Miscellaneous photos - Tata, Hungary

Location:

GPS coordinates: Latitude 47°39'6", Longitude 18°19'30" (N47 39.1 - E18 19.5) Map

Clocktower or Belfry of Tata

It was constructed in 1763 by Jakab Fellner architect and József Éder master carpenter from Tata.

The mid-18th-century octagonal Clock Tower or Belfry of Tata was built using a special building technique. While the red marble footing and the plastered brick wall on the lower part of the building is relatively ordinary, the wooden structure above it was built with a kind of wood assemblage technique, without using iron nails. The pyramid-shaped roof was covered with wooden shingles.

Until the World War I the Clock Tower had four bells (that's why it is called also Belfry), buth then these were removed and melted down. The renovated building was formally opened in 2004, since then there are four digitally-controlled clocks and a carillon (chime of bells) inside it. This latter could play one from the total of almost five-hundred tunes at five minutes to every hour.

The wrought-iron cross over the memorial plaque on the side that faces the main street was brought here from the nearby Capuchin Church.

Belfry or Clock Tower of Tata, and behind it some distance away it is the Vaszary János Primary School

For a brief historical moment the Országgyűlés Square ("Országgyűlés tér") in Tata was in the center of the attention of Hungary. In the summer of 1510 King Vladislaus II of Hungary (aka Ladislaus Jagiellon) wanted to convene a National Assembly in Székesfehérvár, which was at that time a coronation town and the capital of Hungary. But an epidemic broke out in Székesfehérvár and the event was relocated to Tata town, more specifically it was held exactly here (the Hungarian word and the name of the square "Országgyűlés" means "National Assembly"). In the choice of the location it may have played a role that at that time the people were afraid of the epidemic and they trusted in the clear and curative water of the "crystalline springs" of Tata.

The aim of the negotiations was to discuss about joining to the League of Cambrai against the Republic of Venice. The Holy Roman Emperor, the King of France, the King of Poland, the Pope from Rome and even the delegate of Venice were among the invitees, all of them wanted to ally with the King of Hungary.

Wide brook with a smaller waterfall

The park system with its best preserved part, namely the English Park was developed at the turn of the 18th-19th century for the Esterházy family.

The so-called English Park (in Hungarian "Angolpark") in Tata town was originally developed by Ferenc Böhm engineer. The expert created the park in 1783 by taking the advantage of the favorable natural endowments (for example the springs and lakes) of the location. The English Park is nature conservation area since 1955.

Romantic false ruins in the English Park or English Garden ("Angolpark" or "Angolkert")

The artificially created romantic ruins of the "Angolpark" or "English Park" in Tata were designed by the French architect Charles Moreau, who also worked on some details of the Tata Castle. Although the "ruin" here is artificial, but it was built using the stones of a real ruin, the remains of the early-12th-century Benedictine and later Dominican abbey of Vértesszőlős. Moreover, a 3rd-century ancient Roman tombstone and relief was also built into it, which was found on the nearby Látó Hill.