Postcard PLACES OF INTEREST, SIGHTS AND PROGRAMMES IN AND OUT OF ZALAEGERSZEG Zalaegerszeg 1 12 11 13 14 10 8 9 7 2 1 17 3 4 5 6 15 16 2 Zalaegerszeg WALK IN ZALEGERSZEG Welcome to Zalaegerszeg, the seat of Zala County, lying at the gateway to the Göcsej region. The town, nestling among the mounds, awaits its visitors with rich cultural and natural treasures and colourful events. Let us start our walk in the oldest part of the town centre, Deák Square (1). It was the place where the fortress of Egerszeg used to stand. Today the baroque building of the Zala County Court stands here, which was built to serve as a County Hall between 1730-32. The square are on display in this building. The is decorated by the statue of Ferenc museum’s standing exhibition on the Deák, the native of the county. This history of the county entitled ”Centres statue was the first to be erected in along the River Zala” guides its visitors the country in 1879 in honour of the through the history of Salla (Zalalövô) of ‘country’s wise man’. the Roman Times, Mosaburg (Zalavár) of the Middle Ages and Zalaegerszeg. In the separate The building of the Göcseji Museum (2) stands exhibition hall of the Museum temporary exhibitions are on the other side of Deák Square, which was built as the Savings held several times a year. Bank in 1890. Zsigmond Kisfaludi-Strobl, the sculptor born in Zala County, bequeathed his works-of-art to the town and they Mary Magdalen Church (3), with its two steeples, is projecting in the centre of the town next to the Museum. It was erected between 1750-60. The frescoes and the high altar piece of the baroque parish-church depicting the town’s patron saint, Mary Magdalen, who is also present in the arms of Zalaegerszeg, were made by the Austrian painter Johann Cymbal. Next to the church a memorial plaque and a statue keep the memory of József Mindszenty, Prince-Primate and Archbishop of Esztergom. The square in front of the church is ornamented by the Statue of the Holy Trinity erected in 1810 and restored in 2006. Leaving Mindszenty Square, we enter the main street of the town where it is worth glancing at the eclectic corner building of the more than 100 years old Hotel Arany Bárány. In the place of the three-storey building built in 1894 there operated an inn and restaurant bearing the same name as early as the 18th century. Zalaegerszeg 3 After a short walk we arrive at Dísz Square surrounded by Csipkeházak (Lace Houses). The centre of the square is decorated by the Fountain featuring a Göcseji Tulip. In the western part of the town centre, in the first parallel street to the main street, you can find the Town Concert and Exhibition Hall (5) – a former synagogue – which was built in 1904.The eclectic building, the towers of which are decorated by spherical domes and various rosettes, stood empty for years following World War II and lost its religious function. Since its modernisation in 1983 the building has been serving the public Next to the hotel stands a two-storey neo-renaissance building as a concert and exhibition hall. As one of the major venues that was built in 1891 to accommodate the office of the vice of local events, it hosts shows, art-exhibitions, high-standard comes and the local archives. In its back section a new hall was modern and classical concerts and wedding ceremonies. designed, which is today the ceremonial hall of the General Assembly of Zalaegerszeg town. The other parts of the building are utilised as the Zala County Archives. Still going towards south we can see the Quarter-House (4), erected in 1765, which was built by Maria Theresa for her military officers in transit. The ‘Spital with an Imperial Dome’ is situated on the other side of the street. The building was built in about 1800 and was originally meant to serve as an almshouse but later was enlarged with a chapel and used as the town’s hospital. Hence comes the name ‘Spital’, which is preserved by Ispita köz (Spital Alley). 4 Zalaegerszeg To the south-east of the town centre, in the square in front of the Sándor Hevesi Theatre, founded in 1982, a real speciality can be found, a ‘tower-clock going on the ground’ (6). The erection works of the tower-clock of Mary Magdalen Church finished in September 2005. The nearly 200-year-old clockwork is displayed in operation under a glass cover, which makes it unique in the whole of Europe. Along the main road, starting out from the town centre and leading to the west, lies the building of the former Hungarian Royal State Grammar School, which was named after Ferenc Deák from 1922 and has been bearing the name of Miklós Zrínyi historic water mill and along the backwaters of