Nagykanizsa (German: Großkirchen, Großkanizsa, Croatian: Velika Kaniža, Turkish: Kanije) is a medium-sized county town in Zala County. As the center of the Nagykanizsa district, many settlements belong to its catchment area. Geographically, it is located in the Zala Hills, and its southern parts are part of the Zalaapáti Ridge.
Location
It was built in the southern part of Zala County, 13
km northeast of the Mura River, on both sides of the Principal Canal
connecting Zala and Mura. Geographically, it is located in the Zala
Hills, in the area of the Zalaapáti ridge. Low-lying (100-110 m)
countryside, many canals cross the surrounding wet meadows and
pastures to drain the former swamp world. It is surrounded by
forested hills with an altitude of more than 200 m to the north and
northwest of the city. The main road 7 and the M7 motorway pass
through the city.
Climate
Due to its location in
Nagykanizsa, the impact of the Alps and the Atlantic Ocean, and to
some extent the Mediterranean Sea, is better than the national
average. As a result, the city’s climate is wetter, windier, with
less sunlight and a slightly more balanced temperature. The annual
rainfall is more even than the national average and mostly falls in
the form of thunderstorms.
Due to its location, Nagykanizsa
cannot enjoy lasting snow cover, because from time to time it is
melted by light air masses from the ocean or the Adriatic. The
relatively mild winter temperature is due to the fact that hard
terrain does not characterize the city area either. The cool ocean
and warm Mediterranean air masses alleviate the cold in winter and
the heat in summer. Although Nagykanizsa is a higher temperature
area of Zala county, with an average annual temperature of 10.2 °
C, it is still one of the coolest landscapes in the country. The
prevailing wind direction is northeast-southwest.
Research into the history of Nagykanizsa and its
surroundings dates back more than a hundred years. Flóris Rómer was
one of the first to draw attention to the city's historical
monuments in the 19th century.
Memories of prehistory
The
history of Nagykanizsa and its surroundings dates back to the
Neolithic period (5000 BC - 2500 BC). The oldest finds come from
this period, which became known for their special line-decorated
ceramics and primitive stone tools. Excavations in Becsehely brought
to the surface the finds of all the cultures and phases of the
Neolithic Age. (Cremation burials and, of course, remnants of
independent copper work) The unusually high population density is
indicated by the more than thirty discovered sites.
Bronze
Age Culture i. e. 1900 - i. e. It flourished around 800 in the area.
Of the finds found at the Inkey Chapel, a small bull statue for cult
purposes is the most interesting. The culture of the Late Bronze Age
was swept away by the equestrian-nomadic peoples attacking from the
east and the peoples spreading the Hallstatt culture attacking from
the west. The finds of the early Iron Age are unusually found only
in traces.
Celts, Romans
The i. e. In the 4th century,
Celts from the west flooded the entire Carpathian Basin. Since the
time of the emperor August, Rome, which had grown into an empire,
wanted to defend itself by natural borders from barbaric attacks
from the east. After the bloody battles with the Celts, by the
middle of the 1st century, Transdanubia also became part of the
empire. The first Roman finds around Nagykanizsa are also from the
middle of the 1st century, but the real flowering was in the first
half of the 2nd century. Over time, a dense network of settlements
of Celtic and Italian origin developed. The area and area of
Nagykanizsa was far from the main transport routes of the Roman
Empire, so it was not one of the most important centers. Remains of
stone buildings and underfloor heating, wall painting and pottery
furnaces, and burials have been found in some of the ubiquitous
residences.
The age of migration
During the migration that
shattered Roman rule, South Zala was probably occupied by the East
Gothic and Alan tribes. The recent expansion of the Huns, who became
increasingly important in the east, diverted the Western Goths to
the landscapes of Zala. The Romanized population fled. There are
hardly any archeological finds from this age. The disintegration of
the Hun Empire was followed by the rule of the East Goths. Another
East Gothic rule was abolished by the Longobards. The ensuing two
centuries of bloody Avar rule depopulated South Zala and set it back
in development. Nagykanizsa was occupied at the beginning of the 7th
century. From the end of the century, the Zala – Mura area became
uninhabited for about a century. The Avar collapse was accomplished
by the Frankish Empire, which had grown into a world power, forcing
Christianity on the population and annexing the area to the Danube.
