The Golden Deer Inn

The Pannonia House, a few minutes' walk from 15 March Square, was the site of the Golden Deer Inn from the mid-18th century until 1889. The downstairs tavern served wine, beer and brandy, while the upstairs was used as a guest room. On the upper floor of the courtyard wing was the dance hall, where entertainments, balls and shows were held.

Sándor Petőfi once stayed at the inn, but unfortunately he had a very bad night, and when he learned that the inn also had a theatre, he explained his dream by saying that "the ghost of the theatre that was beaten to death here" haunted him during the night. 

What did the Golden Stag Inn look like back then?

What kind of rooms are located in the building? What furnishings and coverings decorated the rooms of the Golden Horn? 

Borivo rooms

According to the news, Petőfi arrived at the Golden Szarvas tired and nervous because he missed the steamer to Pest. He yanked open the wooden door of the tavern doorway and shouted after the innkeeper. The innkeeper quickly sat the poet down, offered him wine, and Petőfi finally calmed down. Some say that the poet began to speak in rhyme after the first glass.

The pub was furnished with pub tables attached to the wall and suspended from the ceiling, yellow painted stools with arms, and two green tiled stoves that had to be loaded from the corridor.

Trade

There was also an entrance from the street to the right of the doorway, behind a glass door selling coffee, spices, colonial goods or haberdashery. Inside the shop was an iron stove on carved stone, used to heat the trader's living quarters. The stove was probably brought to Vác from a foundry in the Highlands.

Cellar

At the time Petőfi stayed at the inn, there was a direct access from the pub to the cellar through a trapdoor. The carved stone doorway of this passage, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is still visible in the cellar.

Guest rooms

It is said that Petőfi asked for the most spacious of the seven rooms on the first floor. Although he mentioned that the condition of the green tiled stove and the window frames in his room left something to be desired, he found the yellow painted doors, the plank flooring and the shutters to be adequate. 

According to an article in the Lajtamenti Közlöny, the poet knocked on the house at night, convinced that there was an animal in the stove. 

Dance space

The Golden Deer Inn had a spacious dance room with yellow-painted arm benches and a large black and brown tiled stove. At the far end of the room was the stage, where small white-painted chairs for the band members lined up. A door opposite led into a small room that served as a cloakroom. In the Kredencroom, drinks and sweets were served during the festivities.