Barcs

Barcs
Town
Roman Catholic Church of Barcs
KDNP)
Website	Barcs Online

Barcs (

marks the southern boundary of the settlement.

Geography

Located at the Croatian border and the

.

History

Barcs was first mentioned between 1389 and 1417 in official documents as part of the lordship of

Báthori

family got Barcs in 1495 from the king. According to the tax register of 1550 its owner was András Báthori.

After the

approached the castle. The Turkish soldiers fearing the defeat left the castle. Zrínyi burnt it down.

In 1677 György Széchényi

At the beginning of the 20th century Imre Széchenyi had lands there.

In the winter of 1848 Josip Jelačić Ban of Croatia attacked Barcs. A troop of border guards started to shoot the settlement with cannons. One of the cannon balls still can be seen on the wall of the Roman Catholic church. The Croats occupied the village. But after some months they had to retreat.

According to the 1849 census Barcs had 1,594 residents of which 300 Hungarians, 787 Germans and 487 Slavic-speaking people. There were 1,452 Roman Catholics, 113 Protestants, 7 Orthodox and 2 Jews. Four years later in 1953 there were 1,438 residents of which 254 were Hungarians, 725 Germans, 429 Croats, 15 Jews and 14 Romani.^[5]

There was a great conflagration in 1857. The oldest building of Barcs is the salt and tobacco warehouse which was built in

agriculture related production facilities like leather and flax fabrics, slaughterhouses, milk and cheese factories as well as distilleries were built. Its electric system was also built up at that time. Drávapálfalva merged into Barcs in 1928.

In 1910 it had 6,415 residents of which 4,529 were

.

In 1918 it came under Serbian occupation and the newly formed

.

During the Soviet occupation the structure of the industry transformed. The construction material production, mill industry, wood processing and the chemical industry got stronger and became the leading sectors in the economy of Barcs. It got town rights in 1979 when Drávaszentes and Somogytarnóca merged.

On the evening of October 27, 1991 a Yugoslavian aircraft flew over the territory of Hungary and dropped two cluster bombs at the edge of the town. Luckily, there were no casualties. Some houses were seriously damaged.

Drávapálfalva

Drávapálfalva was first mentioned in medieval documents and belonged to the Győr genus. Miklós Dersfi got this village in 1346. But during the

.

Belcsa-puszta, Oláh-telep and Zátonyi-szőlőhegy belonged to Drávapálfalva.

Drávaszentes

Drávaszentes also existed before the

Somogytarnóca

Somogytarnóca was first mentioned in 1231 as the possession of the

Széchényi

family built a mansion, distillery and steam mill there during the 19th century.

Aszaló

There was a medieval settlement which also perished. After the Turkish occupation Hungarians settled there. According to László Szita the settlement was completely Hungarian in the 18th century.[8]

Aranyas

Aranya was first mentioned between 1332 and 1337 in the

's tax register there were two independent villages with this name: Felső Aranyas (English: Upper Aranyas) and Alsó Aranyas (English: Lower Aranyas), both with five households respectively. Around 1565 and 1566 they had four houses. In 1571 Felső Arnas had two and Alsó Arnas had seven households. It was uninhabited and belonged to Zsigmond Széchényi between 1726 and 1733.

Tarnóczagyöngyös

Tarnóczagyöngyös was formerly known as Györgyös as belonged to the Mérey and Lengyel families. From 1733 it was the possession of Zsigmond Széchényi.

Tarcsa

Tarcsa-puszta was also a medieval village which perished. The Ottoman tax register of 1554 lists 12 houses there, in 1571 37 houses. Fáni-major, Feri-major, Kistarnócza-puszta, Vadas-puszta, Antal-major, Pusztamalom belonged to Tarcsa.

Vukovár

There was also a village with the same name before Turkish times. Its residents flew to the forests and established smaller farms.

Szentmihály

In the papal tithe register of 1332-1337 it can be found as Szent-Mihály and in 1536 tax register as Barcsi-Szent-Mihály.

Economy

Besides tourism the production sector has also a significant share in the town's economy. There are several production facilities of companies like the Hungarian dairy producer Dráva Tej,^[9] the wood producers Dráva Fabrika,^[10] DRÁVA Faipari Művek (est. 1878)^[11] and Magyar Plan (owned by the Italian FLORIAN GROUP),^[12] the Hungarian joinery manufacturer H-fa,^[13] the Hungarian communal machine producer Seres,^[14] the Hungarian meat producer Dráva Natura,^[15] the German-Hungarian industrial machine manufacturer AVERMANN-HORVÁTH,^[16] the Hungarian container producer Barcs Metál^[17] and the Hungarian electric network manufacturer Transzkábel.^[18]

Main sights

• Roman Catholic church – built between 1814 and 1821
• Széchenyi Mansion and its 3 ha park – built in 1875, located in Somogytarnóca
• Jégmadár tourist boat – starts on every Sunday at 2 pm and travels 90 minutes on the
  River Drava
  showing the nature around the river
• Dráva Museum – established in 1979, museum of the cultural and historical heritage of the people living in Inner Somogy and along the River Drava
• Chapel of the
  Széchényi
  family – built in 1907
• Old juniper – protected since 1974
• Spa and Recreational Centre of Barcs – 55 °C water rich in NaHCO₃ from 1317 m deep. It is used to heal muscular problems and inflammation.
• Old Jewish cemetery
• Kremsier Mansion in Belcsapuszta
• Tree of Patkó Bankdi, the famous Hungarian betyár
• Mermaid sculpture by László Komáromi

Notable people

• Pál Losonczi (1919–2005), politician, President of the Presidential Council of the Hungarian People's Republic
• Ottó Karvalics (born 1947), politician, mayor of Barcs (since 2010)
• speaker of the National Assembly
  (2002–2009)
• László Berényi (born 1961), politician
• Béla Koplárovics (born 1981), footballer
• Krisztián Koller (born 1983), footballer

Media

• HÍD TV^[19]
• Dráva Hullám 102.7
• Aqua Rádió 100.6^[20]

Twin towns – sister cities

Barcs is twinned with:^[21]

• Knittelfeld, Austria
• Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania
• Sinsheim, Germany
• Virovitica, Croatia
• Želiezovce, Slovakia

Gallery

• 
  Roman Catholic Church of Barcs
• 
  Széchenyi Mansion
• 
  Széchenyi Mansion
• 
  Chapel of the cemetery
• 
  Town Court of Barcs
• 
  Union Flour Mill (1923)

References

External links

• Official website in Hungarian
• Street map (in Hungarian)
• Aerialphotographs from Barcs