Szeged: sights and culture
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Szeged, the city located in southern Hungary on the Tisza River, attracts numerous European and American tourists with its sights. Szeged was first mentioned in documents in 1183, due to its great importance for salt transport and production.
Today, the city of 170,000 inhabitants is characterized primarily by university flair. Its present eclectic image was acquired in the course of reconstruction after the great flood of 1879. Especially the palaces of the city center, spacious squares and parks make Szeged's character.
In the center, Széchenyi tér with the Art Nouveau Town Hall is one of the most beautiful squares. Every year in May, the great wine festival with 150 vintners takes place there. During these ten days, a good 100,000 people flock to Szeged to taste the wines and listen to bands on various stages. The wine festival ends on the second weekend with the Bridge Festival, during which the city bridge is closed to cars and transformed into a colorful market mile. The square is adjoined by Kárász utca, the pedestrian street of Szeged, where various cafés and smaller stores can be found.
It is also worth walking to Klauzál tér square. It is especially recommended for the coffee fans, because Virág-kávéház, one of the most famous and biggest coffee houses of Szeged, is located there. As a student, on the other hand, you can't miss Dugonics tér and its Art Nouveau style university administration building.
Not far away is another and probably the most famous square in Szeged, Dóm tér (Cathedral Square). Also once a year it becomes the venue of the open-air theater festival, the Szeged Open Air Plays. In July and August, a large grandstand is erected in the middle of the square, from which many spectators can watch the various plays. The adjacent Szeged Cathedral, the prominent building that gives its name to the square, was built as a votive church after the aforementioned flood in 1913. During construction, the foundations of the medieval Demetrius Tower were uncovered, which has since been restored and can be visited. A National Memorial Hall frames the square. This pantheon commemorates the outstanding Hungarian political and scientific figures with busts, statues and plaques.
Art lovers should not miss a visit to the Móra Ferenc Múzeum. Located on Roosevelt tér, the gallery bears the name of the Hungarian writer and museum founder at the same time, Ferenc Móra. It houses, among other things, exhibitions on the early history of the region, Móra's life and work, as well as changing exhibitions on the visual arts.
What else you can't miss is a walk along the Tisza River. Towards the end of the summer, the Szin Festival takes place there for four days. The SZIN (Szeged youth days) is a special music event: among others, bands like The Cure have already played there. The venue of the festival is the lido Újszegedi Partfürdő, located directly on the Tisza River.