SMB

Pannonhalma, a town of 3600 inhabitants, was built at the foot of the Benedictine Archabbey. Its roots can be traced back to Roman times. In the 9th century, the conquering Hungarians found Avar, Slavic and Bavarian settlements in the area, which were familiar with Christianity. By the 10th century, the mansion of Hungarian princes stood on the hillside. The Benedictine Archabbey of Pannonhalma was founded in 996 and has been a monastery of St Benedict ever since. The abbey is one of Hungary's outstanding historical sites and a centre of ecclesiastical and artistic history. Today, it is home to a permanent community of about 40 monks who welcome retreatants, run a residential high school, and carry out cultural work: they run a world-famous library, archives, museum and publishing house, and organise concerts. They also work on the financial basis of the abbey's operations, including winemaking, brewing, a herb garden and hospitality. The spectacular complex of buildings of the Archabbey is built on the Szent Márton Hill, almost 300 metres high. The Romanesque altar church and the Gothic basilica have been supplemented over the centuries with Baroque and Neoclassical elements. These define the present-day appearance of the Archabbey. The whole complex is crowned by one of the most famous works of Hungarian Classicism, the 55-metre-high tower. The 19th-century library hall has a collection of 400,000 books, containing a number of rare books. From the very beginning, the Benedictine Archabbey of Pannonhalma has carried out pastoral work, reporting directly to the Pope. The Abbot, or Archabbot, of Pannonhalma has therefore been responsible for filling the pastoral posts on the Abbey's estates with parish priests for over 1000 years. This situation has changed since 1950. The life of the Benedictine community is defined by the triad of prayer, work and spiritual reading. The celebration of the liturgy plays an important role: the monks' day is marked by the liturgy of the prayer hours and the liturgy of the Eucharist. Reading the Scriptures and individual prayer also play an important role in the life of the monks. The secular activities of the abbey also follow the traditional Benedictine tradition. Herbs from the farm are used to produce essential oils, herbal teas and liqueurs, and grapes are used to make wine suitable for masses. The catering of travellers and pilgrims has evolved into today's catering, which is now mainly based on serving tourism. In addition to accommodation, visitors can find a restaurant, a cellar, a brewery, a café and shops selling local products. The best-known medicinal plant in Pannonhalma is lavender, which is grown on a 5.5 hectare plantation. The harvested plant is used to produce lavender oil and lavender water in the abbey's own essential oil distillery, where essential oil is also produced from medicinal plants from other Benedictine monasteries or producers through contract distillation. In addition to lavender, many other herbs and medicinal plants are grown. These are used to make various tea blends. In addition, they are used to make herbal liqueurs based on fruit brandy according to a traditional recipe. The plant waste left over after processing is burned in a modern biomass heating plant, which is also used to meet most of the abbey's district heating needs. The site is open for guided tours or by appointment. Besides essential oil production, Hungary's first Museum of Fragrance opened in Pannonhalma in 2021. Here, you can learn about the botanical and cultivation properties and uses of the five main plants (French lavender, medical sage, lemongrass, thyme, peppermint) grown in the Herb Garden in an interactive way. The exhibition presents seven fragrances (such as frankincense, musk and rose) that have been used for thousands of years in different parts of the world. The renovation of the buildings of the Herb Garden allows visitors to learn in depth about the cultivation of the plants, from the technology used to grow them, through the distillation of the essential oils, to the production of the finished products. In addition to the Herb Garden, the Abbey Winery is also popular. The Roman vine and wine culture, which had flourished centuries earlier, was revived in the Transdanubian region by the Benedictine monks who settled there. The abbey had its own winery until the nationalisation of it after 1945. This tradition was revived after the change of regime in 1989, when a 2000 m² cellar and a wine house were built and the winery was reopened in the autumn of 2003. The grapes are grown in their own vineyards. To do this, they bought back part of the vineyards formerly belonging to the Abbey and planted new vineyards. The Pannonhalma wine region is part of the North Transdanubian wine region, where white grapes are traditionally planted. Alongside the winery, beer lovers are also catered for: the Benedictine monks in Hungary were already brewing beer in the 11th century, and the oldest written records of brewing in Pannonhalma date back to the 1200s. However, it was not until 1701 that the first brewery was opened, when the Archabbot of Pannonhalma signed a contract with the German Thomas Menner to run it. It was only in 2016, two centuries after the dissolution of the monastic orders, that the idea of relaunching the brewery was raised. In 2020, after several years of construction and a study trip to Westvleteren Abbey, the abbey's brewery opened nearby in Ravazd. The brewmaster is former Pannonhalma student Fülöp Tihanyi. The brewery produces 4 types of Belgian-style beer: Blonde, Dubbel, Tripel and Quadrupel. If you get hungry, the recently opened Viator Abbey Restaurant is located on Kosaras Hill, next to the entrance building. The restaurant was founded as a gastronomic symbol of the Benedictine monastic community of Pannonhalma: it is both traditional and modern. The restaurant is dedicated to wine. Since the summer of 2014, the restaurant has also been operating the Pausa Abbey Café. If you want to relax after your gastronomic experiences, you can also visit the Boldog Mór Lookout and the surrounding forest and canopy trail, which is located within the protected natural area of the Pannonhalmi Landscape Protection Area. The supporting structure of the construction, which depicts a fish as a Christian symbol, is made of metal and has a wooden covering. The canopy walkway also functions as a lookout point. The tail of the fish is the access road from the current nature trail and the exit leads back to this trail. It is nearly 80 metres long, with its highest point 14 metres above ground level, and is wheelchair accessible.

The area around Ravazd, today with a population of 1600, was already inhabited in Roman times: the Romans used it as a holiday resort because of its pleasant springs. One of its springs was a pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages. You can see the St Villebald cross in Ravazd, named after the person who built the village’s first church in the 11th century. The settlement’s oldest historical monument that can still be visited today is the wooden cross and memorial plaque to St Villebald on the hill known today as Bilebárd. Although the Villebald church cannot be seen any more, the famous spring called Béla Fountain, can still be visited today. Folklore tells us that King Béla IV of Hungary, who was fleeing from the Tatars, stopped at the border of Ravazd. A spring sprang up at the place where he stabbed his sword into the ground, which was called the "Pannonia spring". The truth of this legend is difficult to prove today, but it is certain that Béla IV mentioned the settlement in a document from around the 13th century. Leaving the village, there is a spring with a small rectangular baroque building above it. The spring still offers its fresh water to passers-by, but there are no signs on the road, even though it is one of the oldest springs in Hungary. It is still known as the fountain of King Béla. The spring was mentioned in a charter by King Béla IV: '... where, according to tradition, Saint Martin was born in the middle valley, there is a holy spring called Pannonia, which, together with other springs, becomes a stream...'

Sokorópátka, with a population of 1200, is made up of several village parts. According to contemporary documents, its history dates back to the 13th century, but the place had been inhabited even before that. This can be deduced from the finding of a polished stone tool in the area in the early 20th century, followed by the discovery of several similar tools. The current territory of Sokorópátka was the property of the Abbey of Saint Martin. Its name refers to the abbey's fish ponds. Pátka is the only settlement in the Sokoró Hills that bears the name Sokoró. Unfortunately, a century and a half of Turkish rule caused the destruction of Sokorópátka along with other settlements. It was repopulated in the 18th century. The village, famous for its grapes and delicious raspberries, still preserves traces of its folk architecture. Although dwindling in number, the thatch-roofed, rammed mud wall houses of the last century can still be found in almost every part of Sokoró.

The two-century history of the Knights Templar has been a constant focus of interest since the Middle Ages. There is still a legend in Sokoropátka that is known to all the locals. It is believed that the destruction of the former Pauline monastery in the outskirts of village is related to an incident involving the daughter of Emperor Joseph II. She went to confession to the Red Friars, but did not return home. It was not of her own free will that the young girl stayed there, as the friars would not let her go home. Luckily, in some way or other, she was able to tell her father that she had been taken prisoner by the friars in Pátka. The king sent for her, to free her and take her home. In his anger, he had the castle of the Red Friars cannonaded and destroyed. The stones of the castle were later used to build the manor, or, according to others, the church. The preservation and transmission of the legend is ensured through the presentation of the legendary sites. A ’ghost tour’ to the former monastery of the friars is organised during the annual international folklore day. The idea was to give a local flavour to Halloween, an American tradition that is increasingly popular in Hungary as well. The first ghost tour started in 2017 with nearly 300 participants. First, the legend of the Red Friars was told. Later they walked together along a path lit with candles to the site of the former castle. Today there is only a clearing there, surrounded by a moat and rampart.

The history of Gic, with a population of nearly 350, dates back to the 13th century. It was the ancestral estate of the Giczi family, obtained as a gift from the king himself. During the Turkish occupation of the 16th and 17th centuries, which lasted for a century and a half, this village, like many others in the surrounding area, was depopulated. Until the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence in 1848-49, it was a complete wasteland. The Jankovich Castle was built in the early 19th century as a one-storey neoclassical mansion with a farm building and other outbuildings. The park is six hectares in size and was once a magnificent wooded park with groves. Until the 20th century, the village only consisted of the count's castle and servants' houses, and the inhabitants were servants of the Jankovich estate. This was the first place in the area where eight-grade schooling was introduced; the manor was the first place where young people could obtain a skilled worker certificate. The count set up a house – a hospital – for war invalids, and orphan girls were taught to sew. The castle and its outbuildings are still standing today in a picturesque setting. Interestingly, the grandson of the builder, Alexander Jankovich-Bésán, who lives in Cape Town, visited Gic for the first time a few years ago to visit his grandfather's home village. When he was here, he was deeply moved by the stories of his family's past.

The village of Lovászpatona, which today has a population of almost 1200, was a settlement of royal horsemen in the 11th-13th centuries, during the Árpád era. In the 15th century, King Sigismund granted it the privilege of a market town with the right to hold weekly fairs, and donated its territory to the sons of the Slavonic bishop Pál Csupor of Monoszló: Bishop Demeter, the royal soldier Akácius and the knight George. Lovászpatona is justly proud of its churches. Its old Árpád-era church, built in honour of Saint Martin, is today the oldest Lutheran church in the country. The construction of the old church began at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. The main building in the village is the Roman Catholic Church of St. John of Nepomuk, which has two magnificent bells. In the middle of the 15th century, there was significant animal husbandry in the village, and its inhabitants were mostly craftsmen: tanners, cobblers and butchers. After the great Hungarian historical trauma of the 16th century, the defeat at the battle of Mohács, the inhabitants of the village soon experienced the marching of the Turkish armies, plunders and destructive raids. The approach of the Turks was enough to make the villagers hide, and by the 18th century the village was almost deserted.

The settlement was awarded to General József Festetics in the 18th century as a royal gift from Charles III, but he never moved there. József Festetics was a major general, cavalry general and famous commander in the War of the Austrian Succession. However, Patona was soon chosen as the place of residence by his grandson Ferenc, who began building the castle at the end of the 18th century. The count could not complete the construction of the residence, financed mainly from loans. The estate was bought by his cousin János Somogyi Nepomuki, court councillor and deputy governor of Zala. With this extensive estate, Somogyi went from gentry to a wealth rivalling that of the magnates, and his sons and daughters were also awarded the titles of count and countess. Unlike his predecessors, he took a new, progressive approach to farming. He planted forests and developed livestock farming. His estate proved to be a well-organised, prosperous farm with a substantial income. The construction was completed by the 19th century, and contemporary writings referred to the Somogyi estate as "a beautiful mansion and English garden". The success has also had a knock-on effect on the settlement. After the Somogyi family, the estate passed to family of Count Eszterházy at the beginning of the 20th century, but with the outbreak of the World War, progress stalled. The late Baroque castle is now a primary school.

Bakonyság is a dead-end village with barely 80 inhabitants and some authentically restored typical farmhouses with porches. Its streets and public spaces are some of the best maintained, landscaped and flowered in the region. It is a real community with a family atmosphere. The name Bakonyság comes from an ancient Hungarian word meaning "hill". Its noble inhabitants were first mentioned in the 14th century. By the 17th century it had a church, and later noble mansions and a mill were mentioned. In the 18th century, it belonged to the Transdanubian Meszlényi family of ancient noble origin. The first-born daughter of this Meszlényi family was Terézia Meszlényi, whom Lajos Kossuth, one of the greatest Hungarians, later asked to marry (Kossuth was the finance minister of the Batthyány government and the governor-president of Hungary). It is an interesting family connection is that Terézia's brother Rudolf married Lajos Kossuth's sister Zsuzsanna.

The 18th century Baroque Roman Catholic chapel in Kisdém is located along the road between the two villages. The framed altar in the sanctuary and the wooden sculptures on the walls are in Rococo style. The votive image and the two flags date from the 18th century. The two Baroque brass chalices and the Rococo incense burner are also valuable pieces of the church. The chapel is notable for the fact that in 1841 Lajos Kossuth was engaged to Terézia Meszlényi here. The biographical writings hardly mention Kossuth's wedding, out of the fact that they got married. It is seldom reported that the marriage of the Lutheran Kossuth and his Roman Catholic fiancée became the focus of church policy debates. Kossuth always had very deep feelings for his devoted wife, who, until her husband's death, always remained quietly in the background and provided him with an undisturbed environment and the right home background for his public activities.

Bakonyszentiván, with a population of just 230, is named after the patron saint of the village's church, John the Baptist, who was called Ivan in Hungarian in the Middle Ages. Accordingly, the village was probably founded in the mid-13th century. During the Turkish occupation of Hungary, which lasted for a century and a half, this area was also depopulated; it later became the property of the family of Count Esterházy, who settled German families here. On the outskirts of the village, right next to the road, there is a restored little chapel, which is an important Kossuth memorial. Its builder probably intended it as a funeral chapel. Lajos Kossuth is one of the greatest Hungarians who ever lived, who was Minister of Finance in the Batthyány government, Chairman of the Defence Commission, and Governor-President of Hungary. His marriage to Terézia Meszlényi, a woman from an ancient noble family was a decisive event in his family life. As Terézia was Roman Catholic and Kossuth Lutheran, their interfaith marriage took place in unusual and humiliating circumstances in the Roman Catholic parish in downtown Pest. However, Kossuth's father-in-law was a devout Catholic, and he wanted the marriage to be blessed by the Church. Therefore, when the young couple returned home from their honeymoon, the father-in-law had the marriage blessed in the Csárda-puszta chapel with a priest friend.

According to the documents, the small village of less than 300 inhabitants today came into the possession of the Koppány clan in the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. Some sources date the central part of the village's religious shrine, the Calvary, from the 11th century, the era of the clan leader Koppány. Bakonyszücs was first mentioned as a Benedictine estate in a charter issued by King Saint László I in 1086. On the boundary of the village, at the part called Bakonyújvár Hill, traces of the medieval robber castle of the Podmaniczky family were still visible at the beginning of the last century. The Podmaniczky family received the land as a gift from the king. They also built the castle. They were fearsome robber knights who regularly robbed, among other places, the Cistercian monastery and church in Zirc. According to legend, their horses were horseshoed backwards so that no one could tell where they had gone. Later, the Diet of Bratislava, and later of Banská Bystrica, banished the Podmaniczky family and ordered the castle to be destroyed. The village was depopulated during the 150 years of Turkish occupation. It was only repopulated in the 18th century, when the landowning Count Esterházy’s family attracted German-speaking inhabitants to the area.

