Life with Honey - The History of the Beliczay Gingerbread and Wax Candle Workshop

Life with Honey - The History of the Beliczay Gingerbread and Wax Candle Workshop

Organised by ethnographer and historian: Balázs Maczó

Place: 1st floor

Beliczay gingerbread was once a household name in Pest, but we can say it was also known nationally. The success story began in the 1820s, when Imre Beliczay spent his summer, in today’s terms, as a student worker in a gingerbread-making workshop. He liked the work so much that he left high school and became an apprentice instead. Working his way up through the ranks of the guild system, he arrived in Pest in 1831, where he eventually became a master craftsman and opened his own workshop. Located in Király Street, it was unfortunately destroyed by the flood of 1838, after which it relocated to Kismező (present-day Csányi) Street.

Imre Beliczay was not just one among many gingerbread makers. He established the first independent guild of gingerbread makers in Pest, where he soon became the head guild master. Uniquely, he managed the administrative affairs in Hungarian, at a time when German was still the official language of the country. His hand-carved wooden moulds showcased remarkable artistic talent, and this aesthetic quality undoubtedly contributed to his success. He also involved his son, Béla in the trade, and even oversaw his initiation as a master. Upon his father's passing in 1872, he became the manager and owner of the workshop. Guilds were abolished nationwide at this time, and under the new liberal economic framework, the small workshop entered its golden age.

The second half of the 19th century brought many innovations to the confectionery industry. With the spread of ammonium bicarbonate and baking powder, a new type of dough emerged in the honey-based trade. Traditional carved wooden moulds went out of fashion, giving way to gingerbread cut into shapes, such as hearts, hussars, dolls, and other figures decorated with intricate icing and glazing, which became best-selling products. Béla also introduced an innovative special floor polish, inspired by changes in candle production. With the widespread use of stearin, beeswax candles were no longer in high demand. But in a prosperous gingerbread workshop, large quantities of beeswax – a by-product of honey production – were readily available. Previously, it had been put to excellent use in candle making, but after Béla’s invention, the wax was repurposed as a floor polish. By the turn of the century, this product had become the family’s primary source of income.

In 1886, also in Csányi Street, they had a brand new two-storey house built which included their family home, a workshop, and rental apartments. The building still stands today, housing the Gólem Theatre. The family earned numerous domestic and international awards, medals, and prizes, which they took great pride in. However, the Beliczay family was nonetheless impacted by the effects of the economic crisis of the 1920s. The workshop was seized during the Hungarian Soviet Republic, and after the Treaty of Trianon, sourcing honey became increasingly difficult. It is perhaps no coincidence that Béla passed away in 1920. In the hands of his son and brothers, who carried on the legacy, the company became a general partnership, which by the 1930s had grown to the point where they were the sole honey and wax traders in Budapest. In 1936, a member of the fourth-generation, László, was officially registered in the company, ushering in the last golden era of the Beliczay story. In addition to the wide variety of filled, dipped, intricately iced and moulded gingerbread, as well as tea cakes, sweet pretzels, fruit cakes and nougat bars, they continued to sell candles and floor polish as well.

However, the family, which had made it through another world war, could not avoid the tragedy of nationalisation in 1949. The workshop, which by then had been operating for more than a century, was incorporated into the state-run confectionery factories, and the Beliczay family no longer had a role in the business. However, László's expertise was still valued during the years of socialism. He served as a consultant for beekeeping organizations, and companies that produced honey dough products. In his book ‘A méz ipari feldolgozása – Mézes sütemények’ (‘The Industrial Processing of Honey - Honey Cakes’), published in 1960 by the Technical Publishing House, he shared his family's centuries-old knowledge, including their previously closely guarded recipes. 

Thanks to the family’s enduring commitment to social responsibility, the Beliczay legacy has been uniquely preserved. The family themselves donated some of their artistically carved wooden moulds and pieces of guild memorabilia to the Hungarian Museum of Ethnography. After nationalisation, a number of finely crafted pieces were transferred to the Museum of Applied Arts, but the largest collection of Beliczay moulds is kept in the Kiscell Museum of the Budapest History Museum.

The exhibition ‘Life with Honey - The History of the Beliczay Gingerbread and Wax Candle Workshop’ presents this remarkable legacy to the public for the first time. It features an exceptionally rich collection of personal documents of the family, generously loaned by the descendants. The exhibition also aims to highlight the Beliczay family's mission: the love of bees and honey is an essential part of our lives. To bring this experience to visitors, they can not only try their hand at using the traditional wooden moulds, but also take home the once-secret Beliczay gingerbread recipe.

Special thanks for their invaluable assistance in the realisation of the exhibition to Erzsébet Beliczay, descendant of the family, and Mirtill Seregély, gingerbread maker and teacher of traditional honey cake making.