Zala, the river crossing the town. The collection of buildings was moved to the site from 22 settlements in the Zala region and a typical Göcseji settlement from the 19th century was reconstructed in the area of the village museum, where visitors can also get to know the everyday articles for personal use that are typical of the region. On the upper floor of the reception building of the museum, which building resembles historic halls typically owned by members of the lower nobility, you can see the standing exhibition entitled ‘The national costumes of the Carpathian Basin on dolls’. The outdoor museum adjoins the Finno-Ugric Ethnographical Park (9), which displays the architecture, interior decoration and life of people belonging to the Finn-Ugric language family with the help of their typical houses, original fixtures and articles for personal use. Next to Göcseji Village Museum we can find the Hungarian Oil Industry Museum (10). Zala County used to be the cradle of since 1950. The two-storey, neo-renaissance grammar school the Hungarian oil industry and for this reason the country’s only opened its gates to the students of the town in the autumn thematic museum exhibiting the history of the oil industry was of 1897. created here. The relics, machines, equipment and instruments of domestic oil prospecting and production and of the natural gas Going further down this road, in the Ola quarter, we can find industry are also part of the exhibition. Besides the temporary a group of buildings consisting of the Jesus’s Heart Parish- exhibitions we can observe a mineral and stone collection, a Church (7) and the neo-baroque two-storey Franciscan collection of statues as well as hydro mining instruments in the Monastery. The church was built in 1925-26 by József area of the museum. Mindszenty abbot-priest in memory of the last Hungarian king, blessed Charles IV. Its lavishly ornamented tower rises on the right side of the façade. The wife of King Charles IV, Queen Zita also participated in the encaenia and donated a stately pulpit to the church on this occasion. A little bit farther from the downtown, in a special milieu lies the Göcseji Village Museum (8) opened in 1968. The country’s first outdoor folk museum was arranged around a Zalaegerszeg 5 SPAS To the east of Lake Gébárti AquaCity Waterslide and Adventure Park (11) was built, where 13 giant and 5 smaller waterslides and 12 special pools can be found offering varied entertainment facilities to water-lovers, such as a lazy river, a children’s pool, a wave pool, a jump-pool and a Jacuzzi pool. From the look-out tower built at the top of the slide hill visitors can enjoy the extraordinary view of the town and the Zala region rolling nearby. In the neighbourhood of AquaCity the Indoor Thermal Spa (16) of Zalaegerszeg, opened in the spring of 2007, offers entertainment to the lovers of thermal water with its thermal pools providing sound and light therapy. More than ten thousand lamps have been installed in the spa to pamper visitors with nearly one hundred multi-colour light therapeutic and harmonizing sound effects. The spa is characterised by arches and glass domes. Families are awaited by three pleasure-pools, two thermal sitting-pools and three children’s pools all over the year. 6 Zalaegerszeg LEISURE, TOURS North of Zalaegerszeg lies Lake Gébárti (13), the largest folk and fine artists to work together and preserve the traditions artificial lake of the town, created by damming up two little of craftsmen. Both groups and individuals are welcome who brooks. It was named after an extinct medieval settlement. Its are interested in the intricacies of making folk costumes and parked environment offers pleasant facilities for bathers, water jewellery, pottery, weaving and felting. In the yard a smithy is sports lovers and anglers alike. There are walking paths around in operation as well. the lake and an outdoor lido operates on its peninsula. The lake and its surroundings have become a highly-frequented recreational and leisure zone for the past years. Near the lake, in a picturesque environment lies a camping ground open all over the year, offering up-to-date facilities in log houses or in plots specifically designed to receive caravans or tents. A further speciality of this part of the county is the House of Craftsmen (14) projecting on the western shore of the lake, which reflects the shapes and materials of folk architecture both in its exterior and interior. The House provides opportunities for Zalaegerszeg 7 THE TOWN’S ENVIRONS Zalaegerszeg is a typical river-side settlement which was created at the junction of several smaller rivers and brooks.