2005 Danube River Cruise

Page 26:
Kalocsa, Hungary
Day 17, November 7, 2005
While we were out on tour our ship sailed to Mohacs, Hungary for our overnite stay
The three-story Archbishop’s Palace was build between 1735 and 1766; the twin towered baroque Cathedral is located nearby. It was build on the site of King Stephen’s original 11th century church. It was within this complex that the library with its ancient documents was housed.
Pecs, Hungary
Day 17, November 7, 2005
The Romans may have settled in Pecs for the region’s weather, fertile soil and abundant water. The Romans brought Christianity with them and reminders of it can be seen in the early clover-shaped chapels unearthed at several locations here.
Pecs grew in the Middle Ages, when it was known as Quinque Eccleslae after its five churches. King Stephen founded a bishopric here in 1009, and the town was a major stop along the trade route to Byzantium. Pecs developed as an intellectual and humanist center with the founding of a Univerity – Hungary’s first – in 1367. The City was fortified with walls after the Mongol invasion of the early 13th century, but they were in such poor condition three centuries later the Turks took the city with virtually no resistance in 1543. The Turks moved the local populace outside the walls and turned Pecs into their own administrative and cultural center. When they were expelled almost 150 years later, Pecs was virtually abandoned, but sill standing were monumental souvenirs that now count as the most important Turkish structures in the nation.

Page: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25][26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38]