The area around Nagykanizsa is the 8th-9th it was repopulated at the
turn of the century. When Emperor Charles the Great arrived in
Aachen in mid-November 811, he was already awaited by ‘Kanisauci,
the Avar prince’ (Canisauciprinceps Avarorum) from Pannonia, ‘other
noble s princes of the Tudun and Slavs living by the Danube’ (et
alii primores ac duces Sclavorum circa Danubium babitantium),
'summoned before the leaders by the commanders of the troops
commanded to Pannonia'.
It must be taken into account at the
origin of the name Kanizsa that the Knyaz (Hungarian in Kenez) was a
dignified name of Slavic origin, meaning prince and prince.
The age of conquest
After the consolidation of Frankish rule, a
few decades of calm followed, and then at the end of the 9th
century, Hungarians appeared. There are no Hungarian finds from this
age. This was certainly the border protection area of the
Hungarians, the grassland area. The defeat of the Hungarian
adventures also meant the fall of the Bulcsú generation interested
here, the area became the prince. After that, the Kanizsa area was
organized within the framework of Kolon County. Under the
supervision of the chief lord of the county, royal castle lands were
formed. The secular estate also appeared. Judging from the place
names, the majority of the population may have been South Slavs.
Ecclesiastically, Kanizsa and its surroundings were located on the
border of the diocese of Zagreb, founded by Veszprém and St.
Ladislaus.
The medieval Kanizsa
The name Kanizsa is first encountered in 1245 when it is
mentioned in the form of àterra Knysa. ARC. Prince Bela donated a
property called Bille to Border, which was bordered by a land called
Knysa. It follows that Kanizsa already existed as a Hungarian
settlement before the Tartar invasion. A 13–14. At the turn of the
19th century, the Kőszegi family owned the Kanizsa castle. In 1323,
the castle maid of Kanizsa Castle received Lőrinc of the Oslo gender
from Károly Róbert as a reward for his loyalty. This is the first
charter that first mentions the castle itself. He also died in the
service of the king during the unfortunate 1330s campaign in the
Highlands. The name Kanizsa was taken only by his descendants. At
the beginning of the 14th century, therefore, the core of the
castle, which later became famous in Europe after reconstructions
and enlargements, was already in place. Kanizsa around the castle
has meanwhile developed into a market town. We know about customs
revenues, farewell permits obtained from the Pope (1374–1402).
Several parishes existed in the vicinity of Kanizsa, and in 1423 the
establishment of a Franciscan monastery was authorized by Pope
Martin V. It was first mentioned as a town in 1409, it had a bath
(1423) and a hospital (1481). The Kanizsa family remained the owner
of Kanizsa for two centuries. The Kanizsaians became the owners of
vast wealth. In 1532 the family became extinct on a male branch, the
estate inherited on a daughter branch. The last descendant of the
famous family was Orsolya Kanizsai, who was married at the age of 9
with the permission of King János Szapolyai, and thus gained the
huge, then perhaps the greatest wealth of the country. He died in
1571 as the widow of palatine Tamás Nádasdy, and the family became
extinct.
Kanizsa and the Turks
In 1532, the Turkish
attacking Vienna ran through Kanizsa and inflicted a great blow.
After the country was divided into three parts, Turkish robberies
became permanent. It became essential to strengthen the castle of
Kanizsa, the work of which began in 1554 under the direction of the
Italian military engineer Pietro Ferrabosco. The fortified castle
was divided into inner, middle and outer castles. In the absence of
stone, the building material was mostly wood and earth. The fort was
protected by an artificially inflated swamp. After the fall of
Szigetvár in 1566, Kanizsa became important for the court, so it was
made the seat of the headquarters between Lake Balaton and the
Drava. The market town of Kanizsa suffered greatly from the fall of
Szigetvár. As a result of the frequent destruction of the Turks, its
trade also collapsed. In 1568, Kanizsa became a royal castle, after
Orsolya Kanizsai, who remained a widow due to the growing Turkish
threat, exchanged her estates here with the treasury for the rewards
of Csejte Castle and Porsmonostor Abbey. Between 1567 and 1571,
György Thury, the famous wrestler, was the captain of the Kanizsa
castle, under whose leadership the border fortress troops often led
successful raids against the Turkish fortifications in South
Transdanubia.
