Hódmezővásárhely (Croatian: Vašrelj, Vašarelj) is a town with county status, the second largest population of Csongrád-Csanád county and the second largest settlement in Hungary, the seat of the Hódmezővásárhely district. It has been one of the most important economic and cultural centers of the Great Plain for centuries, one of the most successful former market towns. Until the middle of the 20th century, it was one of the most populous cities in the country: in 1920 it was in fifth place, in 1930 it was in tenth place, and in 2010 it was only twenty-second. Between 1950 and 1961 it was the seat of Csongrád county.
Hódmezővásárhely is located in the Trans-Tisza
region, between Maros and Körös. It is located in the southeastern
part of the Great Plain, 25 km from Szeged. The city with the second
largest administrative area in the country after Budapest, it is a
significant educational, economic, cultural and artistic center of
the Southern Great Plain region.
Neighbors: Derekegyház from
the north, Székkutas from the northeast, Békéssámson from the east,
Földeák from the southeast, Óföldeák and Maroslele from the south,
Algyő from the southwest, Sándorfalva and Dóc from the west and
Mártély from the northwest.
(Its administrative area in the
southeast, between the Békéssámson and Földeák borders, touches the
northern outskirts of Makó, similarly bordering the Mindszent area
from the northwest, but the latter two cannot be called the real
neighbor of the city, due to the greater distance between their
inhabited areas and actually neighboring settlements.)
Road network
The city was formed at the
junction of two busy, old Trans-Tisza transport routes, the main
road 45 from Kunszentmárton and the main road 47 between
Debrecen-Békéscsaba-Szeged. A few decades ago, both main roads were
introduced to the interior of Vásárhely, their meeting point was at
one of the downtown intersections of today's Tóalj Street. In the
meantime, however, the northern bypass halfway of road 47 has been
completed, and since then the vast majority of the previously main
road sections within it have been downgraded to municipal roads. One
of the few exceptions is Highway 472 between the southern edge of
the downtown and the western junction of the northern bypass, and
Route 4459 between the eastern branch of the northern bypass and the
eastern edge of the inner area.
Among the surrounding
settlements, with the touch of Szentes, Szegvár, Mindszent and
Mártély, the 4521, with Kardoskút 4418, with Békéssámson and
Tótkomlós 4421, with Földeák 4415, with Maroslele and Makó 4414,
Algyő Tisza-balparti it is connected by roads 4454 (on the latter,
then on road 4413, the facilities of the Nagyfa Penitentiary are
also accessible from the city). The access road serving the Kútvölgy
district and the Kútvölgy stop is also numbered as a state road,
numbered 44 121 as a suburban road section in the Kopáncs district,
and numbered 44 122 as a section of the old Tízöles út.
Railway
It can be reached by train on the lines of MÁV number 130
(Szolnok-Tiszatenyő-Kunszentmárton-Szentes-Hódmezővásárhely-Makó)
and number 135 (Szeged-Hódmezővásárhely-Orosháza-Békéscsaba). The
two railway lines run on the same route between the Hódmezővásárhely
Népkert stop and the Hódmezővásárhely railway station. Other stops
in the city are Kútvölgy stop and Hódmezővásárhely-Ipartelepek stop.
The Tram-Train line connecting Szeged with Hódmezővásárhely is
expected to be built by 2020, so a tram will also run in
Hódmezővásárhely.
Road public transport
It can be reached
by bus from several directions, but the city bus station is not
served by several long-distance and express buses. On an average
teaching day, almost 100 buses depart for the county seat, although
a significant part of them are long-distance or intra-county (eg
Szeged-Szentes) intercity flights. The express bus to Szeged, which
departs from the railway station, runs every hour according to a
special timetable and tariff.
Outside Szeged, there are
frequent buses to Makora and Szentes, both cities, in two
directions. You can get to Maroslele and Földeák to Makó, while to
Szentes you can get to Barattyos and Mindszent. There are also six
daily bus services to Budapest. In addition to these important
destinations, of course, buses also run to the surrounding
settlements (Orosháza, Székkutas), and several long-distance flights
affecting the city provide travel opportunities to different regions
of the country.
There is also a local bus transport in
Hódmezővásárhely, although due to the structure of the city the
flights are not used much. There are currently 9 destinations.
The origin of his name
The predecessor of today's settlement
was formed in the 14th century by the merger of two Árpádian
villages, Hód and Vásárhely. The name of the beaver is probably the
same as the animal name of the beaver, the name of the beaver lake
is known in Latin form from the 13th century and is still preserved
today by a part of the town and the beaver lake canal. The name
Vásárhely means a settlement with the right to hold a fair. My name
"field" emphasizing the character of a market town was later added
to the name Hódvásárhely. Lajos Kiss: Etymological Dictionary of
Geographical Names I. (A – K). 4th ed., Ed. expenditure. Budapest:
Akadémiai. 1988. 599. p. ISBN 963-05-4568-3
In Croatian, the
settlement has two names: Vašrelj, used by the people of Tompa, and
Vašarelj, used by the people of Bácsalmás.