Hajdúböszörmény

Hajdúböszörmény, with its vast area of land, is a settlement of the Hungarian Great Plain, more closely of the territory beyond the Tisza which carries its historic features in itself.

At present Hajdúböszörmény's territory is 4,5 ha, with almost 33.000 inhabitants. Hajdúböszörmény is the 5th big town int he country, the 4th in the  country, the 4th in  the region and the 2nd in  the country. It is situated 19 kilometers far from Debrecen.

The prefix "hajdú" in the name of the town refers to the group of arried people who were settled in this area at the beginning of the 17th century. In order to preserre their privileges they brought about a Hajdú district, with Hajdúböszörmény as its administrative centre, in 1669.
Hajdúböszörmény in in possession of wide and colour supply.

The speciality of Hajdúböszörmény is that its most precious relic is the structure of the town itself. Now as it were unique in the world but because it is the most classic example of what we call garden town, a double-ground-plot settlement-one site with the reridental and another one with the farm-buildings.

It is very important to mention beauty of nature and thermal bath. The Hajdúböszörmény area has good stock of game (roebuck, duck, rabbit, pheasant, goose, fawn). There is a well. equipped, supplied with public serries lake angler.

The modern swimming pool (wit medical water quality) is alro waiting for its visitors. There are sport facilities: tenis, football, handball, basketball, running, riding.

Great programmes expect the visitors in every period of a year, for example: Farmer's Day and Spring fair in march, Kotta festival, Hajdú week, the Classical Guitar Camp, International Art Camp of hajdúság - on summer and, Antumn of Hajdúság and Internationale sugar beet festival in Szeptember.

Hajdúböszörmény, with its vast area of land, is a settlement of the Hungarian Great Plain, more closely of the territory beyond the Tisza which carries its historic features in itself. The names used for the fields of the town, which unite the characteristics of more regions, preserved the old-time network of the settlements, the water conditions and rules of using the fields in the Haiduk town.

The name of the town (Böszörmény) refers to the most possibly Turkish speaking Moslem population that had an important role in trading and economy of Arpadian age. They were eliminated during the Mongol invasion of Hungary. The town in the 15th century is a Debrecen domain and a market town already in 1410.

The 'hajdú' part of the name refers to the foot-soldiers who came to being in the 15th century and secured the victory of Bocskai's army in the wars of liberation, the only victorious war in Hungarian history. Bocskai's priviledged Haiduks moved to Böszörmény from Kálló, according to Gábor Báthory's charter. Having the privileges of nobility, the town meant great armed force in the 17th century, serving the governors of Transylvania in power first of all. At the end of the 17th century it became the centre of the emerging Hajdúkerület (old name for Hajdú County) and as its military importance decreased, more and more it turned into a chartered town, whose real characteristics were the development of free farming, self-government, and keeping the authority of the county out. The wealthy countrymen played the most important part in the society, who, besides working for their best to set an example of intellectual development. In this, the Reformed Church and its school, the ancestor of the present grammar school, a part of Debrecen College, took a ruling part, the bourgeois civilization meant a turning point here in a different way than in other parts of the country. Though the inhabitants  of the town were not enthusiastic when the privileges of the Haiduks were demolished, they played a more and more important part in the self-defending struggles of the country when the revolution turned into a war of independence.

After the compromise of 1867, it became clear that the modern public administration of the country should be organized and so the existence of the Hajdúkerület was questioned. They could make the government understand that a new county, based on the Hajduk towns, should be established in the area. This is how Hajdú  County came into being in 1876, though instead of  Böszörmény, Debrecen became the county town, which earlier belonged to Bihar County. The speciality of Hajdúböszörmény is that its most precious relic is the structure of the town itself. Not as it were unique in the world but because it is the most classic example of what we call 'garden town', a double-ground-plot settlement - one site with the residential and another one with the farm-buildings. Partly because the Hungarian ethnography discovered this type in the case of Hajdúböszörmény and partly because it gives the most beautiful example of its type with its geometry, with its circular structure. It is a fact that when the Haiduks moved into the city, it was not inhabited. Thus the structure of the town cannot be connected strictly to the Haiduks. It is certain though that this structure was considerably improved by them, according to their own needs. This type of settlement had the following characteristics. In the centre of the town there were the residential buildings, surrounded by a moat and a stokade (Haiduk-stokade), which had to be kept in order by the residents. The town could be entered through four, guarded gates. Outside the stokade were the gardens with the farm-buildings, which - beyond their defending function - provided place for farming. Later, as the population of the town increased, these gardens also became peopled and the originally large farm-yards were cut up and the so called  'news' were formed, which are still characteristic of the town. The four avenues, whose existence can be detected back in 1580, radiating from the centre of the town, make it even more characteristic. Again we have to stress that the most precious relic of the town is its structure.

