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 korz?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 Klim? 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 Klim?György utca.
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Pecs hotels
Hotel Makár 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 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 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 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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