On October 22, 1600, the castle fell into
Turkish hands. The Turks were aware of the value of the area.
Kanizsa became a Turkish vilajet center, headed by Murat Pasha. The
castle was also rebuilt and fortified. The guard of the castle was
3825 people. In addition to the muezzin, there was a teacher in the
city. In addition to the Turkish army, more and more South Slavs
settled in place of the fleeing Hungarians. The description of the
famous Turkish historian Evlija Cselebi is about a busy city of
multi-storey houses, mostly made of wood, with two bathrooms. With a
mosque, high school (madrasa), two monasteries, minarets and more
than fifty shops.
Between April 21 and May 30, 1664, Miklós
Zrínyi launched a siege against the occupied castle, which was
unsuccessful due to the late issuance of a permit by the Austrian
court.
After the Turkish rule
On April 13, 1690, Batthyány
II. Adam liberated Kanizsa Castle. In 1703, the castle walls of
Kanizsa were demolished, ditches were buried, and thus it became an
open city. Until 1705 he was directly under the jurisdiction of the
Vienna Court Chamber. A German garrison was stationed in the castle,
and the population of the town grew with new settlers. However, the
development of the hopefully strengthening city has been broken.
Emperor Leopold I withdrew the army and ordered the castle to be
demolished, then, as a final blow, forced it under the jurisdiction
of a landlord by donation. The first landlord was Jakab Grassics,
then the family of Count Szapáry, and finally in 1743 it was
acquired by Count Lajos Batthyány. The landlords gradually deprived
the city of its independence. They were forced to pay taxes, their
main sources of income were obtained, and even lands conquered by
hard work from the swamp were even taken back. The city did not
settle for historical defeat and for decades, sparing no money,
pursued a lawsuit to obtain free royal city status, but was
constantly defeated.
Due to its favorable geographical location, meanwhile, the
population of Kanizsa has grown significantly. While in 1715 256
inhabitants were counted, in 1770 3711 persons. The reason for the
rapid growth was immigration. The population was mostly engaged in
arable and viticulture, but there was also an increase in civic and
merchant citizenship. Many of them were merchants of Jewish and
Greek descent. The city was given the right to hold the fair again.
The development of guilds and the organization in 1698 began with
the founding of tailors and furriers' guild. The number of craftsmen
gathered in guilds increased significantly. In 1832, 256
industrialists were registered.
As the population grew, the
image and size of the city changed. Only a few buildings were made
of brick. Until the middle of the 19th century, only one street was
paved. The first school maintained by the city operated only from
1807, but the Piarist grammar school gained great fame, which was
opened in 1765 with the HUF 10,000 foundation of Lajos Batthyány,
the landlord of the city. At that time, Zala-Somogy-Vas counties
were the only such institution, and many students also came from
Croatia.
Nagykanizsa from 1848 until the First World War
In the middle of the 19th century, Nagykanizsa, with a population of
13,000, was the most populous and most civilized city in Zala. The
news of the revolution of 1848 aroused the greatest enthusiasm here.
On March 19, at a rally held at the Upper Town Church, the
population was enlightened about the goals of the revolution. On
March 20, the 12 points of Kanizsa were adopted, which deviated from
the pest in three points, the national badges were set, and then the
National Guard was organized in April. With an army of 30,000,
Jellasics occupied the city without resistance. The Croatians
thoroughly defiled and robbed Jellasics' defeat in Pákozd sealed the
fate of the occupying Croatian army. The people of Kanizsa attacked
him and then, with the help of the national guards surrounding the
city, drove them out of the city. The successes of the spring
campaign of 1849 brought only a short breath, the Austrians finally
took over the city and the dictatorship began.
Following the
compromise, completely new conditions developed in the city. The
most striking change was seen in economic life. Thousands of carters
working for local wholesalers have proven that the city is centrally
located, its fairs are significant, so it’s worth driving the train
to it. The Southern Railway Company handed over the line between
Nagykanizsa and Pragerhof in 1860, which was followed by the line
Nagykanizsa – Buda and the line Nagykanizsa – Barcs in the 1960s.
The traders had a huge turnover, banks were established to meet
their increased credit needs, such as the Nagykanizsa Savings Bank,
organized by local capitalists, and the South Zala Savings Bank, the
Commercial and Industrial Bank, the Nagykanizsa Banking Association,
and the Austro-Hungarian Bank and the English-Hungarian Bank. Bank
account.
