EUROPE

HUNGARY IN EUROPEHungary, officially in Englishthe Republic of Hungary, is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of CentralEurope, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Its capital is Budapest.

Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU and is a Schengen state.

The official language is Hungarian.

flag Coat of arms

Area 93,030 km2

Population 10,041,000

Density 109/km2

Government Parliamentary republic

Currently 3rd republic October 23, 1989

EU accession May 1, 2004

Currency Forint (HUF)

THE HUNGARIAN FLAG

• The Hungarian flag represent the following: – White - peace and

honesty – Red - hardiness, bravery,

strength & valour– Green - hope, joy and love

and in many cultures have a sacred significance

Brief History of Hungary• The foundation of Hungary was laid in the

late 9th century by the Hungarian ruler Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent from Rome by the pope in 1000.

• The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western world.

• After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).

• A great power until the end of World War I, Hungary lost over 70% of its territory, along with one third of its population of Hungarian ethnicity, under the Treaty of Trianon.

• The kingdom was succeeded by a Communist era (1947–1989)

• The present form of government is a parliamentary republic (since 1989).

The Holy Crown

GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION• Half of the country's territory is flat. The Great Hungarian Plain occupies the entire

eastern part of the country. The Hungarian "puszta" is a favourite tourist destination where the characteristic animals and ethnographic traditions can be seen., like in the Hortobágy National Park and in the Kiskunság National Park where the horse shows are held.

• In the other, western side of of the Danube called Transdanubia there is central Europe's warmest and largest lake, the BALATON, and mountains of medium height stretches across the country. West of the Danube, the TRANSDANUBIAN RANGE is 400-700 metres high, divided into the Keszthely Hills, the Bakony, Mecsek, Kőszeg-Sopron, Vértes, Gerecse, Pilis and Visegrád Mountains.

• To the east of the Danube, the NORTHERN RANGE rises to heights of 500-1000 metres, divided into the Börzsöny, Cserhát, Mátra, Bükk, Cserehát and Zemplén mountains. The highest point is the Kékes (1,014 m) in the Mátra.

• The two most important rivers, the Danube (Hungarian stretch: 417 km) and the Tisza (598 km) cut across the country from north to south.

LAKE BALATON

• Balaton is the largest lake in Central Europe. This wonderful lake is 77 kilometres long,14 kilometres wide and its total area is 600 square kilometres. The average depth of the lake is 3, - 3.5 meters.

BALATON (SWANS)

• From the west river Zala feeds the lake. .The excess water is driven away by the Sió Canal to the River Danube. In every two years, the water of the Lake is completely replaced.

KESZTHELY

• Keszthely can be found at the western edge of Lake Balaton, which is the oldest town of the region, with large beach, old buildings and streets. In the picture you can see Baroque style home of the Festetics family.

LAKE HÉVÍZ

• It is Europe's biggest hot water lake. It has curative hot springs and radioactive mud for those suffering in rheumatism and illnesses of the nervous system, etc.

BADACSONY

• Badacsony attracting the visitors with the old wine cellars and the beautiful volcanic basalt coulombs. Almost the whole Lake Balaton area can be seen from the terraces of Badacsony.

TIHANY

• Tihany is one of the oldest settlements in the Balaton region.The peninsula is visited even by those who can spare only a day to see the Hungarian Sea. Tihany is a national park with its two beautiful lakes (called Inner and Outer Lake), but the major sights are the buildings of the village and the famous church with two towers.

BALATONFÜRED

• Balatonfüred is generally considered the capital of the "Hungarian Sea". The sailing season starts in May and it is celebrated at Balatonfüred, just as well as the Anna Ball in late July. Its shipyards produce ships and sailing boats.

SOPRON

• The Most Faithful City - a title Sopron has since it voted to remain part of Hungary as a result of the referendum held on 14th December 1921 that was an outcome of the World War I peace treaty. It is Hungary's westernmost city. The main sights can be found in the Fort Perimeter, like the double bridge, fortress gates, the fortress and the fire tower.

LAKE FERTŐ

• It is some miles from Sopron and the second largest lake in Hungary, although its major part belongs to Austria.

SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR

• It was named Alba Regia in the middle ages, is one of the most ancient cities of Hungary. This was the place where the kings were crowned and buried. The king's throne and the symbols of the royal power were kept here, and the people from distant countries assembled here for the lawful days.

LAKE VELENCE

• Lake Velencei is located some kilometres to the east from the town. It is smaller (20 square kilometres, 10 kilometres long) and not as deep as Balaton, but very friendly, popular due to its nice resorts, ports and welcoming beaches.

