Veszprém

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Veszprém
Veszprém coat of arms
Veszprém (Hungary)
Veszprém
Veszprém
Basic data
State : Hungary
Region : Central Transdanubia
County : Veszprém
Small area until December 31, 2012 : Veszprém
Coordinates : 47 ° 6 '  N , 17 ° 55'  E Coordinates: 47 ° 6 '0 "  N , 17 ° 55' 0"  E
Height : 260  m
Area : 126.93  km²
Residents : 64,339 (Jan. 1, 2011)
Population density : 507 inhabitants per km²
Telephone code : (+36) 88
Postal code : 8200
KSH kódja: 11767
Structure and administration (status: 2014)
Community type : city
Mayor : Gyula Porga
Postal address : Óváros tér 9
8200 Veszprém
Website :
(Source: A Magyar Köztársaság helységnévkönyve 2011. január 1st at Központi statisztikai hivatal )
Aerial view: Veszprém

Veszprém [ ˈvɛspreːm ] ( Slovak Vesprím or Besprim , German Wesprim or Weißbrünn ) is one of the oldest Hungarian cities. Along with Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweissenburg) and Esztergom (Gran) , Veszprém was one of the most important cities in Hungary in the Middle Ages . Veszprém had over 60,000 inhabitants on January 1st, 2011 and is the county seat of Veszprém county and has county rights itself . Because of its attractive townscape and the proximity of Lake Balaton, it is a popular tourist center and an important university town. It is also the home of the handball club KC Veszprém .

location

Veszprém is located north of Lake Balaton on the hills and valleys that surround the Séd stream . Tradition has it that the city was built on five mountains: Várhegy (Castle Hill), Jeruzsálemhegy (Jerusalememberg), Temetőhegy (Cemetery Hill), Kálvária-hegy (Kreuzwegberg) and Cserhát.

The city lies at the intersection of three Hungarian landscapes: it borders the Bakony Forest in the north, the Balaton Highlands (Balaton-felvidék) in the south and the Great Hungarian Plain in the east . This central location greatly promoted the development of Veszprém.

history

In the area of ​​Veszprém there was already in the 5th millennium BC A Neolithic settlement, the excavation of which was recently completed.

At the time of the conquest , Veszprém - where there was probably a former ( Frankish or Avar ) fortress on the castle hill - became the property of the Árpád family .

In 1009, Prince Géza , father of the state's founder, Stephan I , founded one of the oldest dioceses in Hungary, the diocese Veszprém (since 1993 archbishopric ). The St. Michael Cathedral is the oldest (arch) episcopal cathedral in Hungary. It was founded by the wife of the holy King Stephan I , the blessed Gisela , a Bavarian princess from Regensburg , buried in Passau. In the cathedral you can find the throne chair of the Hungarian queens (whose crown is kept in the Hungarian treasury) and a relic of Gisela.

Margarete, the daughter of King Béla IV, grew up in the monastery below the castle . She later lived and died in the monastery on Margaret Island (Budapest) , giving the island its current name.

The bishops of Veszprém have turned the city into a fortress over the centuries. In 1276 the city was destroyed by the army of the palatine Péter Csák and in 1380 by a fire, but after these events the city was rebuilt. In 1552 the Turks conquered Veszprém and looted and murdered the city. After that, the once flourishing Renaissance city ​​temporarily lost its importance.

After 1702 parts of the fortress were rebuilt. In the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the city developed into the baroque style under Austrian hands and - thanks to its grain market - became the trading center of Central Transdanubia . The population rose from 2,500 to 14,000. The majority of the castle's buildings were built during this period.

Parts of the city were destroyed in an earthquake in 1810. The traditional crafts and the grain market sank into insignificance at the end of the 19th century because the city fathers prevented the railway line between Székesfehérvár (Stuhlweissenburg) and Szombathely (Steinamanger) from being brought closer to the center of Veszprém. The population has stagnated since then.

During the Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of many Veszprém garrison towns and 1914 the home of the Ku Veszprém Honvéd - Infantry Regiment . No. 31 (31 Veszprémi honvéd gyalogezred) .

Shortly before the end of the Second World War , the last heavy fighting raged on Hungarian soil in the Veszprém area. Between March 25 and 28, 1945, the units of the 26th and 27th Army of the Soviets, advancing westward with great superiority, fought heavy fighting with remnants of the defeated SS divisions "Wiking" and "Hohenstaufen", in their During the course of the historic city was almost completely destroyed.

With great dedication and attention to detail, the city was rebuilt almost true to the original between 1945 and 1953.

In 2023 Veszprém will be the European Capital of Culture . Itself had also applied Debrecen and Győr .

Education and Research

The Pannonian University with its five faculties (Philosophical, Engineering, Economic, Agricultural and Computer Science) - together with the Academy Branch Veszprém (VEAB) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) - is the academic center of Central, Northern and Western Transdanubia. The Georgikon in Keszthely , the oldest agricultural science faculty in Europe , has been part of the university for several years . The university has around 11,000 students.

Worth seeing

Veszprém Castle
The Trinity Column with the Franciscan Church in the background
The Sankt Stephan Viaduct ( called Viaduct by the Veszprémers ), symbol of the city

In the castle district

  • St. Michael Cathedral - Built in 1001 as a double-towered Romanesque basilica , destroyed in the Turkish wars, only partially rebuilt in the late baroque in the 18th century.
  • Lower church - tomb of Bishop Márton Bíró of Padányi. We owe the major reconstruction of Veszprém Castle in the 18th century to him.
  • St. Stephen's Church - originally built in the Baroque style in 1730, then destroyed by fire, later rebuilt in neo-Romanesque style.
  • Archbishop's Palace - Built by Jakob Fellner , an 18th-century Hungarian architect. Inside there is a library and many paintings.
  • Gisela Chapel - Romanesque. The frescoes with the six apostles on the north wall date from the 13th century.
  • Trinity Column - erected by Bishop Márton Bíró in 1750, made of sandstone.
  • Provost Palace
  • Piarist high school
  • Fire Tower - Built in the 18th century, it is a symbol of the city. Every hour a carillon sounds from the tape.
  • Heldentor (castle gate) with a small castle museum
  • Salesianum - Visitor Center of the Archdiocese of Veszprém

Outside the castle district

  • Dezső Laczkó Museum
  • Bakony house
  • Petőfi Theater
  • Óváros tér (Old Town Square)
  • Károly Eötvös County Library
  • Theater garden
  • Sankt Stephan valley bridge or viaduct
  • Kálmán Kittenberg Zoo
  • German military cemetery
  • Baroque Jesuit church in the Betekints valley

Sports

KC Veszprém is known nationwide , with 22 Hungarian championships, 23 cup victories and two victories in the European Cup Winners' Cup, the most successful Hungarian handball club . The local hall holds 5,500 spectators.

Town twinning

sons and daughters of the town

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volkswirthschaftliche Zeitung. […] (Hungarian Western Railway.) The Fatherland, August 7, 1872 [1]
  2. ↑ Law of May 20, 1869, regarding the concessions and conditions for the operation of a locomotive railway from Graz to St. Gotthardt for connection to the projected railway from St. Gotthardt via Kleinzell and Veszprim to Stuhlweissenburg (or from Kleinzell to Raab) . RG Bl. No. 84/1869
  3. ↑ Veszprém wants to be the European Capital of Culture 2023 in Hungary. Press release on the website of the European Commission, accessed on November 13, 2019.
  4. ↑ Data sheet for the hall. Retrieved January 11, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Veszprém  - album with pictures, videos and audio files