The first plant to be considered an industrial plant
in the modern sense was the Weiser Machine Factory, founded in 1842.
It produced boilers and agricultural machinery for Italian and
Turkish exports. Nagykanizsa Brewery Rt. Was established in 1893,
and operated a Lajos Francz power plant. The industry of the city
became more and more significant, a brick factory, a brush factory,
a distillery, a replacement coffee factory employed many, many
people.
Education also expanded, and from 1867 the grammar
school became 8th grade. In 1886 an industrial apprenticeship school
was established, in 1872 and then in 1891 a civic boys 'and girls'
school, and in 1895 a high school was established thanks to the
Jewish merchants.
As a result of civic existence and
prosperity, the Zala-Somogyi Gazette was published in 1862 and Zala
from 1874. In 1885, the City Hospital also opened.
Significant developments have transformed the image of the city. The
former “mud nest” grew into a 57-street city with 18,000 inhabitants
in 1864, then reached 28,000 in 1910. From 1870, brick roads began
to be paved, and then electricity came on at the end of the century.
The Association of Hungarian Literature and Art Supporters of
Nagykanizsa was founded in 1885. The association elected László
Farnek, a lawyer, as its president and Viktor Tuboly (1833–1902), a
lawyer, as its clerk. In April 1896, Count Nándor Zichy himself, the
founder of the People's Party and the Constitution, came down to
Nagykanizsa for a people's assembly. Gyula Oroszváry became the
chairman of the Nagykanizsa People's Party, which was formed at that
time, and Viktor Tuboly, the resigned lawyer, became its
vice-chairman.
In 1892, negotiations began on the introduction of the
Nagykanizsa telephone. The application of twenty subscribers was a
condition for the city to be included in the telephone traffic. The
subscription fee for a station was HUF 70. By the end of August
1892, the telephone system in Nagykanizsa was ready, with 18
subscribers in 1896. At that time, Nagykanizsa was still the only
public telephone network in Zalamegyó, which was built in 1901; 92
subscribers were also involved in interurban traffic. The number of
telephone conversations was around 30,000 per year.
Nagykanizsa was also a significant military town at this time. The
army stationed in the two huge barracks formed a significant
purchasing power. The significance of this particular role increased
in 1914. In the first nine months of the war, more than 30,000
wounded were cared for. It is characteristic of its significance
within Nagykanizsa county that almost half of the war tax of the
whole county was paid here. Between 1896 and 1918, Ferenc Viosz
(1861–1918) of Nemesvita was a prestigious chief judge of the
Nagykanizsa district, an enthusiastic forerunner of the anti-alcohol
movement of the beginning of the century, and gained popularity and
respect in the county.
Between the two world wars
In 1920,
the Treaty of Trianon was signed, according to which Nagykanizsa
became a border town with the enemy on the other side. During the
presidency of István Bethlen, the slowly stabilizing system
struggled with a lot of local problems. These were poverty, high
unemployment, the unresolved issue of land, and the lack of
democracy.
In 1928, Dr. Ferenc Mező, a teacher at the city's
grammar school, won an Olympic gold medal in the art category at the
Amsterdam Olympics for his work on the history of the Olympics.
After the World War, Nagykanizsa, who was pushed to the border,
found it difficult to recover, and its promising development before
the war was visibly broken. The city’s industry and trade lost its
most important markets, which were Croatia, Dalmatia, Turkey and
Italy. Despite great difficulties, the city tried to stay afloat.
With careful urban planning, the construction of the water supply
and sewerage network began, a new family-run district was built in
Katonarét, and a new modern Post Palace was built. In 1926, the City
Music School was opened. The hospital was further expanded, with the
City Theater built in 1927 and the beach bath in 1933. The main
streets were covered with basalt cubes and sand asphalt, and the
city's public spaces were decorated with statues. By 1928, the water
management of the Principal Valley was completed, and the grammar
school moved into the barracks on Sugár út. To replace this, the
Áron Gábor barracks was built on the outskirts of the city. In the
late 1930s, the oil and gas reserves of Zala were discovered. The
Hungarian American Oil Company (MAORT) was established, with its
headquarters in Nagykanizsa. The MAORT site, now under local
protection, was established in 1942–1943 for its workers and
officials.