PÉCS

• Pécs, the old historical city with Mediterranean climate is situated at the foot of the Mecsek Range, at the southern part of the country. It is the biggest city in Transdanubia and the seat of county Baranya as well. The town is a cultural centre from the early medieval ages (the first university in Hungary was established here ). Pécs offers a large number of attractions, sights from the ancient roman ages (Roman burial vaults), the flourishing medieval Hungarian city (like the gigantic cathedral with four towers, the fortress) and the Turkish occupation (Djami and minarett).

VILLÁNY

• The neighbouring hills, forests are excellent places for excursions. In the picture you can see the famous wine region, Villány with beautiful cellars, and wine museum.

HARKÁNY

• Harkány is a famous small spa city.

ABALIGET

• In Mecsek hills it is worth visiting the lakes and the caves at Abaliget and Orfű.

ORFŰ

THE DANUBE BEND

• The Danube turns downstream from Esztergom to the north and once more to the south between the Pilis and Börzsöny hills. The way along the stream makes beautiful changing landscapes.

CATHEDRAL OF ESZTERGOM

• Esztergom is the country’s one time capital and crowning place, archbishop’s seat since thousand years. The neo-classic cathedral is the biggest church in Hungary.

CASTLE OF VISEGRÁD

• Further, in the Danube bend the medieval Citadel of Visegrád and at the hillfoot, the ruins of King Matthias‘ renaissance palace can be seen.

SZENTENDRE

• Szentendre is the southern gate of the Danube bend stage of the river. The beautiful settlement with 20 000 of population and is usually called as the town of arts and museums. Szentendre has a charming atmosphere with the small, narrow streets, arcades and many churches, one of the nicest ones standing on the castle hill.

DEBRECEN

• Debrecen is the second largest town in Hungary and the seat of HajdÚ-Bihar county. It is referred as to Rome of the Calvinists, the reformed religion, with the famous Great Reformed Church and the Reformed Academy of Theology. Debrecen is a cultural centre, famous poets had their studies here, and the town has a University as well. Apart from these the city is characterised by the secessionist Hotel Aranybika and the romantic building of Csokonai theatre.

HORTOBÁGY

• Hortobágy Puszta is a well known nature conservation area, national park. The grey Hungarian cattle with big horns, horse herd shows, the rare flora and fauna, “csárda” and the nine bay old bridge over river Hortobágy are memorable sights for visitors.

HAJDÚSZOBOSZLÓ

• Southwestwards from Debrecen a popular medicinal bath/spa resort is situated, Hajdúszoboszló. The water temperature is 73 celsius.

KECSKEMÉT

• Kecskemét, the city of secession is the centre of the flat, puszta region beetween the two main rivers of Hungary, the Danube and Tisza. The number of inhabitants in Kecskemét is more than 100 000. Some significant sights:Town Hall, Cifra Palace; synagogue; Piarist church and cloister.

KISKUNSÁGI NATIONAL PARK• The Kiskunság National

Park is a few miles from Kecskemét where well known settlements are Bugac, Lajosmizse and Apajpuszta. Puszta is famous for the csárda (it is a kind of Inn with popular horse show and cuisine), the stud, the herd of wild cattle and a flock of a Hungarian variety of sheep, called racka, original juniper woods, Herdsman’s Museum and the so called “running sand”, which is a kind of very small desert, that moves it’s place.

SZEGED

• Szeged is a town with county rank and 175 000 inhabitants, centre of the southern plain, economical and cultural centre with university and historic traditions. Major sights of this settlement are the Huge Cathedral (Dóm), Baroque Ortodox church, Paprika Museum and Fortress Museum.

GYULA

• The town, lying in the southeastern corner of Hungary, near the Rumanian border is the pearl of the Great Hungarian Plain. Monuments of historic past, programmes and thermal bath attract the visitors. Major attractions: mediaval brick castle, housing Museum and Open Air Theatre; citadel bath with thermal water (72 Celsius) with 9 open air and 11 covered pools; ruins of Franciscan cloister and church from the XV-th century; Baroque Andrassy castle and many other sights

HOLLÓKŐ

• It is a wonderful old village with 480 inhabitants, conserving the old village life and traditions. It is a part of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage (title given by UNSESCO) since 1987. The motley coloured every day costumes, village museum with painted furniture and tools, weaver and other craftsmen’s houses are memories of everyday life in the past. Hollokő’s nice fortress with tower on the hilltop remained relative intact.

STALACTITE CAVE OF AGGTELEK

The Aggtelek National Park is situated in the northeastern part of Hungary. The caves of the Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst were declared as part of the World Heritage in 1995. The most significant cave of the national park is the Baradla-cave, which is the most outstanding one, 25 kilometres long, which makes in one of the biggest stalactite cave in the world.

