| Travel Destination Guide - Pecs |
Travel Eye on Pecs (Hungary)
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Early Christianity is recalled by an early Christian mausoleum, a unique site of the city. The four-towered Romanesque cathedral was erected in the 11th century. The first university in Hungary was founded here in 1367 by king Louis I the Great.
After the battle at Mohács Pécs came under Ottoman rule that lasted more than 150 years. The vestiges of Turkish occupation in 16-17th centuries can still be seen in the city. Buildings, that reminded the Turks of Christianity were either destroyed or transformed. The medieval St. Bartholomew church e.g. was turned into a mosque. (It still stands on Széchenyi square, with its 28 m high dome being the city's landmark.) After the withdrawal of the Turks Christian culture revived.
The university of Pécs, along with its schools, libraries and museums displaying works of art of 20 th century masters such as Csontváry and Vasarelly, and a series of exhibitions make Pecs a regional cultural centre.
Pécs is the seat of the Mecsek Region is the only big city in South-Transdanubia. Founded by the Romans under the name Sopianae, it flourished as province capital.
The people of Pécs are proud of their city. If you travel just a block or two outside the historic core, you'll see that the city is booming: People throng the shops and streets, and buses thunder past in every direction. Pécs is a city on the move. It exhibits none of the torpor you might notice on a hot summer afternoon in Great Plain towns like Kecskemét or Szeged.
If you walk up Janus Pannonius utca toward Széchenyi tér, about a block up the street, you'll notice on your left a small metal fence covered with padlocks. Young lovers visiting Pécs have left these locks as a token of their desire to live in this beautiful city.
A more recent development in Pécs is the presence of NATO and UN troops, including a sizable American contingent, who are based just outside the city as part of the peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia.
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