Veszprém (Wesprim or Weißbrünn in German, Vesprim in Latin, Vesprém in Slovak) is a county town in the Central Transdanubia region, the seat of Veszprém County and the Veszprém District. University city, city of queens. In 2023, it will also be named European Capital of Culture.
Quote about the location of the city
Stephen, in
the ancient castle of Gizella,
behind them valley bridge: stone
rainbow.
From the wind of Bakony - you would not dare to dream -
gold bell embroidered in mass fabric.
Here the hill into the
valley, valley into the hill,
small streets escape into a stone
wilderness.
Spacious spaces above alleys,
climbing to the
ground floor.
Whisper of the locka Séden.
- Géza Kemény:
Aneszsz of Veszprém
The city of queens is located on the
hills and valleys surrounding the Séd creek, at the confluence of
three small regions: the Bakony mountain range to the north, the
Balaton Uplands to the south, the Balaton Uplands to the south and .
This central situation played a significant role in the formation of
the city and in its socio-economic role and significance throughout
history.
Veszprém is the highest county seat: its surface is
on average 260-270 meters above sea level. The first impression of
arriving in the city is the image of a flat-country town (above)
surrounded by the half-arms of the mountains, which then changes
markedly as it approaches the center. The Séd River divides the
plateau with a meander-like meander, and it is not uncommon for the
city to create level differences of 30 to 40 meters. Areas
fragmented in this way form parts of the city separated by the deep
lines of the Séd and its tributaries. The level differences are
particularly noticeable on the south and east sides of the Séd
Valley, where steep dolomite rocks break high thanks to the work of
the northwest winds.
Veszprém can be reached from
Budapest by road on the M7 motorway, then at Székesfehérvár by
turning off the main road 8. It can be approached from Győr on road
82, from Graz-Körmend on road 8, from Balatonfüred on road 73, and
from Tapolca on road 77. Among the lower roads, the area of
Veszprém is affected by the road 7217 leading to Balatonalmádi and
the road 7219 leading to Alsóörs.
It can be reached by train
on the Székesfehérvár – Szombathely railway line or on the Győr –
Veszprém railway line. The Alsóörs – Veszprém railway line,
previously favored mainly by tourists from Lake Balaton, was
abolished in 1969 and then closed down.
In the
western part of today's district called Újtelep, the i. e. In the
5th millennium it stood a large-scale Neolithic settlement. Although
the Romans probably did not settle in the area of the town, they
set up a villa on the outskirts of Gyulafirátót and a farm on
Balácán called Caesariana.
The castle of Veszprém, together
with the castles of Esztergom and Székesfehérvár, was one of our
earliest castles, it certainly existed in the time of Géza, but
according to some assumptions it was already before the conquest.
Although Veszprém has traditionally been built on 7 hills (Castle
Hill, Benedict Hill, Jerusalem Hill, Cser Back, Cemetery Hill, Galya
Hill and Calvary Hill), it is more likely that settlement in the
valleys preceded the incorporation of the hills in time. At the
beginning of the Middle Ages, the castle and the villages around the
independent castle (“nails”) merged into a single settlement over
the centuries.
The name of the town comes from the Slavic
word bezprem, which according to linguists means “uneven”, “hilly”,
referring to the natural endowments of Veszprém. However, it is also
possible that the name of the city is of personal origin. In this
case, he almost certainly got his name from the nephew of Stephen I
(the child of Géza's daughter), the Polish prince Bezprym. Bezprym -
after being persecuted by his father, King Bolshavian of Poland,
with his mother - settled in Hungary, where he may have had a ducal
estate covering several counties, and the Veszprém castle estate was
part of it. Thus, according to the custom of the age, he was able to
get his name from the first ispán of the city, that is.
Veszprém also played an important role in the struggle for the
introduction of Christianity, where István I defeated Koppány's
armies. The city is the first episcopal seat in the country (since
1001 or 1002), and since 1993 it has been archbishop’s seat.
Veszprém County was one of the earliest organized counties. The city
was the favorite residence of Stephen I’s wife, Gizella; later, for
centuries, the bishops of Veszprém crowned the Hungarian queens and
bore the title of queen chancellor.
