so-called Kecske-gödör (Goat Pit). The Etyek Cellar Festival and the Kezes-Lábos (Hand-Foot) culinary event were launched in 2003. Both events have since become part of the Etyek Picnic event launched in 2013 that is held each season of the year, which draws huge crowds with its culinary offerings. The next such event will be held in September (for more details, see etyekipiknik.hu). Those wishing to become acquainted with this winegrowing region and its products during less crowded times should look into the Borongoló tours. In addition to winemakers, the town also produces artists. Decades ago two visual artists from Budapest, Lajos Csákvári Nagy and Györgyi Csókos moved to Etyek, where they revived the traditions of folk weaving and wood sculpting. The two organised summer camps, where girls learned embroidery and weaving, and boys learned carving and how to make tools. All of their eight children also became artists, working in pottery, ceramics, metalworking, photography, dollmaking and instrument-making. During large events in the town it is worth finding their works among the many craft stands. Appear on the silver screen The Hungarian-born film director Sir Alexander Korda came into his millions by pretending to be rich. He lived in expensive hotels, held pompous evening events and hoped that one day someone would provide him with the materials for his first film. In his case, it all came together. The monumental Korda Studios, a massive filming complex built on a former military base outside the town in 2007 bears his name, which features six studios and a visitor centre with filming adventures. The complex’s size reveals that it was built from a budget of €90 million with European Union subsidies, and it features one of the world’s largest soundstages at nearly 6,000 square metres. As they say, a six-story building on its side would fit inside it. But we can also find film sets out in the open, for we can walk the streets of New York on the set used in Hellboy 2 or in other films. The filming location used for the television series The Borgias in turn will transport us back to the Middle Ages. The first part of an interactive exhibition is dedicated to the memory of the three notable Korda brothers, whom we can thank for the films The Thief of Bagdad, The Jungle Book and The Private Life of Henry VIII, among many others. Following an introduction and overview of the development of film technology, we arrive at a showcase of today’s filming tricks. Behind the scenes secrets are revealed such as how to make a normal sized person a giant or a dwarf on the screen, or how movies create the impression of riding a motorcycle at high speeds when in fact the bike is stationary. Anyone can try their hand at the work of voiceover artists, peer into the atmosphere of a shoot, and for a few minutes indulge in a secret desire: standing before the cameras as a famous movie star. Photo: Pixabay