The global crisis stirred up emotions again, but
in fact, from the second half of the 1930s, the city’s political
life intensified and became more and more extreme. Political rights
expanded, and in line with the war mood, revisionist, chauvinist,
and anti-Semitic voices became more prevalent. World War II demanded
another ordeal and great blood sacrifices from the inhabitants of
the city, pushing Nagykanizsa to the brink of destruction. The
brutality of the Arrow Cross culminated in the horrors of wartime.
Nagykanizsa from 1945 until the change of regime
At the end
of March 1945, the military events of World War I reached the area
of Nagykanizsa. The 57th Soviet and 1st Bulgarian armies marched
into the city on April 1, 1945. The Sagittarius power organization
disintegrated in a matter of moments, so a few days later they were
able to set up a national commission with the help of communist,
social democratic, trade union and other non-partisan people. In
May, the local organization of the National Peasant Party and the
Smallholders' Party was formed, which also had a seat on the
national committee.
The 1945 elections were free elections
organized on the basis of the first general and secret elections.
Following the fraudulent elections of 1947, communist takeovers,
nationalizations, elections instead of elections, and the council
system introduced in 1950 took place in accordance with national
policy. The dictatorship of the 1950s and great poverty sparked fear
and resentment from the population. Nagykanizsa was particularly
uncomfortably affected by the deteriorating relations with
neighboring Yugoslavia. Traffic decreased, development stopped.
In 1956, the news of the events of October 23 in Budapest sparked
a popular movement in the city as well. In the early afternoon of
October 25, the street events began with a parade organized for DKG
employees. The people gathering in Szabadság Square passed Ady
Street in front of the Town Hall and then the officers' club, after
which they marched to the border guard's barracks. As the young men
walked the streets, they crushed the coats of arms and red stars off
the buildings. After dark, a large crowd gathered in the then
Freedom Square and demanded the removal of the Soviet monument.
Eventually, the people rushed to the statue, but only with the help
of the drilling company's crawler power plant was they able to
demolish the statue on the 17-foot pedestal. On Friday evening,
October 26, a group of protesters marched in front of the
headquarters of the Hungarian Workers' Party (ÁVH building, former
Villa Kreiner) and demanded weapons. The army then fired into the
crowd, the gunfire had 2 dead and 14 wounded. On Saturday, October
27, workers' councils were formed, on October 28, the heads of
factories, institutions, offices and representatives of armed bodies
were formed with the participation of representatives of the armed
bodies, and a decision was made to set up a national guard to
preserve order and peace. On Wednesday, October 31, the committee
decided to entrust the leadership of the National Guard to a former
military officer, Olympian, known and respected in the city as
Nándor Orbán. It was then that the military council was formed,
headed by György Honti. Led by the administration, dr. Ferenc Paizs
was entrusted. After the capital was attacked by Soviet troops on
November 4, the National Committee in Nagykanizsa warned the
population to be calm during the expected occupation, and those who
have a weapon should not use it, because even a single rifle shot
could result in severe retaliation. On November 5, the city
surrendered without resistance. Between July 1957 and June 1958, a
total of 91 years in prison were imposed on 27 defendants in four
large lawsuits.
The Kádár regime, which unfolded in the
1960s, created peace relatively quickly with its “soft
dictatorship”, reforms, and raising living standards. The relatively
freer atmosphere, the increased confidence of the capitalist
countries of Western Europe, and the general economic growth in
Nagykanizsa also brought a boom.
Nowadays
In 1990, the
first free elections were held after the regime change. In the new
system of self-government, the role of the city has increased with
the large-scale revocation of county powers and the simultaneous
increase of the powers of representatives delegated to county
self-government. Added to this was the fact that Nagykanizsa became
one of the country's twenty cities with county rights. In addition
to the political parties, the cultural associations operating in the
city, the churches and the organizations working to beautify the
settlement happily shaped public life and gave way to civic
existence. Within the framework of the Urban Rehabilitation Program
launched in 2010, the entire city center will be renewed, and the
city's public spaces will be given a new image. The project is
scheduled to end in 2012. On December 18, 2015, the section of the
main road 61 bypassing Nagykanizsa was handed over.