Szeged, the town of sunshine

Szeged is a capital of Csongrad County and the centre of the South Great Plain region. The town lies at the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Maros, not to far from the Serbian border. By statistically this town has the sunniest day in Hungary.

This site has been almost continuously inhabited since the Stone Age. The name of Szeged (projection) was given by the Hungarians; it was inspired by the great angle bend of the Tisza right in the centre of the old town. The town was an important trade centre, it has also a salt store right as well.

Turks plundered the town in 1526 and occupied it in 1543. Szeged survived 144 years of Turkish occupation as a town under the authority of the Sultan.

The town was flourished around 1800. Woods were planted to bind the soil highways and public institutions were built, a press and famous factories were established to produce starch, spirits and salami. In 1849 the government retired to Szeged and the Hungarian parliament passed the first national minorities act in Europe.

The 19th century was the age of Tisza flood control. Thousands of wheelbarrows were made by Szeged shipwrights for the navvies on the project. The railway line, which was completed in 1854, had a favourable effect on the agriculture and industry of the town.

The flooding Tisza almost completely destroyed the town in the night of the 13th of March 1879. The flood destroyed 5458 houses and left only 265 intact. The town did not dry before August. It took only three years to build a new modern town in place of the old, thanks to the donations. The great boulevard was named after the great capitals of Europe (Vienna, Paris, Rome, Berlin), which hastened to help the stricken town.

Today the town is a centre of education, fairs and festivals.

Some interesting places in Szeged

Dom Square

This is one of the most known places in the town. A U-shaped space is surrounded by Romantic arcaded buildings. The buildings now accommodate university institutions, colleges and seat of the bishop. A musical clock is on the southern part. Albert Szentgyörgyi, who awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1937 for the discovery and mass production of Vitamin C worked in this part of the town.

The Votive Church

The story of the church is connected with the great flood. The suffering people of Szeged made a vow to build a great church to keep floods away. A 54 m high dome rises behind the two 91 m high towers of the church. The place was the site of the former church of Saint Demetrius. When it was demolished, revealed the town's oldest historical monument (11th - 12th century), the Saint Demetrius Tower.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic