Baja, Hungary
Baja | ||
---|---|---|
Non-religious 16.0% | | |
• Unknown | 29.2% | |
Area code | 79 | |
Website | www |
Baja (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbɒjɒ]) is a city with county rights in Bács-Kiskun County, southern Hungary. It is the second largest city in the county, after the county seat at Kecskemét, and is home to some 35,000 people. Baja is the seat of the Baja municipality.
The environs of Baja have been continuously inhabited since the end of the Iron Age, but there is evidence of human presence since prehistoric times. The settlement itself was most likely established in the 14th century. After the Ottoman Empire had conquered Hungary, it grew to prominence more than the other nearby settlements, and was granted town rights in 1696.
Today, Baja plays an important role in the life of Northern Bácska as a local commercial centre and the provider of public services such as education and healthcare. It has several roads and a railway connection to other parts of the country, and also offers local Public transport for its residents. Being close to the Danube and the forest of Gemenc, as well as having its own cultural sights, makes it a candidate for tourism, but this is not well established yet.
Etymology
The city's Hungarian name is probably derived from a Turkic language. The commonly known "bull" name is likely not its real origin, but may have gotten its title from the first owner of the city, Baja. The Latin name of the town is Francillo. Baja also used to have a German name: Frankenstadt.
The South Slavs,
History
The city was first mentioned in 1308. The Bajai family was the first known owner of the town. In 1474 the settlement was given to the Czobor family by Matthias Corvinus.
During the
In the 18th century, Hungary with its regained territories was a part of the
In 1699, Baja was Bács-Bodrog county's most "industrialized" city.
In the 19th century Baja became a minor railway hub, but its importance declined as the railway to Fiume (Rijeka) was built in order to get Hungarian grain seaborne. The city was still a commercial and service center for the region.
In 1918, after World War I, the ceasefire line placed the city under administration of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. By the Treaty of Trianon from 1920, the city was assigned to Hungary, and became the capital of the reduced county of Bács-Bodrog.
After World War II the city became known for its
Historical population
The city's population was growing rapidly in the 20th century (especially in the
The demographic evolution of Baja is the following:
Year | Population |
---|---|
1870 | 21,248 |
1910 | 24,588 |
1920 | 22,522 |
1941 | 32,084 |
1949 | 27,936 |
1960 | 30,263 |
1970 | 35,575 |
1980 | 38,523 |
1990 | 38,686 |
2001 | 38,360 |
2008 | 37,573 |
2019 | 34 495 |
See also
- Serbian-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic
Demographics
The city has 33,142 residents as of 1 January 2023. In the 2001 Census, the 16% larger population of 38,360 reported its ethnicity thus:
- 93.5% Hungarians;
- 2.7% Germans;
- 1.3% Croats;
- 0.4% Serbs;
- 0.1% Slovaks;
- 0.5% Romani people;
- 6.1% unknown or did not say.[4]
As of 1 January 2019, there are 17 149 houses.
Geography
Location
Baja is located about 150 km (93 mi) south of Budapest and 108 km (67 mi) southwest of Kecskemét, at the crossing of Road 55 and Road 51, on the river Danube. Baja's main river is Sugovica (also called Kamarás-Duna).
Baja is at the meeting point of two large regions: the
Baja is located on the left bank of the river, on the Great Hungarian Plain. However, Baja is more similar to the cities of Transdanubia. To the east, arable crops such as maize, wheat and barley are grown.
Climate
Baja is at the meeting of the continental and mediterranean region of Hungary. The summers are hot (the temperature sometimes goes up to 36–37 °C) and stifling, while the winters are cold and snowy. It often rains in the spring. At summertime extreme torrential rains are getting common every now and then in the region.