At the crossing of the four avenues one of the most beautiful squares of the Hungarian Great Plain took shape. The present Bocskai Square has such impressive buildings that any town could be proud of them. The reformed church, standing in the middle of the square, can look back on the longest history - dating back to Middle Ages - though in 1880-1882 it was considerably reconstructed. Originally it was a gothic church, built on mediaeval foundation, which was later supplied with a Baroque style tower and coffered ceiling. In the axis of the church the wonderful coat of arms of the town could be seen, which was put on the side wall during the reconstruction. The Headquarters of the Haiduk Region, houses the Hajdúsági Museum and the Law Court today. During its reconstruction it revealed that it had been built in three different periods, in the 1760's, at the beginning of the 1800's and in 1869.70. it can be considered as the oldest, nonecclestical public building of the county. With its style, with its architecture it is one of the most remarkable buildings of the region, a pearl of the Haiduk towns. In the most valuable part of this historic building the exhibition, showing the history, the ethnography, the archeologic and art relics of the Haiduks, was opened in 1992. The visitors can enjoy a collection of nice sculptures in the quadrangle of the museum.

Opposite the Headquarters the romantic building of the grammar school can be seen. The building is of national value. The town has always been lying great stress on its culture and the particle (the ancestor of the grammar school) existed already in 1621. No wonder that the inscription on the facede proudly bears the following: For the sciences it was raised by the public of the town and the Haiduk landlords in 1864. The Town Hall is an impressive part of the townscape. The massive, one-storey building with its central projection follows the architectural traditions of the old county halls, emphaticly closing the easter side of  Bocskai Square. Stretching out into Kossuth Street, it also connects the square with the rest of the structural elements of the town. In the middle of the square stands the impressive piece of art with its two figure which can be said to be the symbol of Hajdúböszörmény. The statue of Bocskai reminds us of the moment when the great Transylvanian governor hands the charter of privileges over to the brave Haiduk warrior, representing all the Haiduks in Kassa on the 12th December, 1605. The statue was unveiled in a nation-wide celebration on the 2nd of June, 1907.

The second most beautiful square of the town is Kálvin Square with its dominant building of the reformed church, which was built in late eclectic style and was consecrated in 1899.

Another important sight of the town is the Greek Catholic church in Újvárosi Street. Almost one tenth of the population belong to the Greek Catholic Church. The two-steepled church was built between 1891 and 1898, mainly with the support of the Munkács diocese. Among the churches we have to mention the modest but elegant Roman Catholic church also in Újvárosi Street, the Baptist meeting house in Hajdúkerület Street and the Jewish Temple in Kassa Street, which is of great architectural value and still was given over to destruction.

Among the public monuments those of the two world wars call our attention. The monument to the heroes of the Great War stands in Kálvin Square and was made by István Gách, after having won a competition in 1927. The war memorial of World War II, which had even more victims, was unveiled in 1991. The monument was made by the sculpturer Imre Varga - behind the Gábor Sillye Cultural Centre, a standing figure of a woman is bewailing the loss of more than 2.000 inhabitants of the town in the middle of a symbolic map of Europe.

It is a pity but the historic buildings of folk art were and are being destroved. That is why the set of historic buildings in Polgári Street is so unique. The place is known as Káplár Camping today. The buildings can be found in a so called 'branching' mews showing the structure of the settlement very well. The renovated houses, thatched with reeds are characteristic of the rural architecture of Hajdúböszörmény. Now the buildings are used for touristic purposes so allowances had to be made at the reconstructions.

The house of Miklós Káplár in Hortobágy Street built in 1853, is a tripartite with a porch with wooden supports. We have to call special attention to the wooden headboards on the tombs in the cemetary of Böszörmény. Though the old part of the cemetary has almost completely been destroyed, in the west part of it one has to keep to this tradition.