Szentendre (Svätý Ondrej, Senondrej)

The small town, situated eastward not far from Budapest, may be described most properly as a jewellery box. Numerous sights are located on this small territory, almost each house in the inner city is worth being admired. The Mediterranean atmosphere of the streets is unique in Hungary, it was brought in by southern peoples several hundred years ago. Walking along narrow passages, cobbled streets and passing old churches you will feel as if you were in some small town of the Adriatic.

The city was named after the apostle, St Andrew, although in the Roman age it was known as Ulcisia Castra (Farkasvár in Hungarian means Wolf Castle), an important station of the Limes Romanus, the eastern defence line of the Roman Empire. The fortification which used to exist here was of a significant size, it was able to hold more than a thousand soldiers. Several Roman emperors turned up here, for example Septimus Severus, Caracalla and Valentinianus. The city was surrounded by the vicus militaris, that is, by the civil settlement, where the family of the soldiers together with craftsmen, merchants lived who provided the armed forces with their goods.

The first requirements of civilization were established by the Romans: they built roads, water system and stone buildings, which determine the present looks of the city. The memory of the Romans is kept in the following street names: Római Sánc Street, Pannonia Street, Örtorony Street and several others.

The Roman defence line could not resist the migration coming from the east, so the fortification had to be surrendered. In the era of the Lombards the significance of the settlement was still great, and later at the time of the avars it served as a tribal centre as well.

The Hungarians appeared in the area in the 9th century, when the strategically significant place was seized by them under the leadership of Prince Kurszán. The medieval settlement was built around Templom Hill, the main part of which was the church consecrated in the honour of St Andrew, and he became the person giving his name to the city as well. The importance of the city grew with the 14th century again, since it is situated on the road connecting the two ruling centres, Buda and Visegrád.

From the 14th century Southern Slavs escaped to Hungary because of Turkish attacks, and they received protection and privileges from the Hungarian kings. A considerable number of people, around 6000, arrived in Szentendre, who built their own quarter and church in the city according to their origins, so the different parts of the city are separated according to who live there: Serbians, Dalmatians, Greeks and others.

At first the arriving Southern Slavs hoped that they only had to leave their motherland for a while and then they could return, this way they only built temporary wooden churches. But when it turned out that it is impossible for them to go back, they constructed stone-built churches during the 18th century.

Museums, exhibitions

Szentendre is called the city of arts not by accident; even today several artists live and work here. A number of museums and exhibitions wait for tourists, for example it is worth visiting the exhibitions of Margit Kovács, one of the greatest ceramicists of our age, or Jenő Barcsay, graphic artist and painter. The Marzipan Museum is also popular among visitors, and the Dobos Lajos Café and Museum has a lot of things of curiosity in store as well.

Baroque Merchant Cross

This Orthodox memorial of the Merchant Association was erected on the main square of the city in 1763, after the fortunate event of the plague epidemic not affecting the city. It is believed that under the cross ornamented with icons painted on tin plate a plague-victim’s head is buried.

Churches

The people who escaped here from different parts of the Balkan built their own churches separately, altogether eight, out of which seven still exist and the name of four of them show where their builders came from.