Pillory
In the centre of Fertőrákos you can find the only pillory, a.k.a “shame pole” that remained from the 17th century in Hungary.
They were a common tool for punishment in the Middle Ages, convicted criminals were tied up to them. The village had an underground prison on the market square, which was located between the village hall and the manor mill.
In the early 1530s, a new prison was built under the marketplace, and a tower was erected above it, it is the pillory that you can still see today. It was used for punishment even in the 20th century, the last record is from 1946, when a potato thief was punished this way.
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