For centuries, brick has been one of the most important and reliable building materials. Our ancestors first used sun-dried bricks, and later fired bricks, a form that appeared around 3500 BC.
The practice of marking bricks with symbols is almost as old as brickmaking itself, although the widespread use of brick stamps only became common roughly during the last 400 years. These markings originally helped mortar adhere better, but they also served decorative, identification, quality-control, and trademark purposes. Depending on whether the mark was carved into the bottom of the mould or attached to it, the resulting brick stamps appeared either raised or recessed.
According to historical records, the production of monogrammed bricks in Hungary began in Győr during the captaincy of Hans Prainer. From 1606 onward, and for nearly 150 years, almost every castle captain produced bricks bearing his own monogram.
After the expulsion of the Ottoman Turks, the enormous demand for rebuilding materials was largely supplied by estate-owned and church-operated brickworks. In Hungary, anyone possessing land with suitable clay deposits could produce bricks. This included landowners, castle captains, the royal chamber, bishoprics, monastic orders, and town authorities.
In the area around Szigliget, the Esterházy family — both the princely and comital branches — operated the largest number of brickworks. The most important centres were located in Balatonfüred, Pápa, Szerecseny, Tata, and Uzsa.
During the demolition of houses, outbuildings, and wine cellars in Szigliget that are more than one hundred years old, many bricks bearing the “GEP” monogram have been discovered in various forms. This mark refers to Count Pál Esterházy, while the accompanying year, if present, indicates the year of manufacture. Most of these bricks arrived in Szigliget from the count’s brickworks in Uzsa.
In 1910, Pál Esterházy purchased the ancient castle from Géza Puteani and subsequently launched major reconstruction and building projects both on the estate and throughout the village. This likely explains why so many GEP-marked bricks appeared in Szigliget. The extensive construction work required enormous quantities of bricks, and the Uzsa brickworks alone could not meet the demand. Additional bricks were therefore brought from the regions around Pápa, Tét, and Sümeg. These bricks bore different markings as well; for example, the initials “SV” stood for “Sümeg Város” (Town of Sümeg).
Brickworks also operated nearby in Káptalantóti, Lesencefalu, Nemesgulács — where bricks bore the “BI” mark of István Benczik — and in Tapolca, whose bricks were marked “TV” for “Tapolca Város.”
Today, these old bricks are often lovingly reused as decorative elements in houses and wine cellars.
József Takács