About Pecs
If there was ever a uranium mining town worth visiting, PÉCS
(pronounced "Paych) is it. Tiled rooftops climb the vine-laden slopes of
the Mecsek Hills, and the nearby mines of Újmecsekalja (aka "Uranium
City haven't contaminated Pécs' reputation for art and culture. As
Transdanubia's leading centre of education, its population of 150,000
includes a high proportion of students, giving Pécs a youthful profile.
The city boasts some fine examples of Islamic architecture, several
wonderful museums and galleries, and the biggest market in western
Hungary. It is also a base for exploring Siklós, Szigetvár and Mohács,
further south, and the Mecsek Hills above the city.
Settlements existed here in prehistoric times, but the city's history
really began with Sopianae, a Celtic town developed by the Romans and
later raised to be the capital of the new province of Pannonia Valeria.
Made an epicospal see by King Stephen, the town - known as Quinqua
Ecclesiae or Fünfkirchen (Five Churches) - became a university centre in
the Middle Ages. Under Turkish occupation (1543-1686) its character
changed radically, and its Magyar/German population was replaced by
Turks and their Balkan subjects. Devastated during its "liberation", the
city slowly recovered thanks to local viticulture and the discovery of
coal in the mid-eighteenth century. While the coalmines now face closure
due to bankruptcy, Pécs's uranium mines - dating from the early 1950s
are still going strong.
Around the Belváros
Most of the sights, hotels and tourist offices lie within the
historic Belváros, encircled by a road marking the extent of the
medieval town walls. On Kossuth tér you find one of Pécs's finest
monuments, an elegant Synagogue built in 1865. Its carved and stuccoed
interior is beautiful but haunting, emptied by the murder of over 4000
Jews now listed in a Book of Remembrance - ten times the number that
live in Pécs today. Thanks to local efforts, state support and
contributions from abroad, this was one of the first synagogues in
Hungary to be restored in the 1980s. Further up Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca,
you come across the Zsolnay Fountain outside the church on the right.
Polychromatic, metallic-looking glazes typify local Zsolnay ceramics;
the bulls' heads on the fountain are modeled on a gold drinking vessel
from the "Treasure of Attila". One block north, the road meets Király
utca, traditionally the korzó where townsfolk promenade. Amongst the
buildings worth noting on this street are the newly restored Art Nouveau
Hotel Palatinus; the Nendtvich House with its ceramic ornamentation; the
National Theatre, surmounted by a statue of Genius; and the Vasváry
House, with its allegorical figurines. However, there's more to see
around Széchenyi tér, the city's main square at the top of
Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca.
Széchenyi tér
With its art galleries and tourist offices, modern-day Széchenyi tér
is centuries removed from its Turkish predecessor, a dusty square
crowded with "caravans of camels laden with merchandise from India and
the Yemen". At its top end stands a Catholic church whose ornate window
grilles and scalloped niches denote its origins as the Mosque of Gazi
Kasim Pasha, which the Turks built from the stones of a medieval Gothic
church. The vaulted interior and Islamic prayer niche (mihrab) decorated
with Arabic calligraphy can be viewed during sightseeing hours.
Contemporary artwork is exhibited in the Pécsi Gallery on the western
side of the square. It's worth a quick look in case there's anything
remarkable, but with so many art collections in Pécs, it pays to be
selective. On the northern side of the square, the Archaeological Museum
covers the history of the region from prehistoric times to the Magyar
conquest, but pales in comparison to the real Roman tombs a few streets
over on Apáca utca (see below). Not far away at Mária utca 9 is the
Mining Museum, another disappoint, for all the sparkle of its crystals.
At this point, you have the option of three routes to the cathedral -
along Káptalan, Janus Pannonius or Apáca utca - via a clutch of museums.
