The Miskolc reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Miskolc

Miskolc (in Slovak Miškovec, in Polish Miszkolc) is a city in North-East Hungary, mainly with heavy industrial background. With a population of 181,565 (2001) Miskolc is the third largest city of Hungary (the first two are Budapest and Debrecen.) It is also the county capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Tourist sights: 3 Links

History

The area has been inhabited since the ancient times, its first known dwellers were the Cotinus, one of the Celt tribes. The area has been occupied by Hungarians during the "Conquest" in the late 9th century. It was named after the Miskóc clan and was first mentioned by this name around 1210. The Miskóc clan has lost their power when King Charles Robert centralized his power by curbing the power of the oligarchs.

Miskolc was elevated to the rank of city in 1365 by King Louis I (Louis the Great, son of Charles Robert). He also had the castle of the nearby town Diósgyőr (now a district of Miskolc) transformed into a Gothic fortress. The city developed in a dynamic way, but during the Turkish occupation of the most of Hungary Miskolc fell under Turkish rule too and its development was brought to a standstill. The Turks burnt Miskolc in 1544 and the city had to pay heavy taxes until 1687.

During the war of independence against Hapsburg rule in the early 18th century Prince Rákóczi, the leader of the Hungarians put his headquarters in Miskolc. The imperial forces sacked and burnt the city in 1707. Four years later half of the population fell victim of the plague. Miskolc recovered quickly and an age of prosperity began again. Lots of the significant bulidings were built in the 18th and 19th century, including the city hall, the county hall, several schools, churches, the synagogue and the theatre (the first stone-built theatre of Hungary). Sadly these years brought not only prosperity: the cholera epidemic of 1873 and the flood of 1878 took many lives. Several buildings were destroyed by the flood, but bigger and more beautiful buildings were built in their places. The World War I did not affect the city directly, but many people has died, either at the war or in the cholera epidemic.

After the peace treaty of Trianon, Hungary lost Kassa (modern-day Kosice, Slovakia) and Miskolc became the sole regional center of Northern Hungary. This was one of the reasons of the enormous growth of the city during the 1930s and 1940s (the other reason was the preparation for World War II which established Miskolc as the national center of heavy industry, a position the city could maintain till the 1990s). Although Miskolc suffered a lot during the last year of the war, it recovered quickly and by absorbing the surrounding villages it became the 2nd largest city of Hungary with more than 200.000 inhabitants.

During its long history Miskolc survived fires, floods, plagues and foreign invasions but maintained its position as centre of North-East Hungary. The 1990s brought a crisis in the iron industry with a decline in the population. Currently Debrecen is leading in the race for being the second largest city, while Nyíregyháza is fast becoming a rival for the role of the most important city of the area.

The most popular tourist destinations of Miskolc are Tapolca, Lillafüred and Felsõhámor. Tapolca (officially called Miskolc-Tapolca to avoid confusion with another town of the same name) has a beautiful park with a boating pond and the famous and unique Cave Spa. Lillafüred and Felsõhámor are pretty villages in a valley surrounded by mountains and forests, their most famous sights are the Hotel Palace on the shore of the Lake Hámori, the "Fátyol-vízesés" (Veil Waterfalls) of the Szalajka valley, the Anna Cave and the István Cave.

The mayor of the city is Káli Sándor (since 2002).

Tourist sights:

• Castle of Diósgyőr (built in the 13th century, had its prime during the reign of Louis the Great; medieval castle plays are held in every August)
• Protestant Church of the Avas Hill
• Main street with the athmosphere of Hungarian towns of the 19th century
• Cave Spa of Miskolctapolca
• Lillafüred

Links

Official site (provides information in Hungarian, English and German)
University of Miskolc
Miskolc Online (a portal site in Hungarian)
miskolc.lap.hu - a very extensive link collection
Official site of Miskolctapolca (in Hungarian, English and German)
Official site of Lillafüred is currently under conctruction.

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