August 21, 2025 We couldn’t believe our auspicious find of a restored Haban house turned into an Airbnb in Veľké Leváre, embedded within a former Habánsky dvor (Haban courtyard). Staying in the very heart of the Habánsky dvor situated in western Slovakia brought a closeness and level of connection to the Anabaptist/Haban research we couldn’t have imagined. There is a small museum, the Habánske Múzeum (Museum of Habans) only moments from the Airbnb. Our temporary home in Veľké Leváre became the hub from which we travelled to other major Anabaptist/Haban pottery sites, active in the 16th and 17th centuries, including Moravský Svätý Ján and Sobotište.
A symposium, Exploring the Legacy of the Hutterites and Habans took place in July 2025 in Veľké Leváre. It’s unfortunate that we missed it by only a month, but fortunate that the proceedings of the symposium are available on YouTube and will eventually be available in published form.
Photos of Veľké Leváre, the Habánske Múzeum (Museum of Habans) and the Airbnb, August 2025
Resources:
1. From the Slovakia Travel website:
VEĽKÉ LEVÁRE was settled by the Habans, also referred to as the Hutter brothers, Anabaptists or neophytes. In 1592, the Haban yard was built around the local square. It is the largest surviving locality of the original dwelling of Habans in Europe.
Habans were in fact members of the Anabaptist Church founded at the beginning of the 16th century in Alpine countries. Habans arrived in Slovakia by the end of the same century. They tried to imitate the way of life of the primeval Christians based on common property and production of tools and consumer goods. They addressed each other brother and sister and obeyed their spiritual leader. Habans referred to their homesteads as „brotherhood yards“. Big halls in basements of houses made of unburnt bricks with a central pillar were used for common workshops or dining rooms.
Such community was still living in this village in the first half of the 20th century. In 1972, the Habánske múzeum (Museum of Habans) was opened in the village and it contains interesting items documenting the way of life of the sect.
2. Wikipedia: Veľké Leváre
Veľké Leváre (Hungarian: Nagylévárd, Nagy-Lévárd, German: Gross-Schützen, Großschützen) is a village and municipality in western Slovakia in Malacky District in the Bratislava region.
The first written notice about the village has its origins in the year 1378…
There are historically unique and Europe’s most preserved buildings of a notable architecture – Haban’s houses, there. Other buildings of the village are witnesses of its rich history.
The Habans were followers of an ultra-nonconformist Christian doctrine which, among other things, held that believers should be baptised as youths, not as infants – followers are also known as Anabaptists. In the religious turmoil of 16th- and 17th-century Europe this was regarded as heresy and frequently resulted in severe persecution. Several groups left their original homes in Germany, some heading west to North America (where one group became known as the Amish); others went east, some ending up in the village of Veľké Leváre in Záhorie.
3. From the Múzeum habánov Sobotište website:
Ceramics production of Anabaptists and Haban ceramics in Záhorie: In the history of ceramic production, Záhorie had an important position, the production of which was stimulated by sufficient material, wood and fuel. Until the arrival of the anabaptists, ceramic production was concentrated on pottery, faience products were not generally known. During 16-17th century, the anabaptists brought new methods and procedures in the processing and treatment of clay to western Slovakia and significantly influenced the overall shape and artistic diversity of ceramic products.
Initially, the production of Anabaptists was oriented towards the nobility and bourgeois consumers, and faience products served for their decorative purposes for representative purposes. After 1620, after the expulsion of the Anabaptists from Moravia, Slovakia became the main producer of the ceramics produced by them. An important milestone was the year 1685, when the Anabaptists lost their joint ownership and began the process of assimilation with the domestic population. Faience products, originally intended for nobility and burghers, gradually became part of folk culture.
The most famous ceramics centers in western Slovakia were Boleráz, Častá, Dechtice, Dobrá Voda, Košolná, Moravský Svätý Ján, Sobotište, Veľké Leváre, Stupava and Smolenice, of which Sobotište dominated during the 17th century. The process of Slovakization Haban faience, had begun in late 17th century, continued during the 18th century (the so-called Haban-Slovak period) and culminated in the 19th century (the so-called posthaban period). The genuine ceramics of the Anabaptists can therefore only be mentioned until the end of the 17th century, when there were fraternal courts governed by joint management of unified property.
Terms of Haban and Anabaptists faience
These are terms referring to the ceramic manufacture of Anabaptists (Anabaptist) immigrants and their descendants, the production of which is characterized by the glazing of containers with lead and lead-tin coatings forming a glassy coating on the surface of the container. Generally, the concepts of Haban and anabaptists faience are understood as synonyms, but several authors distinguish them. In Slovakia, the term “anabaptist faience” defines the oldest production of anabaptists, defined by the years 1622-1685 (from the year of their arrival from Moravia to Slovakia after the abolition of collective management). Haban faience is defined by the years 1685-1730 (after forced recatholization).