Avas-cellars - Hungary sights - Miskolc

The Avas has been the storage and hiding place of the town for centuries. More than 800 cellars were scooped into the dry and damp-proof andesite tuff of the Avas. The hollows run parallel to the inner side of the building 6-7 metres distant from each other. Most of them are 10-20 metres long but there are some 50-100 metres long hollows as well. The temperature of the hollows varies between 6-10 °C depending on their depth. It is the same in winter and summer.
Most of the cellars are at least 300 years old and hardly any of them are younger than 200 years. The houses by the cellars are not particularly old because there was some kind of wine house in front of every 10th cellar only. Nowadays there are no vineyards on the Avas any more.
According to the document of the Pozsony Chamber dated in the 18th century the wine of Miskolc could be distinguished from the wine of Tokaj-Hegyalja as far as its good quality is concerned. The vineyards were completely devastated by the filoxera between 1885 and 1889.