Bakonykoppány, with a population of nearly 200, is a settlement dating back to the Árpád period. It was first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. The village takes its name from the Koppány clan, whose summer residence was located in the area. Official archaeological records testify that remains of a Roman and Migration Period settlement have been found on the site of present-day Koppány. Excavations have unearthed graves from the Avar period, while other finds include a Migration Period hearth with Roman potsherds, and road construction has also yielded pottery, pot fragments and Roman coins. It is certain that the pagan Hungarians who fled from Christianity to the Bakony found a suitable place to settle here and the new settlement was named after their leader. At the request of the abbot of Bakony, Pope Gregory IX, took the abbey and all its appurtenances under his protection in his papal bull. He forbade the bishops to claim tithes on the abbey's estates. The church of the Koppányi was a parish church in the 14th century, and by the end of the century it had a stone tower. The church was destroyed during a century and a half of Turkish rule, and the village was abandoned. At the beginning of the 18th century, it began to be repopulated with new settlers: Germans, Moravians and Croats arrived, stayed and began to build houses. The village's landmark is the Roman Catholic church of St. Barbara, in the middle of the main street. It was built in the 18th century in Baroque style in honour of All Saints. It was later enlarged and St. Barbara became the patron saint.

The history of the village’s name is quite interesting: in earlier centuries, armed hussars used to walk behind the carriages and coaches to avoid getting dust in the eyes of the passengers. But before they entered the territory of the Bakony outlaws at the foot of the Bakony, the order was given: 'Hussars! Forward!" The four-hectare, well-managed park is home to the Hunting Lodge (Vadászház), the Holiday Lodge (Üdülőház) and the Bakony Kisbetyár Forestry School, and the unique Hubertlaki Lake is nearby. In the depths of the forest, not far from the former forest owner's hunting lodge, a small valley hides an artificially swollen lake. Also known as the Bakonyi Gyilkos Lake, its unique, beautiful water surface is broken by the stumps of trees jutting out of the water. The lake, whose official name came from the nearby village of Hubertlak, is situated in a valley fed by the springs of the Hamuházi-séd, and is enclosed by an artificial dam. The pond, which was created in the mid-1980s, was originally intended as a place to provide drinking water for wild animals. It was once a forest, as the tree stumps protruding from the water's surface suggest. Just 700 metres from here, you can see the Hamuházi meadow, where Hubertlak, the storied hunting lodge of the Esterházy counts, once stood. Unfortunately, the hunting lodge burnt down in the middle of the 20th century. It is now replaced by a hunting lodge and a recently renovated tourist house.

Csehbánya, with a population of around 300, is a village name of Hungarian origin, referring to the nationality of the people who used or cultivated the mine, or to their original place of residence. The history of the settlement dates back to the mid-18th century. The glass factory was located on the site of the present church. According to research carried out so far, the glassworks was in operation until the end of the 18th century. Glasses of various shapes and sizes, bottles and round window panes in white and green were produced. After glass production had to be stopped by order of the bishop, presumably to protect the forests, most of the workers left. Those who stayed switched to farming, animal husbandry and the production of wooden building materials and tools. The name Csehbánya appeared in the local register in the early 19th century, when the number of inhabitants was similar to the present, with a significant Swabian presence. In the years of the boom, the world wars brought a setback, when tens of thousands of ethnic Germans were deported from the country. From Csehbánya alone, 27 families were expelled by the authorities. In the centre of the village, you can see the Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which received a new exterior and interior at the beginning of the 21st century. It has been completely renovated, and inside there are stunning wooden benches and a choir loft.

The surviving documents suggest that Városlőd, with a population of 1400, is a settlement that originates from the Árpád era. Its inhabitants were forest guards who were engaged in forest work, hunting and animal husbandry. It is probable that the name is related to the Hungarian verb "lő" (shoot), and thus refers to the occupation of the former inhabitants. Hungarian King Nagy Lajos (Louis the Great) founded the famous Carthusian monastery of Paradicsomvölgy (Paradise Valley) in the 14th century. In its heyday, 150 monks and the people serving them lived there. In the 16th century, it was there that our eminent scholar, the 'Carthusian Anonymous', appeared, and our largest codex, the Érdy Codex was born from his pen. Although the Carthusian monks did some physical work, their activities were more intellectual: copying and binding books. They were fed by the inhabitants of the so-called lower monastery. The fate of this famous and wealthy monastery was sealed by the advance of the Ottoman Empire. The monks fled with their valuable possessions, church furnishings and library to Bratislava and Trnava. They themselves never returned. The Carthusian Anonymous was an unknown Hungarian Carthusian monk who, drawing on the purest source of the Scripture, translated a few – but authentic – texts from Latin into our language. His work was included in the Érdy Codex. The codex is a 16th-century Hungarian language memorabilia, a collection of translations of lessons and sermons for the whole year, and 90 of the most important holy legends of the ecclesiastical year.