CASTLE OF EGER

• Eger is a nice historic city between the highlands of Mátra and Bükk, international town of wineyards and wine. Some of the main attractions: Huge medieval fortress with casemates housing the Dobo Istvan Museum; Turkish minaret (furthest building with Turkish origin to the north in Europe), Lyceum; neo-classic cathedral and archbishop’s palace.

CATHEDRAL OF EGER

• The Cathedral or basilica, built in 1831-37 to Classicist designs by József Hild, is imposing rather than attractive, but contains some remarkable painting and sculpture. Late morning organ recitals are held frequently.

Valley of Beautiful woman in Eger

Wine of bull blood of Eger’

SZALAJKA WATERFALL

• Szilvásvárad is only some miles to the north from Eger, at the foothills of Bükk. It is a frequently visited nice settlement with a beautiful small stream, named Szalajka, with trout pools and breeding establishment and the spectacular “Fátyol” waterfall on it.

TOKAJ

• Tokaj is a small town in north-eastern Hungary, famous worldwide for its white wines. It is the center of Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region.

WINE OF TOKAJ

LAKE TISZA

• A few dacades ago people had an extraordinary idea, and conjured up a lake right in the middle of the steppe, the Great Hungarian Plain. This extraordinary area of 127 square kms, created by damming the River Tisza, was given the name Lake Tisza.

CLIMATE• Hungary has a continental

climate, with hot summers with low overall humidity levels but frequent rainshowers and mildly cold snowy winters. Average annual temperature is 9.7 °C

• Temperature extremes are about 42 °C in the summer and −29 °C in the winter.

• Average temperature in the summer is 27 °C to 35 °C and in the winter it is 0 °C to −15 °C

• The average yearly rainfall is approximately 600 mm (23.6 in).

HUNGARIAN FOLK DANCES• Ugrós (Jumping dances): Old style dances

dating back to the Middle Ages. Solo or couple dances accompanied by old style music, shepherd and other solo man's dances from Transylvania, and marching dances along with remnants of medieval weapon dances belong in this group.

• Karikázó: a circle dance performed by women only accompanied by singing of folksongs.

• Csárdás: New style dances developed in the 18-19th centuries is the Hungarian name for the national dances, with Hungarian embroidered costumes and energetic music. From the men's intricate bootslapping dances to the ancient women's circle dances, Csárdás demonstrates the infectious exuberance of the Hungarian folk dancing still celebrated in the villages.

HUNGARIAN FOLK COSTUMES

• We teach mainly the dances of Sárköz in our shool.

• Among the costumes of our country this is the most festive.

• Men’s costume:• Dark blue or black felt trousers

with tassels.• Waistcoat ornamented with big,

black metal buttons• Black furred felt coat with more

lines of metal buttons• white shirt with loose sleeves• Black boots• Dark hats

HUNGARIAN FOLK COSTUMES

• Women’s costume• a shirt with a pillowed lace insertion or embroidered with a thin waistcoat which was ornamented with purple cross-stitch, black, red, green wooden yarn and sheet-metal.• skirts made of fabric, silk, cashmere or velvet. These skirts are ornamented with 2 lines of silk ribbon below. Under these skirts they wear 2, 3, 4 or more frilled undershirts. On the weekdays in front of these skirts they wear linen aprons dyed in blue, on holidays silk or velvet aprons.• a triangular silk, textile, ribboned and fringed shawl folded on their shoulders.

HUNGARIAN FOLK COSTUMES

• They crossed them on their breast and sticked with a ribbon of they tied them behind.• a headdress ornamented with artificial flowers or breads, or colourful shawls tied on their napes.• Necklace of breads. 2 kinds: one of them fit tight to their neck, under it there is a narrow frill. The other one is wide and covers their breast as a collar.• wowen table-cloth worn as an apron or folded on their arms.• dark shoes or sandals

THE HUNGARIAN CUISINE• Traditional dishes such as the

world famous Goulash (gulyás stew or gulyás soup).

• Dishes are often flavoured with paprika (ground red peppers).Thick, heavy Hungarian sour cream called tejföl is often used to soften the dishes flavour.

• The Fisherman's soup or halászlé is usually a rich mixture of several kinds of poached fish.

• Other dishes are Chicken Paprikash, Foie gras made of goose liver, pörkölt stew, vadas, (game stew with vegetable gravy and dumplings), túrós csusza, (dumplings with fresh quark cheese and thick sour cream).

Pancake Hortobágyi style Fish soup

Goulash soup Stuffed cabbage

CUISINE OF HUNGARY• Desserts include the iconic

Dobos Cake,• Strudels (rétes), filled with

apple, cherry, poppy seed or cheese,

• Gundel pancake, • plum dumplings (szilvás

gombóc), • somlói dumplings, • dessert soups like chilled

Sour cherry soup • sweet chestnut puree,

gesztenyepüré (cooked chestnuts mashed with sugar and rum and split into crumbs, topped with whipped cream).