During the Tartar
invasion, the castle withstood the attacks, and although it was
damaged in 1276 and 1380, it was always repaired and improved. The
heyday of Veszprém was the bishopric of the Renaissance Albert
Vetési (1458–1486).
In the 16th century, the city was greeted
by dark decades. He was not able to withstand a great deal of
resistance against the Turks, so it may have happened that between
1552 and 1683 he changed hands a total of ten times. The parts of
the settlement around the castle were depopulated, the population
was divided by the opposites of the Reformation and the
Counter-Reformation. In 1704, the imperial troops led by Sigbert
Heister brutally ravaged Veszprém, which was next to the Kurucs,
during the Rákóczi War of Independence.
The 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century were
characterized by peaceful development. The city became the
commercial center of Central Transdanubia, mainly due to its grain
market, and its population increased from 2,500 to 14,000. The
industrialization of the town was represented by the mills and
leather processing manufactories located in Sédre. It was then that
most of today's buildings were built. The obstacle to even faster
development was the feudal and administrative (county chief judge)
dependence of the townspeople on the bishop, which only disappeared
in 1870, when Veszprém became a town with an orderly council.
The first railway lines in Hungary avoided the city. When the
Székesfehérvár – Veszprém – Szombathely line was finally built in
1872, the bishop and the city leaders prevented it from passing
through the city, so the railway station was built at Jutas, several
kilometers from the city center. This decision had serious
consequences for the development of the city: the guild industry and
the grain market of Veszprém started to decline, its former
commercial role ceased. Economic stagnation was also reflected in
the halt in population growth. In order to recover from the
stagnation of the city’s economy, city and county society
experimented in different ways. As a result of his determined and
financially striving efforts, the passage of the 7th main transport
road through the city once again connected the city to the national
circulation.
The boom lasted until the 1930s; at that time a
considerable military industry was settled in the city, the famous
"Jutasi non-commissioned officer", a military airport, was installed
here. In 1930, Veszprém received the county city title. The St.
Stephen's Valley Bridge (locally known as the viaduct) was built
until 1938. During World War II, the city was hit by several
bombings, mainly due to its transport hub nature. Even the middle
arch of the Viaduct was severely damaged.
After the war,
there was also a profound change in the city's social role, in its
participation in the social division of labor. The nature of the
formerly dominant provider, clerk, and school city has changed
greatly. With its industrialization, the number and proportion of
those employed in industry increased, while the old school city and
administrative roles intensified. It became a university town and
became the organizing and supplying settlement of the Bakony and
Balaton Uplands. Industrialization, in parallel with the
establishment of research institutes and universities, continued in
the 1950s, as a result of which the city’s population tripled and
halved in 40 years.
"Obviously, all these changes have
resulted in a large degree of change in the urban area, the use of
inner land, the settlement functions in the urban area, their
location and needs. It goes without saying that in such
circumstances Due to the proximity of Lake Balaton, the
internationally booming resort tourism, due to its proximity to Lake
Balaton, sometimes induces In generalizing and summarizing the
above, the city of Veszprém was able to meet the level of
development of the local population in the eighties. came when the
quantitative elements of urban development (population, jobs, land
use, infrastructure) could no longer exist within the framework of
the old urban structure.
Under such circumstances, a series
of contradictions arise. Unlocking this required a new settlement
structure, as well as the systematization, organization and planning
of its development.”, jobs, land use, infrastructure) can no longer
exist within the framework of the old urban structure, and a series
of contradictions arise in such circumstances. ".
The general zoning plan adopted in 1982, which responded to the needs quoted above (and was prepared after several settlement planning plans), was intended to provide an answer to the problems that had arisen and to the possibilities for the long-term development of the city. The dynamic developments launched on the basis of the plan started city reconstruction works shaping a new settlement structure and transport system. This developmental process was broken after the change of regime, population growth came to a halt and then declined. Urban development goals and programs have also changed. In 1990, Veszprém was able to become a city with county status. Together with the Balaton region, it applied for the title of European Capital of Culture 2023, which it won, so 13 years after Pécs, EKF will become a Hungarian city again.