Climate data for Baja, 1991−2020 normals | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 18.0 (64.4) |
21.4 (70.5) |
25.5 (77.9) |
31.9 (89.4) |
34.1 (93.4) |
37.2 (99.0) |
41.2 (106.2) |
40.4 (104.7) |
37.3 (99.1) |
29.1 (84.4) |
24.3 (75.7) |
20.1 (68.2) |
41.2 (106.2) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 4.0 (39.2) |
6.8 (44.2) |
12.5 (54.5) |
18.9 (66.0) |
23.7 (74.7) |
27.3 (81.1) |
29.4 (84.9) |
29.4 (84.9) |
23.6 (74.5) |
17.9 (64.2) |
10.7 (51.3) |
4.3 (39.7) |
17.4 (63.3) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −0.1 (31.8) |
1.6 (34.9) |
6.1 (43.0) |
11.5 (52.7) |
16.3 (61.3) |
20.0 (68.0) |
21.8 (71.2) |
21.4 (70.5) |
16.1 (61.0) |
11.0 (51.8) |
5.7 (42.3) |
0.6 (33.1) |
11.0 (51.8) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −3.5 (25.7) |
−2.8 (27.0) |
0.4 (32.7) |
4.6 (40.3) |
9.5 (49.1) |
13.1 (55.6) |
14.5 (58.1) |
14.2 (57.6) |
10.1 (50.2) |
5.6 (42.1) |
1.7 (35.1) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
5.4 (41.7) |
Record low °C (°F) | −26.6 (−15.9) |
−26.1 (−15.0) |
−22.5 (−8.5) |
−8.0 (17.6) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
1.4 (34.5) |
4.0 (39.2) |
4.5 (40.1) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
−15.2 (4.6) |
−24.9 (−12.8) |
−26.6 (−15.9) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 32.1 (1.26) |
37.3 (1.47) |
33.7 (1.33) |
39.6 (1.56) |
65.5 (2.58) |
76.3 (3.00) |
63.6 (2.50) |
57.2 (2.25) |
63.6 (2.50) |
54.6 (2.15) |
46.5 (1.83) |
47.9 (1.89) |
617.9 (24.33) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 6.2 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 6.6 | 9.1 | 8.3 | 6.6 | 6.1 | 6.7 | 6.4 | 7.0 | 7.4 | 83.4 |
Average relative humidity (%)
|
85.5 | 80.3 | 71.4 | 66.7 | 69.9 | 70.9 | 68.3 | 69.6 | 76.1 | 80.9 | 86.8 | 87.6 | 76.2 |
Source: NOAA[5] |
Economy
The city plays an important role in the country's
Culture, education, and life
The city has some museums and art galleries, most of them with permanent exhibitions. These include the István Türr Museum (exhibits objects of former local life), the István Nagy Gallery (a collection of István Nagy's paintings), and the Bunjevci House (about Bunjevci traditions). The annual Fisherman's Soup Boiling Festival is a famous event in Europe, which includes a great fish soup boiling contest, and other cultural occurrences.
There are 15 churches in the city, representing the religion of each ethnicity. These religions include (with the number of believers) Roman Catholic (25 203),
Located relatively close to the Great Hungarian Plain, to Gemenc and Transdanubia, the city is also feasible as a base for regional tourists.
There are three notable educational institutes in the city: Béla III High school and the Eötvös József College. A smaller observatory also exists. There is the MNÁMK (Magyarországi Németek Általános Művelődési Központja; English: General Culture Center of Germans Living in Hungary).
Endre Ady Library
Baja's library got its name from the famous
The library has a very large collection of pre-18th-century books. The "Ancient book" collection includes 4,352 volumes, and a lot more writings, because many of the volumes are collectives (for example, one of them contains 17 writings). The library has three
Current and past residents in Baja
- defence minister
- Karl Isidor Beck, Austrian poet, writer of poem The Blue Danube
- Kálmán Tóth, 19th-century poet
- Radovan Jelašić, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia
- István Türr, a general under Giuseppe Garibaldi
- József Bayer, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Jenő Ernst, doctor, biologist, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Dénes Jánossy, corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- András Jelky, a man who travelled around the world in a strange way (1730 – 1783)
- Dezső Miskolczy, researcher of Mental disorders, a member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Emma Sándor, composer, wife of Zoltán Kodály
- Ede Telcs, sculptor.
- Ibolya Dávid, present-day democrat politician of the Hungarian Democratic Forum
- Joakim Vujić, known as the "Father of Serbian Theatre", writer and playwright who lived and worked in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth- century.
- Bogoboj Atanacković (1826–1858), a well-known Serbian novelist and a friend of poet Branko Radičević.
- Zsuzsanna Ikotity, a famous poet.
- Serbian icon painter and muralist who lived and worked in the Habsburg Empire, from 1772 until 1830.
- Goethein Serbian.
- Mita Popović, Serbian poet
- Lukijan Bogdanović, Serbian Patriarch (1908-1913)
- József Kliegl Kliegl József (hu) inventor of the setting machine
- Luka Čilić, Croatian writer
- Ivan Mihalović, Croatian linguist
- Dinko Šokčević, Croatian historian
Gallery
-
Town Hall
-
Eötvös street
-
Sugovica yacht harbor
-
Sacred Heart church
Twin towns – sister cities
- Argentan, France
- Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary
- Labin, Croatia
- Sângeorgiu de Pădure, Romania
- Sombor, Serbia
- Târgu Mureş, Romania
- Thisted, Denmark
- Waiblingen, Germany
Nearby villages
References
Bibliography
- Nemzeti és etnikai kisebségek Magyarországon, Budapest 1998
- Baja története. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1989
Notes
- ^ KSH - Baja, 2011
- ^ KSH - Baja, 2011
- ^ "Detailed Gazetteer of Hungary". ksh.hu. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ [Baja, Hungary at the Hungarian Central Statistical Office03522 Baja] at the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 1 January 2009.
- ^ "Baja Climate Normals 1991-2020". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 18 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
- ^ "Baja testvérvárosai". baja.hu (in Hungarian). Baja. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
External links
Official sites
- (in Hungarian) Baja's public homepage
- (in Hungarian and English) Official site of the local government
Web cameras
Additional links
- Official website in Hungarian
- (in English and Hungarian) Ady Endre Library's home page
- (in English and Hungarian) Observatory Home Page
- (in Hungarian) Baja sport news
- (in Hungarian) bajastory.info magazine
- Magnifiable city map
- Aerial photographs from Baja