The garden of St Michael's Roman Catholic Church and the parish area are also of cultural and historic interest, located on the site of the former Carthusian monastery. The church is the core of the settlement. It is of particular importance for the community, tourism, heritage and archaeology. St Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of the church. The church was built in Baroque style. One of the scenes on the carved wooden high altar depicts St Michael casting Satan out of paradise with a flaming sword. On each sides of the image is a statue of a king: St Stephen I, the founder of the state on the left, and St László on the right. On the second level, the artist immortalized the son of King István I, Prince Imre, and above him the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The settlement of 550 inhabitants today was first mentioned in a census attributed to King Saint László I. Tevel, during whose time the Hungarian people settled in the village, was the grandson of Árpád, the Grand Prince of the Hungarian tribal confederation. The village is named after him. Roman coins and marble stones with inscriptions found in the area of Nagytevel suggest that this place may have once been a Roman settlement. Those arriving from German and Austrian areas saw only the ruins of the medieval church of St Catherine in a wooded, bushy area. As the population grew, the church became cramped. The abbey designated the site of the new Holy Trinity Church, which was consecrated on St Michael's Day in the 18th century. The church has a single nave, the main altar depicts the Holy Trinity, which is also the name of the church. In addition to the high altar, there are four side altars: the first depicts the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus, the second is a statue of Mary of Lourdes and Bernadette, the third is of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and the fourth is of St Christopher with the Infant Jesus. The benches are carved in rococo style. The ceiling of the church is painted in classicist style. Next to the church is the parish, built in the 18th century. Its gate is guarded by statues of St. Florian and St. Sebastian. The parish rooms were once of different colours and decorations to emphasise the richness of the order and its artistic patronage. Unfortunately, none of this is visible today, as they have been whitewashed uniformly.

Tradition has it that there were spas in the outskirts of Ugod even during the Turkish occupation. At the beginning of the 19th century, after a heavy rainfall, a lake was formed on the site of a mill that had been washed away. It later dried up, but three springs of acidulous water sprang up in its place. The healing properties of the water were soon discovered and used by the population. As the water dried up, they dug deeper. A French master was hired to carry out the drilling. The engineer eventually drilled a 14-metre deep well. During the excavations, evidence of an earlier bath was found. This was the first artesian well in Hungary. Its water was mainly used as a drinking fountain and for hot and cold water bathing. The medicinal water was 101 degrees Celsius and contained sodium chloride, hydrogen sulphide and carbonic acid. The Esterházy family developed the land and built a spa including guest houses with outbuildings. There was a dance hall and a kitchen on the ground floor. In addition to the restaurant, there was also a pub and another guest house, a café with a billiard room and a card room, which was rented out for parties. In the main building there were 12 rooms for guests, in which 24 people could have a bath. Spa life and entertainment were supervised by separate directors. The park surrounding the baths was a pleasant place to relax and stroll. Visitors spent several days here, with some returning on a weekly basis. The spa has become more popular every year. Its balls were also reported in the press of the time. The spa hotel has since been converted into a hunting lodge.

Ugod is an ancient settlement of 1400 inhabitants. This is attested by the remains of tumuli of unknown origin from the 12th century BC. It takes its name from Ugod, the owner of the castle in the settlement. With the advance of the Ottoman Empire, first the village and then the castle became almost completely deserted. In the 17th century it began to be repopulated. The most notable building in the village is the Catholic church, built on the ruins of the former castle and its stones in the mid-18th century, courtesy of the Esterházy family. The church is 6 metres long and 10 metres wide. Like the wooden church, the new church was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The main altarpiece depicts the farewell of St. Peter and St. Paul. In the sanctuary, the painting above the sacristy door depicts King Stephen I of Hungary, and on the opposite side, the Virgin Mary with Jesus Christ in her arms. The paintings of the period depict the themes of "The Exodus", "The escape of the Holy Family", "The life of St John of Nepomuk" and "King Stephen offering his crown". The side altar is decorated with Rococo pillars and columns, the pulpit is Rococo, and was re-gilded in the 19th century, together with the small altar. The exterior of the church was renovated in the 20th century with donations from local and now expatriate residents.

