Balatonfüred is a city in Veszprém County, the seat of the
Balatonfüred district. The settlement originally belonged to Zala
County from the time of King St. Stephen until 1946. "The capital of
the northern shore of Lake Balaton" is the oldest resort on the
shores of Lake Balaton. It is the sixth most popular settlement in
Hungary in terms of guest nights spent in commercial accommodation.
In addition to its proximity to Lake Balaton, its reputation is
mainly due to its carbonated springs and Mediterranean climate.
Significant marina.
Its territory consists of three parts:
the ancient settlement on both sides of the railway line, the old
health resort formed around the spa springs, and the newest Füred
resort / tourist accommodation centers, hostels, camping, holiday
resort, etc. connected to both sides. area. The former village of
Balatonarács was annexed in 1954.
It lies among the sloping hills on the northern shore
of Lake Balaton. The main road 71 passes through the city, as well
as the single-track railway from Budapest to Tapolca. The
neighboring villages are bordered by Tihany, Aszófő, Balatonszőlős,
Csopak, as well as the Öreg Hill, which is usually called here, as
well as the Tamás, György and Péter Hills.
The origin of his
name
The name Füred was originally derived from the shape of the
quail bird für, für and means quail. Due to the bathing culture
settling first to the local sour water springs, then to Lake Balaton
itself and the outstanding role of the settlement in this, by the
19th century the name was reinterpreted and they began to give it a
spa meaning. The result of this reinterpretation was more artificial
place names, such as Biharfüred, Káptalanfüred, Lillafüred,
Mátrafüred or Tátrafüred.
The area of Füred was
already inhabited by prehistoric people. Its first known inhabitants
were the Romans, whose memory is marked by numerous excavated
building ruins and tombs. We first meet the name of Füred as a
written monument in 1211, in a census of the estate of Tihany Abbey.
In the present-day Árpádian area, there were seven settlements,
besides Füred and Arács, Kék, Magyaré, Papsoka, Siske. The oldest
part of the town, built on the banks of the Kéki stream and later
abandoned, is now a vineyard, the Kéki spring itself is still
operating. Its sour water is mentioned in 1717 and again in 1729. In
1722 it was chemically analyzed and declared a medicinal water.
Around this time there was already a wooden bathhouse and soon a
stone house with rooms for rent to guests. Later, a two-storey new
bathroom was also built. Registration of members of the Reformed
community began in 1724, of Roman Catholics in 1800, and of Israelis
in 1863.
Károly Eötvös writes about Journey around Lake
Balaton: “Balatonfüred once consisted of five houses. The restaurant
of the friends of Tihany, the Horváth House in Szentgyörgy, the home
of the Eszterházys of Pápa, the bathhouse and the chapel. But pens
in large numbers for horses and carriages. ” [...] "this was the
only bathing place on Lake Balaton [...] Kenese, Almádi, Alsóörs,
Fülöp, Badacsony, Balatonföldvár, Boglár, Fonyód have not yet been."
The city began to develop in the first half of the 19th century,
during the Reformation. Guests are entertained by a wooden theater
in summer. The Balatonfüred Theater, the first Hungarian-language
stone theater in Transdanubia, was built in 1831, founded by
donations from Sándor Kisfaludy with the help of abbey and folk.
Among other things, István Kerkapoly, Chief Servant Judge of
Tapolca, contributed to the establishment of the theater (at that
time Balatonfüred still belonged to the Tapolca district). János
Horváth Szentgyörgyi organized the first Anna Ball in honor of his
daughter, Anna Krisztina, on July 26, 1825 in the Horváth House in
Füred. The Anna Ball has become a tradition and has been held every
year since. On the initiative of István Széchenyi, the first
steamship on Lake Balaton, the Kisfaludy, started here in 1846. A
shipyard was also established in Füred. In the first half of the
century, it was first a meeting place for the large families of
Transdanubia, and then, especially in the post-compromise period, it
became a popular meeting place for politicians and artists.
Many good friends, many beautiful women, many youthful
acquaintances, many national men are having fun in a group. An
ashing heart bursts into flame again, a dried mood refreshed by the
dew of merriment; memories of the past, patriotic hopes fly there in
front of souls like butterflies in the flower garden. Pull the gypsy
every night, every noon, every dawn. The German can also be scolded,
cruelly. It is also possible to agree on who are the greatest
patriots and who are the true poets. You can also bake pecsovics
when and at what price they were bought by the Viennese court.
-
Károly Eötvös: Journey around Lake Balaton, Balatonfüred chapter;
1900
It was then that the greater prosperity of the
settlement began, the shore of the lake was filled, the promenade
was designed, private villas were built, and the southern wing of
the hospital was built.
In his villa here, Mór Jókai wrote
his famous novel The Golden Man, part of which takes place at Lake
Balaton. Today, the building is a museum where we can see the
writer's furniture and personal belongings. In 1884, the first
Hungarian sailing association, the Stefánia Yacht Club, was founded
here. Balatonfüred, as a large village, had 1,788 Hungarian
inhabitants in 1891, and there was a love house in the village,
connected with an artisan and a vincelle map. Most of the vineyards
were destroyed by phylloxera.
After World War II, in the
1960s, another phase of the city’s development began. In 1966, the
XXVII. FICC (International Camping Caravanning Club) Rally, a
4,000-person campsite built on this. In 1971, Füred was declared the
first spa and resort town in Hungary. Balatonfüred has been "The
International City of Grapes and Wine" since 1987.