• Perec and Kifli are widly popular pastries.

CUISINE OF HUNGARY

STRUDELS DOBOS CAKE

PEREC GUNDEL PANCAKE

Budapest is the capital of Hungary The city divided by river Danube in two parts, Buda, lying on the right bank, and Pest on the other side. The hills of Buda and Pest are connected with spectacular

bridges. The city got its special character due to the different architectural styles including the signs of the Turkish rule and the Habsburg ages as well.

In the picture you can see the PARLIAMENT. It is currently the largest building in Hungary Budapest is the largest city in Hungary. There live about 2 million people.

BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST, RIVER DUNA

BUDAPEST

County Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok

Coat of armsFlag

The map of our county

•Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok is the name of an administrative county in Hungary. •It lies in central Hungary. •The rivers Tisza and Körös flow through the county.• The capital of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county is Szolnok.

SZOLNOK

SZOLNOK LIBRARY

SYNAGOGUECATHOLIC CHURCH

SZOLNOK

COAT OF ARMS OF SZOLNOK

SZOLNOK ON THE MAP

•Area 187.23 km² (72.3 sq mi)

•Population 75 474

•Density 403/ km² (1,043.8/sq mi)

SZOLNOK

NAGYKÖRŰ

• Nagykörű is a village in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary.

• It covers an area of 42.81 km² and has a population of 1725 people.

River Tisza

The coat of arms of Nagykörű

Nagykörű on the map of Hungary

Nagykörű is situated on the right bank of the meandering Tisza, 30 km north of Szolnok. One of the largest cherry grove of Hungary (200 hectares) can be found here, where the ancient core of the village reminds us of a fishing village with its meandering streets and even white houses coated by sandstone powder. The

number of cycling tourists is continuously increasing, with eco- and rural tourism gaining an ever increasing importance.

HISTORY OF NAGYKÖRŰ

OLD HOUSE

While taking a slow ride through the village, the pitched-roofed fishermen houses of the village

covered with thatch can be seen.

SWEEP WELL

The lady formed of wood was called Daphne. This beautíful statue can be found in the centre of Nagykörű. Its better known name is: Tisza sculpture.More people suggested the erection of this monument after the big Tisza flood in 2000 in the memory of the defence.

DAPHNE

The church was built before 1330. The new church is a baroque building.There stands a beautiful, old, wooden cross GOLGOTA in the church garden . There is a unique cherry collection in Hungary, there are 100 kinds of trees, 400 trees.

CHURCH WITH NEW TOWER

THE ILLÉS STONE

The religious monument-like Illés (Elijah)-stone. Illés-kőThe most famous ancient monument dates back to the Turkish times. The village was hiding on sand dunes between the waters of the uncontrolled Tisza in 1530. A plundering Turkish team attacked, but never reached the village, because the Turkish soldier went into the marsh of the river Tisza and could not escape. The village's inhabitants built this monument in the memory of the rescue. In the memory of the rescue thanksgiving procession proceeds to the stone every year 19 July , on a height of the coast of the flat lake.

Holy János was a church dignity and a considerable orator. Pomuk (today Napomuk) was born in a place in the Czech Republic. He was tortured by IV. Vencel. Holy János died in 1383.

NEPOMUKI HOLY JÁNOS STATUE

HERITAGE OF ST. STEPHEN I.

FIRST WORLD WAR MONUMENT

SECOND WORLD WAR MONUMENT

CHERRYBLOOMING

The large, honey sweet cherry of Germersdorf is grown. It is an unforgettable feeling to walk among the blossoming trees in spring. The settlement is proud of having the only collection of the native Hungarian kinds of cherry trees.

Petrovay György was born in 1840 - Petrovay László’ s son, who established an

orchard and a tree nursery in 1870. The 25 years old man finished his studies, began the fruit cultivating, learnt science of nursery and agriculture practice.

Germesdorfi cherry is the most famous fruit in the garden.

CHERRY GARDEN

For the honouring of traditions a Country House was established, where in addition to the

ethnographical and archaeological exhibitions, old crafts, trades and dances can also be learnt.

COUNTRY HOUSE

You can see the beauty of the floodplain forests, The fauna and flora of the forests provide a healthy and pleasant environment. A tiny ferry works on a crossing-

place. You can discover the riverbanks, go hiking in the romantic forests of the floodplain, take a photo , sunbathe.

THE TISZA

THE NATURAL VALUES OF TISZA

The mayfly is a unique and a special symbol of the river Tisza. The mayfly grows only in clear waters if it is

filled with oxygen.This insect is the largest and

the most beautiful mayfly among Europe's mayflies.

The insect’s length is 12 cm. The mayfly’s life is one hour

long.

MAYFLY