Szeged

Szeged (Ger., Szegedin), the capital of the county of Csongra.d in Hungary, 118 m. S.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900), 100,270. It is situated on both banks of the Theiss just below the confluence of the Maros, and contains the inner town and four suburbs. It is the second town in Hungary as regards, population, and since the disastrous inundation of the Theiss. on the night of the 11th of March 1879, which almost completely destroyed it, Szeged has been rebuilt. It is now one of the handsomest towns of Hungary, and has several large squares, broad avenues, boulevards and many palatial buildings. It has also been encircled with a strong dam in order to protect it from floods. Among the principal buildings are a Franciscan convent, with a rich library and an interesting collection of antiquities and ecclesiastical objects; a Piarist and a Minorite convent; a handsome new town-hall; and a natural history and historical museum to which is attached a public library. Szeged is the chief seat of the manufacture of paprica, a kind of red pepper largely used in Hungary, and of a pastry called tarhonya; and has factories of soap, leather, boots, saw-mills and distilleries. Szeged is the centre of the commerce and industry of the great Hungarian Alfold, being an important railway junction and the principal port on the Theiss.

Since the 15th century Szeged has been one of the most prominent cities in Hungary. From 1541 till 1686 it was in possession of the Turks, who fortified it. It is also notorious for its many witchcraft trials. In 1848 it sent strong detachments to the national Hungarian army. In July 1849 the seat of the government was transferred hither for a short time.

Szekesfehervar (Ger., Stuhlweissenburg, Lat., Alba Regalis or Alba Regia), a town of Hungary, capital of the county of Fejer, 41 m. S.W. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900), 30,451. It is situated in a marshy plain and is a well-built and prosperous town. Szekesfehervar is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric, one of the oldest in the country, and was formerly a town of great importance, being the coronation and burial place of the Hungarian kings from the 10th to the 16th century. Amongst its principal buildings are the cathedral, the episcopal palace, several convents, of which the most noteworthy is the Jesuit convent, now a Cistercian secondary school with a handsome church, and the county hall. The town carries on a brisk trade in wine, fruit and horses, and is one of the principal centres of horse-breeding in Hungary. Szekesfehervar is one of the oldest towns of Hungary, in which St Stephen, the first king of Hungary, built a church, which served as the coronation church for the Hungarian kings. In the same church some fifteen kings were buried. In 1543 it fell into the hands of the Turks, under whom it remained until 1686. Before evacuating it, the Turks plundered the tombs of the kings, destroyed the old church and several other buildings, and burnt the archives. Several sarcophagi of the kings, and the foundations of the old church, have been found by excavation beneath the cathedral.