Balatonboglár is a

resort town A resort town, resort city or resort destination is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding area. Sometimes ...

situated on the south shore of

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the larges ...

Somogy County Somogy (, ; ; , ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Somogy County lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia's Koprivnica- ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It is the official centre of the

Balatonboglár wine region The Balatonboglár wine region, also known as the South Balaton wine region, is the only one wine region in Somogy County, Hungary. The area consists of 37 settlements, mainly located on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, but also some near Kap ...

, and is often called the "town of grapes and wine." Between 1979 and 1991 Balatonboglár formed a single settlement together with

Balatonlelle Balatonlelle is a resort town located in Hungary on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, about 35 km west of Siófok. During the summer, the town becomes a holiday destination for many Hungarian and German families, and is known for its touri ...

under the name Boglárlelle.

History

The region has been populated for more than six thousand years. The area was first documented in 1211. The first bathing association was established in 1904, and Balatonboglár was declared a medicinal bath in 1912. Balatonboglár and

were unified as Boglárlelle from 1979 until October 1, 1991. The Xantus look-out tower, the symbol of the city, resides on top of a hill and is well lit at night. It is named for

John Xantus de Vesey John Xantus de Vesey a.k.a. de Csíktaplócza (, 5 October 1825 – 13 December 1894) was a Hungarian exile and zoologist. Xantus (the aristocratic title ''de Vesey'' was an affectation, of which he had several variations) was born Xántus Ján ...

Main sights

Statue of Pál Teleki

The city is host to a statue honoring a controversial figure in Hungarian history,

Pál Teleki Count Pál János Ede Teleki de Szék (1 November 1879 – 3 April 1941) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 to 1921 and from 1939 to 1941. He was also an expert in geography, a uni ...

, who was twice prime minister of Hungary. Teleki was regarded by some as a flawed hero and he remained a controversial person long after his death. This was reflected in a public dispute covered in the Hungarian media during early 2004 over a statue of him, marking the 63rd anniversary of his death. The statue by sculptor was originally to be installed opposite the President's official residence in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. However, the Minister of Culture

István Hiller István Hiller (born 7 May 1964) is a Hungarian politician and former chairman of the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party between 16 October 2004 and 24 February 2007, succeeding László Kovács, succeeded by Ferenc Gyurcsány. A co-founder of ...

, following pressure from the Wiesenthal Center, canceled these plans. On 5 April 2004, the statue was finally placed in the courtyard of the Catholic Church in Balatonboglár. Balatonboglar had during World War II been host to thousands of Polish refugees who opened in that town one of only two secondary schools for Poles in Europe during 1939-1944. They credited Teleki with opening Hungary's borders to them and named a street in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

for him after the war ended.

Gallery

File:Lake Balaton in Balatonboglár.jpg, Lake Balaton in Balatonboglár File:Saint Stephen of Hungary Statue in Balatonboglár.jpg, Saint Stephen of Hungary Statue File:War Memorial in Balatonboglár - Plaque of those who died in the First World War.jpg, War Memorial - Plaque of those who died in the First World War File:War Memorial in Balatonboglár.jpg, War Memorial File:Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption in Balatonboglár.jpg, Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption

References

External links