Pápa, today with a population of 30,000, was named after the Bavarian knight Popo, who at the time of the foundation of the state was probably the head of the manor house on the site of the present town. The most accepted theory is that he arrived in Hungary with Queen Gizella. The Pápa clan were probably his descendants; later centuries they had estates in the area around the town. Another legend says that the name of the settlement originated from Prince Géza. It was here that his son, the future King Stephen, first said 'Papa' (Daddy) as a baby, and Géza, in his fatherly joy, gave the name to the town. Pápa is one of the most beautiful Hungarian towns, with its historical atmosphere and Baroque architecture. It was the centre of the Esterházy family's estate in the 18th century. The Main Square, the houses of the surrounding small streets and the late Baroque Esterházy Castle were built in this period. Pápa was owned by the Esterházy family for three hundred years, and they were also responsible for the settlement of the German population. The town was one of Hungary's most important industrial and commercial centres from the 17th century onwards. The buildings are now restored to their former glory as a result of successful urban planning and historic preservation. During the Turkish occupation, the Pápa Castle was an important part of the outpost castle system. Although it was built on a plain, the nearby marshy lake and the Tapolca stream made it defensible. Its proximity to Vienna made it a strategically important castle. The castle was demolished in the 18th century. Today, only the remains of a wall and a few street names on the site of the south-western bastion (in the present-day Bástya Bastion housing estate), are reminders of the former outer castle.

The Calvary Monument took six years to complete and it took 300 people to build the artificial hill. The crosses, the chapel, the five statues of Our Lady of Sorrows and the buildings were the work of the guilds from Pápa. A large number of Germans living in the city were also represented in the work. In the centre of the Calvary stands a small chapel, with the Chapel of the Holy Family on one side of the steps and the Chapel of St Anne on the other. In the 18th century it was inhabited and cared for by Franciscan monks. The church on Calvary Hill was built in the late 18th century in honour of the Virgin of Sorrows. From the hill you can see the Great Church of Pápa, one of the most valuable works of art in the country. The monumental building was the most outstanding work of art of its time. The huge towers and external decorations are as impressive as the interior sculptures and ceiling frescoes by the most distinguished masters.

Kéttornyúlak was once an independent village, today it is a part of the town of Pápa. The first documentary mention of the village dates back to the 14th century under the name of Lak. Later, in the 17th century, it was referred to as Két Tornyos (Two-towered) Lak. While the word 'Lak' means dwelling or settlement, the two-towered signifier referred to its Árpád-era church. Although one of the church's towers collapsed in a lightning strike, the name of the village has not changed. Visitors arriving from the town are greeted by the village's namesake and symbol, the 12th century Romanesque church, which is the oldest surviving building in the village and in Pápa. It dates back to the end of the 19th century, when István Kvassay bought the estate in Kéttornyúlak and gave it to his daughter as a wedding present. In the 20th century, the castle was still registered in the name of his daughter, Countess Emilné Zichy. Later it was nationalised and then run as a community centre by the Mór Jókai Cultural Centre. By the end of the 20th century, when it was acquired by the German Bohnacker family, the castle and its former park had been destroyed. During the renovation, the family placed great emphasis on preserving the old architectural style and combining it with modern technology to create a perfect harmony. All of this is located in a magnificent setting, on 5 hectares of manicured park with its rare plants and centuries-old trees.

