Page 5 - Baranya megye 2019

Szigetvár

Miklós Zrínyi and

Szigetvár, one of Hungary’s most famous castles, earned it- of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian inscriptions on its walls. A
self a place in the history books on Europe in 1566, when spectacular exhibition shows the history of the fortress and
Captain Miklós Zrínyi, with his 2,500-strong army of Hun- the town, and the age of the Turkish-Hungarian wars.
garian and Croatian soldiers, stopped the one hundred For students, the program called “1566” presents the his-
thousand-strong army of Sultan Suleiman. tory of the siege on a historic walk across the fortress. A his-

Despite the fierce siege that lasted for more than a month, torical border fortress show is also based upon it, while the
Zrínyi chose the ultimate fight instead of surrender: with his tradition-preserving “soldiers” presents the era in a faithful

remaining 200 soldiers, he broke out of the castle and died a manner. Some of the soldiers are always on duty.
hero’s death together with his fellow defenders. Posterity ac- For senior citizens, the offer of the guided tour “Autumn in

knowledged their heroic deed by awarding the title “Civitas Szigetvár” includes lunch and discounted entrance to the
Invicta” (the most heroic town). spa bath.
Szigetvár was under Turkish rule for 122 years, as evidenced Th e high point of the Zrínyi celebrations is the Zrínyi Me-
by the fortress rebuilt by the Turks, and the truncated mina- morial Day, held at the beginning of September each year,
ret of the Suleyman mosque. Th e latter is unique in Hun- which is one of the oldest historical festivals of the country.

gary, with its prayer niche facing Mecca and the fragments

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