Békéscsaba

Békéscsaba
City with county rights
Békéscsaba Megyei Jogú Város
Békéscsaba city hall
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	5600, 5623, 5671
Area code	(+36) 66
Website	bekescsaba.hu

Békéscsaba (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbeːkeːʃt͡ʃɒbɒ]; Slovak: Békešská Čaba;^[1] see also other alternative names) is a city with county rights in southeast Hungary, the capital of Békés County.

Geography

Békéscsaba is located in the

The area has been inhabited since the ancient times. In the Iron Age the area had been conquered by the Scythians, by the Celts, then by the Huns. After the Hungarian Conquest, there were many small villages in the area.

The

In 1715, Csaba is mentioned as a deserted place, but only one year later its name can be found in a document mentioning the tax-paying towns. It is likely that the new Csaba was founded by János György Harruckern, who earned distinction in the liberation fights against the Ottoman Empire and bought the area of Békés county. In 1718, Harruckern invited Slovak settlers from Upper Hungary to the deserted area.^[3] By 1847, the town was among the twenty largest towns of Hungary, with a population of 22,000. Nevertheless, Csaba was still like a large village, with muddy streets and crowded houses.

By 1858, the railway line reached the town. This brought development; new houses and factories were built, the town began to prosper. Still, by the end of the 19th century the unemployment caused great tension, and in 1891 a revolt was oppressed by the help of Romanian soldiers. One of the most important person in the politics of the town was András L. Áchim, who founded a peasants' party and succeeded in having Békéscsaba elevated to the rank of "city with council".

World War I brought suffering to the town. Between 1919 and 1920, Békéscsaba was under Romanian occupation. After the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary lost its most important Southern cities, Arad and Nagyvárad (Oradea, both of them today in Romania), and Békéscsaba had to take over their roles, becoming the most important town of the area. Hungarians overtook Slovaks in the 1920s, become the majority according to the census was held in 1930.^[4]

Between the two world wars, a flood in 1925 and the collapse of the global economy four years later, increased poverty and unemployment.

Battles were not fought in the area during

On 21 September 1944, the British and American Air Force bombed the railway station and its surroundings, killing more than 100 people. On 6 October 1944, the Soviet army occupied Békéscsaba.

During the Socialist times, Békéscsaba became the county seat of Békés (1950) and began to develop into one of the most important centres of food industry of Hungary.

According to the 2011 census the total population of Békéscsaba were 62,050, of whom 61,912 people (99.8%) speak Hungarian, 10,140 (16.3%) English, 4,821 (7.8%) German and 3,399 (5.5%) speak Slovak.^[8]

Ethnic groups

According to the 2011 census there were 51,842 (83.5%)

The 1949 census showed 45,892 people, 25,661 (56.2%) Lutheran, 14,216 (31.1%) Roman Catholic, 4,750 (10.4%) Hungarian Reformed and 498 (1.1%) Jewish.[11]

In 2011 there were 10,694 (17.2%) Roman Catholic, 8,012 (12.9%) Lutheran and 4,408 (7.1%) Hungarian Reformed in Békéscsaba. 19,650 people (31.7%) were

• Great Lutheran Church (Evangélikus Nagytemplom)
• Small Lutheran Church (Evangélikus Kistemplom)
• Saint Anthony of Padua Cathedral (Páduai Szent Antal székesegyház)
• City hall (designed by Miklós Ybl, 1873) (Városháza)
• Mihály Munkácsy Museum (Munkácsy Mihály Múzeum)
• Mihály Munkácsy Memorial House (Munkácsy Mihály Emlékház)
• Mór Jókai Theatre (Jókai Színház)
• Slovak County House (Szlovák Tájház)

Politics

The current mayor of Békéscsaba is Péter Szarvas (Hajrá Békéscsaba).

The local Municipal Assembly, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 18 members (1 Mayor, 12 Individual constituencies MEPs and 5 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:^[12]

List of mayors

List of City Mayors from 1990:

Climate

Békéscsaba has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa) closely bordering on a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa). Among them, the annual average temperature is 11.2 °C (52.2 °F), the hottest month in July is 22.1 °C (71.8 °F), and the coldest month is −0.5 °C (31.1 °F) in January. The annual precipitation is 574.3 millimetres (22.61 in), of which July is the wettest with 68.0 millimetres (2.68 in), while January is the driest with only 32.2 millimetres (1.27 in). The extreme temperature throughout the year ranged from −24.6 °C (−12.3 °F) on December 25, 2001 to 41.7 °C (107.1 °F) on August 21, 2000.

Notable people

Born in Békéscsaba

• András L. Áchim (1871-1911), Hungarian politician^[3]
• Gabriella Budai-Corfield (1974), International Sales Manager
• Ján Valašťan Dolinský (1892–1965), Slovak composer
• Péter Gaszner (1939) Hungarian psychiatrist
• Dániel Gyollai (1997), Footballer
• Gyula Hegyi (1951), politician
• Ágnes Késmárki (1981), singer and songwriter
• Károly Klimó (1936), artist
• Gábor Laurenczy (1954), Hungarian chemist and academic
• András Mengyán (1945), Fine artist, designer, professor
• Enikő Mihalik (1987), supermodel
• Henrietta Ónodi (1974), gymnast
• Béla Szabados (1974), swimmer
• Ádám Szepesi (1945), high jumper
• Margit Tevan (1901–1978), goldsmith
• Veronica van Heyningen (b. 1946), geneticist
• László Vidovszky (1944), composer and pianist

Lived in Békéscsaba

• Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky (1886-1944), Hungarian politician
• Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900), Hungarian painter^[3]
• Péter Kelemen World Champion Modern pentathlete

Died in Békéscsaba

• Sándor Erkel (1900), composer, son of Ferenc Erkel

Twin towns – sister cities

Békéscsaba is twinned with:^[14]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Békéscsaba.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Békéscsaba.

• Official website in Hungarian, English and German
• Photos of the town
• Aerial photography: Békéscsaba