Káptalan utca
Káptalan utca (Chapter Street) has no fewer than five museums
virtually next to each other; all of them open Tuesday to Sunday from
loam to 6pm. The Zsolnay Museum at no. 2 is a must for its vases,
plaques and figurines from the Zsolnay Ceramics Factory, founded in 1868
by Vilmos Zsolnay and the chemist Vince Wartrha, the inventor of eosin
glaze. Some pieces are exquisite, others totally kitsch, but they
deserve a look either way. In the basement are sculptures by Amerigo Tot
(1909-84), whose Erdély family with its clamped grave-posts symbolizes
the plight of the Magyars in Romania.Across the road at no. 3, the
Vásárely Museum exhibits Op-Art canvases by Viktor Vásárely, who was
born in this house in 1908, but made his name in Paris and New York. The
Modern Magyar Képtár next door to the Zsolnay Museum presents a tour
d'horizon of Hungarian art since the School of Szentendre, with a large
section devoted to Constructivist evocations of the proletarian struggle
by Béla Uitz (1887-1972), who lived for fifty years in the Soviet Union.
(Note that you can see the second installment of these paintings at the
Modern Magyar Képtár II at Magyar Szabadság utca 2.) The Nemes Museum at
no. 5 honours the surrealist Endre Nemes (1909-85), who was born in
nearby Pécsvárad but spent most of his life in Sweden. Diagonally across
the street at no. 6, right by Dóm tér, the Ferenc Museum showcases work
by Martyrs Ferenc (1899-1986), an early exponent of non-figurative
painting.
Around Dóm tér and the Cathedral
Szent István tér, the lower, park-like extension of Cathedral Square,
harbours a subterranean ruined basilica or early Christian mausoleum
(there is doubt as to which it actually is). It houses a fourth century
AD chapel, decorated with frescoes of the Fall and Daniel in the Lion's
Den, and containing a white marble sarcophagus and skeletal remains.Up
the steps past the Szepesy statue, Dóm tér is dominated by a huge
four-towered Cathedral that has been endlessly rebuilt since a basilica
was founded here in the eleventh century.
Though a crypt and side chapels from eleventh- to fourteenth-century
churches have been incorporated in the cathedral, its outward form is
neo-Romanesque, the style chosen to replace Mihály Pollack's previous
Baroque design. Its lavish blue and gold murals are by Lotz, Székely and
other historicist painters of the 1890s.The neo-Renaissance Bishop's
Palace to the west is embellished with a modern statue of Liszt waving
from the balcony, which might have amused Janus Pannonius (1434-72), the
humanist poet and bishop of Pécs, or Bishop György Klimó, founder of its
library, who told borrowers: "You don't have to pay for anything. Depart
enriched. Return more frequently." Around the corner to the south, a
circular Barbican tower punctuates the old town walls, giving access to
Klimó György utca.
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Pecs hotels
Hotel MILLENNIUM Pecs
3-star-hotel
Located in the historical downtown of Pecs, this hotel is easily reachable from the city center by a 5-minute-walk. |
Hotel Patria
3-star-hotel
Pecs is the country’s fifth-largest settlement and the seat of Baranya County at the center of Southwest Hungary. Its territory, which is blessed with a Mediterranean climate, is spread out at the feet and on the slopes of the Mecsek mountain range. The hotel is located in the town center. The historical monuments, museums and galleries are nearby |
Hotel Makartanya Sport & Wellness
3-star hotel
The first Sports- and Leisure Centre of the 2000 years old Pécs can be found in the university quarter, in one of the green belts of the city, just a few minutes from the historical city centre. |
Hotel Palatinus
3-star-hotel
Pecs is a historic town at the foot of Mecsek mountains in southern Transdanubia. The hotel is situated in the historic inner-city, in the walking street directly opposite the Szechenyi square. Pecs is the country’s fifth-largest settlement and the seat of Baranya County at the center of Southwest Hungary. Its territory, which is blessed with a Mediterranean climate, is spread out at the feet and on the slopes of the Mecsek mountain range. |
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