The settlement of 650 inhabitants was inhabited as early as the Bronze Age, according to archaeological findings. Its name was first mentioned in documents in the early 14th century as Dalka. The settlement belonged to the Hathalmy family in the 14th century and to the Bottka family in the 17th century. During the Ottoman occupation, Dáka became almost completely deserted, and only in the 18th century did it become an inhabited settlement again. By that time it was the property of the Nádasdy and Festetics count families. The Nádasdy Castle was built here and is now a national monument. The first written records of the building date back to the 19th century. Later the Nádasdy family expanded and modernized it. The castle took its present form in 1820. At the end of the 19th century, it was bought by the widow of Count Lajos Batthyány, the Prime Minister of Hungary, who had returned from his emigration to Switzerland. Batthyány was an exceptional statesman and Hungary's first constitutional prime minister. He was sentenced to death on trumped-up charges. The Count knelt down on one knee in front of the firing squad and shouted. "Long live the fatherland! Go on, hunters." The Countess had a memorial room built in memory of her husband, who was martyred.

The village of 650 inhabitants was once one of the largest villages in the county. It is mentioned in written records as early as the 13th century. The area has always been inhabited by people who knew and cultivated vineyards, as it was in Roman times. Even in the early 19th century, grapes were the main source of livelihood. There are many legends about its famous local wines. One of the beliefs associated with juhfark (a certain kind of grape and wine), also known as the wine of wedding nights, is that if you drink it regularly you will live a long life. Another myth claims that if a newlywed couple drinks a glass of juhfark before their love is fulfilled, they are more likely to have a son. It is said that the members of the Habsburg dynasty believed in this so strongly that for a long time it was a requirement for them to drink this wine before making love. At the end of the village, on top of a prominent hill, stands the Roman Catholic Church of St. Michael in Somlószőlős. The church was built in the 13th century. Despite the 18th century Baroque and the 19th century Romantic reconstruction, it has retained its Árpád-era character. The Zichy family, who owned the village, had their own crypt built on the south side of the church. Above the entrance you can see the family's cast iron coat of arms.

On the King's orders, the Zichy family gave some marshy, swampy land to the Lutherans free. They were grateful for this gift and worked diligently to drain it. First they built a hedge church. According to local tradition, when the bishop's office came to check whether there were any people of other faiths than Catholics living in the village, the hedge church was dismantled and taken into the woods. This building burnt down in the 18th century. The edict of toleration by the German-Roman Emperor Joseph II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, which granted freedom of worship and administration to the different denominations, allowed the construction of the white Baroque church. Nowadays two bells in the tower calls the believers. On the other side of the church you can see the old school of the village. There was a time when the village had two pastors and two teachers to serve the Lutheran community.

The original name of the settlement of about 1200 inhabitants was simply "Somló", which was derived from the name of the shrub called "som" (Cornelian cherry dogwood), typical of the area. Previous archaeological research in the area has shown that it has been inhabited since prehistoric times. With the advance of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks first burnt it to the ground and then forced its inhabitants to flee. It was repopulated in the 18th century. St Margaret's Chapel was built in the 15th century by the nuns of Vásárhely during the reign of King Matthias I of Hungary. It is the largest of the four chapels on the hill. Behind it are the Chapel of St. John, the Chapel of St. Martin and the Chapel of St. Ilona. The Somló Hill is one of the best wine-producing areas in the county, and Somlóvásárhely is the capital of the historic wine region. An interesting folk monument is the treading well on the side of the hill. It is worth taking a pleasant walk on the hill, because it offers a stunning view. The well was built in the early 19th century in the courtyard of an old press house. A 3 metre diameter drum was used to tread water from the 80 metre deep well, hence the name "treader". The wooden well house was modelled on the treadmills: you had to step into the rotating drum and then tread it, and with the help of gears you could lift up to 1 hectolitre barrels to the surface. In the past, such structures were often used in our hill forts, but today only this one remains. It has undergone several renovations in the last century. In the Middle Ages and modern times, the vines in the area were cultivated by locals and provincials, who paid a hill toll, or wine tax. The vineyards were mainly owned by the count families Zichy and Batthyány, the nuns of Somlóvásárhely and the Palatines. The wines of Somló still enjoy the best reputation.