Gödöllő

Gödöllő

 

Location: 22 mi (35 km) northeast of Budapest   Map

Construction: 1733 under supervision of András Mayerhoffer

Royal palace of Gödöllő

Tel. (028) 41 01 24

Open: Apr- Oct 10am-6pm daily

Nov- Mar 10am- 5pm Tue- Sun

Summer Theatre Festival (June- July)

Summer Music Festival (July- Aug)

www.kiralyikastely.hu

 

Gödöllő  Town Museum

Szabaszag ter 5

Tel. (028) 42 20 02

Open: 10am- 6pm Tue- Sun

 

Palace in Gödöllő is located 22 mi (35 km) northeast of Budapest in Hungary. The construction began in 1733 under supervision of András Mayerhoffer.

 

Location
Gödöllő is located 30 km northeast of Budapest, in the valley of the Rákos stream in the Gödöllő hills.

Approach
A transport hub, main road 3 and the M3 motorway cross the city, which is branched off from here by the M31 motorway to the eastern section of the M0 ring road. In addition, there are inferior roads leading to Vác, Pécel and Jászberény from the settlement.

It is also affected by the Budapest-Hatvan railway line, and the terminus of the BKV H8 HÉV service is also located here. Gödöllő has 9 local bus services and several long-distance bus services pass through it.

History
Gödöllő was first mentioned in 1349 in a donation letter from Louis I. The name of the settlement occurs in the forms Gudulleu, Gudullur, Gödöle, Gedellő in the early diplomas, in 1868 it officially won the name Gödöllő. It was completely destroyed during the Turkish occupation and later repopulated.

Ferenc Hamvay was the first landlord to live in Gödöllő in his mansion built in the center in 1662, which today houses the City Museum and the City Cinema.

In the 18th century, the landlord, the labanc Habsburg official, made the settlement the center of the estates of Antal Grassalkovich, who could not be called Hungarian-friendly. He built the castle using the Reformed church. Much of the monuments of today’s city date back to the time of Grassalkovich. In 1763 it became a market town. Due to its fairs and geographical location, it was the center of the area, a transit area between the Great Plain and the Highlands. In 1841, the Grassalkovich family became extinct, so the Viczay family inherited the estates, after a short time we find the Sina family as the landlord of the settlement, and eventually became the property of a Belgian bank.

During the War of Independence in 1848, the castle was the residence of Windisch-Grätz, and after the battle of Isaszeg it was the headquarters of Lajos Kossuth. Kossuth formulated the Declaration of Independence here.

After the compromise, the Hungarian state repurchased the estate from the owner's Belgian bank and offered it as a coronation gift for permanent use to the current ruling family, which was then Queen Franz Joseph I and Queen Elizabeth ("Sisi"). The castle became one of the royal family's favorite holiday destinations, they spent several summers here, and Queen Elizabeth was said to have been a favorite holiday resort.

The prominent royal attention ensured rapid development. The railway connection was established, and in 1884 it became a large village. Since 1911, Gödöllő has also been connected to Budapest by the HÉV line. What is interesting about this line is that since then there has been a reverse traffic schedule, ie the trains run on the left side in the direction of travel. In the same year, a cemetery from the time of the Hungarian conquest was discovered on the property of Secretary of State László Kaffka.

At the end of the First World War IV. King Charles learned here of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In 1919, Aurél Stromfeld, Chief of Staff of the Red Army of the Soviet Republic, set up his headquarters in the castle. Between the two world wars, the settlement was the residence of Miklós Horthy. In 1933, the city hosted the world meeting of boy scouts, the Jembo.

During World War II, the building of today's St. Stephen's University was hit by several bombings, and operated as a military hospital towards the end of the war. After the city was occupied by Soviet troops on December 12, 1944, a 30,000-strong Soviet prison camp was established in and around the building in January 1945, where an estimated 50,000 Hungarian and German soldiers and civilians were imprisoned by the time the camp closed in March. In 2011, a German war grave was unearthed during the renovation work on Elizabeth Park.

After World War II, it developed into an agricultural center. Part of the Grassalkovich Castle became a Soviet barracks, and the Social Home of the Metropolitan Council was moved to another part. In 1950, the University of Agricultural Sciences (later merged with other universities and colleges as Szent István University) and the Ganz Electricity Meter Factory were established here. As a result of industrialization and the creation of new jobs, the population jumped by the 1960s. It was then that the first housing estates were built. Máriabesnyő was added in 1965, making Gödöllő a town since January 1, 1966. After the declaration of the city, the development of the settlement into a socialist city accelerated. In the late 1970s, the blocks of buildings that defined the image of today’s downtown were built.

In 1989, Ferencné Cservenka - the first secretary of the Pest County Party Committee, the decision-maker affecting the city - was the first Member of Parliament to be recalled from office by the still-emerging opposition. Collection of signatures began in the city, and finally in early April 1989, the deputy resigned.

During the 2011 Hungarian EU Presidency, most of the informal ministerial meetings were held in the Royal Castle of Gödöllő.