AGGTELEK NATIONAL PARK o R t ep The limestone landscape is dotted e u r HOLLÓKŐ by 280 caves, including the largest i b p l The Palóc are Hungarians with a stalactite cave in Europe. i c distinctive dialect and traditions, which is m ESZTERGOM BASILICA E on display at their grand Easter festival. FACTS P y The neoclassical basilica of a r r a t g POPULATION Esztergom, Hungary’s ancient capital, IV. Hun is also the country’s tallest building LILLAFÜRED 9,797,000 and largest church. This northern Hungarian town is a popular tourist resort, offering spas, AREA 93,030 KM2 an impressive waterfall, a palace, hotels and even hanging gardens. CAPITAL BOKOD BUDAPEST Built on a lake that never freezes, the floating houses (1,752,000 INHABITANTS) of Bokod are Central Europe’s version of the Maldives. SZIGET GDP €123 BILLION One of the largest music and cultural GDP PER CAPITA festivals in Europe, Sziget rocks Old ESZTERHÁZA Buda Island every August with more €11,800 The grand Rococo edifice is sometimes than 1,000 performances. also called “Hungarian Versailles.” The palace was built by Prince Nikolaus SKANZEN OPEN-AIR MUSEUM Source: Eurostat (2017). Esterházy in the late 18th century and Visitors to the village of Skanzen can hosts festivals throughout the year. tour houses and check out traditional Compiled by Hungarian architecture from the Anastasia Gromontova region, folk art exhibitions, villagers dressed in traditional costume and & Benjamin Wolf crafts such as basket making. HORTOBÁGY NATIONAL PARK SZENTENDRE Hungary’s biggest national park is also Located in central Hungary, Szentendre Central Europe’s largest and With a total of 13 NOBEL PRIZE BUDAPEST can be reached by river from Budapest best-known steppe region, the puszta. Hungary’s capital offers a and offers art galleries, museums and Hortobágy offers stunning sunsets and LAUREATES, Hungarians have plethora of stunning sights, from well-preserved baroque houses. horsemanship demonstrated by the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle Hungarian cowboys, the csikós. won a prize in every category to the Hungarian Parliament and LAKE HÉVÍZ the Fisherman’s Bastion. except peace. KECSKEMET The world’s largest thermal lake LAKE BALATON GRAND SYNAGOGUE offers a plethora of thermal baths Hungary’s large freshwater lake is one The biggest synagogue in Europe Famous for its apricot brandy, the with sauna and massages to relax of the country’s foremost tourist SIÓFOK stands as a testament to the big region around Kecskemet beckons also Hungarians have won a TOTAL OF 498 and enjoy the pristine nature. destinations and, on the northern Perched on the southern shore of Hungarian Jewish community. with its blooming orchards and its art OLYMPIC MEDALS as of 2018, boasting a shore, a major wine growing area. Lake Balaton, this small town deco buildings with rich ceramic hosts beach parties among the decorations and several museums. medal per every 20,000 citizens. palm trees all summer long. Hungary is thus the country with the fifth most Olympic medals per capita, outranked only by Sweden, Finland, Norway and Liechtenstein. 96FOR HUNGARIANS, 96 IS A SPECIAL NUMBER. The Hungarian land-taking took place in 896; HUNGARIANS HAVE THEIR OWN COWBOYS: The csikós, mounted horse-herdmen who the Budapest metro started service in 1896; SZEGED Hungary’s third biggest city is the regional no building in Budapest can be taller than 96 METERS; and the PÉCS dash on their Nonius horses across the Great This ancient town, located close to center of the Southern Great Plain and Hungarian anthem, at proper tempo, takes 96 SECONDS to sing. Croatia, has been a crossroads of famous for the Szeged Open Air Theater Hungarian Plain, also known as the puszta. cultures and commerce for centuries, Festival, taking place since 1931. calling itself “The Borderless City.” Ausgleich Hungarian Uprising Mongol invasion 1867 Blue-ballot 1956 ÁRPÁD’S 1241 Battle of Mohács The Austro-Hungarian Compromise 1940-44 1947 In a nationwide revolt starting with student The Mongolian Tatars under 1526 Part of the Axis elections Ottoman forces defeat the establishes the dual monarchy, dividing protests on Oct. 23, Hungarians bring down the Batu Khan invade and devastate Under Miklós Horthy, Hungary fights The last remotely free 1989/90 Hungarian army, leading to the the Empire into the lands governed from oppressive regime. Soviet forces invading on Rendszerváltás CHILDREN the medieval kingdom of alongside Nazi Germany in World election in Hungary takes partition of the country. After Vienna and those ruled from Pest-Buda. November 4 crush the uprising in one week, killing The Communist Party In 896, the Magyar tribes Hungary under King Belá. War II. Over 400,000 Hungarian place. In the aftermath, the the recapture of Buda 160 Jews and 28,000 Roma are deported thousands of civilians and tightening the USSR’s gives up its monopoly of King Stephen I. Hungarian Communist Party Accession under the leadership of 1000 1458-1490 years later, the Hungarian People’s Spring grip on the Eastern Bloc. power and a multiparty 2004 King Stephen of the Árpád 1848 and killed in the Holocaust. The installs a Soviet-style system, to the European Union King Matthias Corvinus parliament recognizes the A national revolution breaks out in 1920 parliamentary democracy Árpád, settle in the dynasty converts to Wehrmacht occupies Hungary in beginning a 43e-year period (EU) In the kingdom of Hungary, Habsburgs as hereditary kings Pest, as Hungarians dethrone the The Trianon Treaty, reduces Hungary’s comes into being. The Christianity. Hungary’s holy 1944, before being defeated by of autocratic rule that sees Hungary joins the EU Carpathian Basin, entering the largest in Central Europe of Hungary. Habsburg emperor and elect Lajos area by two-thirds and the population by Soviet army leaves Crown of Saint Stephen, in use Soviet troops in 1945. thousands of dissenting following a national at the time, arts and culture Kossuth as governor. The uprising is a third following defeat in World War II. Hungary. the stage of European since the 12th century, is Hungarians resettled by force, referendum with flourish in the royal palaces brutally crushed in 1849 by the The treaty left many Hungarians as named after him. imprisoned or executed. 83.3% voting in favor. history for good. of Buda and Visegrád. Habsburgs with Russian help. minorities in neighboring countries. 56 MAY 2018 ILLUSTRATIONS: KARIN DREHER; KARIN-GRAFIKDESIGN.COM; SHUTTERSTOCK. MAY 2018 57.