Békés (; ro, Bichiş; sk, Békéš) is a town in

Békés County Békés (, , ro, Județul Bichiș) is an administrative division (county or ''megye'') in south-eastern Hungary, on the border with Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and Hajdú-Bihar. The ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. It lies about north of

Békéscsaba Békéscsaba (; sk, Békešská Čaba; see also other alternative names) is a city with county rights in southeast Hungary, the capital of Békés County. Geography Békéscsaba is located in the Great Hungarian Plain, southeast from Budap ...

and east of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

History

The area of the present town has been inhabited since ancient times, due to its good soil and proximity to rivers. After Hungarians conquered the area, Békés and its surroundings were the property of the '' Csolt'' clan. Békés (the name means 'peaceful') was originally the name of the castle which gave its name to the

comitatus ''Comitatus'' was in ancient times the Latin term for an armed escort or retinue. The term is used especially in the context of Germanic warrior culture for a warband tied to a leader by an oath of fealty and describes the relations between a lo ...

, and, like many castles, was possibly named after its first steward. Many documents from the 13th century prove that Békés was the county seat. After 1403, when the area became the estate of the Maróthi family, Békés slowly lost its importance and the role of the centre of the comitatus was gradually taken over by Gyula. In 1566, the castle of Gyula was occupied by the Ottoman army, and Békés fell under Ottoman rule too. The Ottomans built a motte castle in the town, but it was destroyed in 1595 when the Ottomans had to defend Gyula against the Hungarians who tried to get it back. The area became deserted. It was only exactly 100 years later, in 1695, that Békés was freed from Ottoman rule. During the freedom fight led by Prince

Francis II Rákóczi Francis II Rákóczi ( hu, II. Rákóczi Ferenc, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–11 as the prince ( hu, fejedelem) of the Estates Confedera ...

in the early 18th century the area of Békés was deserted again, for the last time. In 1720 John George Harruckern was granted Békés county via Royal Deed. He gave privileges to the serfs of the area, and gradually the population grew. By the end of the 18th century, the town already had its present five districts and the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

churches and the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

. The buildings of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches and the Jewish Synagogue are all located within close proximity of each other. The annual floods of the

Körös The Körös () or Criș () (German: ''Kreisch'') is a river in eastern Hungary and western Romania. Its length is from the confluence of its two source rivers Fehér-Körös (''Crișul Alb'') and Fekete-Körös (''Crișul Negru'') to its out ...

river meant a significant problem until the 1850s when the river was controlled. In 1872, Békés was re-classified as a village. It was not until a hundred years later that it got its town status back. Around the start of the 20th century, Békés was rapidly developing and several new buildings were built. During the World Wars, there were no significant battles in the area. Békés was freed from the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

on October 6, 1944. After the war, industrialization quickened. On April 15, 1973, Békés was granted town status. Today, Békés is made of several ethnic groups, including Hungarians, Roma, and with its near proximity to the Romanian border, Romanians who constitute approximately 5% of the population.

Sights

*Széchenyi Square (main square) with several historical buildings *Town hall *Protestant church (

Zopf style Zopf or Züpfe ( French and in Italian) is a type of Swiss, Austrian, German or Bavarian bread made from white flour, milk, eggs, butter and yeast. The dough is brushed with egg yolk, egg wash, or milk before baking, lending it its golden crust ...

) *Roman Catholic church (1795) *Greek Orthodox church (one of the northernmost ones) *Jewish

(partially restored, interior and woman's gallery preserve its original form, now a

pálinka Pálinka is a traditional fruit spirit (or fruit brandy) with origins in Carpathian Mountains, more exactly known under several names, and invented in the Middle Ages. Protected as a geographical indication of the European Union, only fruit spir ...

center) *School museum *Several bridges on the backwaters of the regulated

river; Békés is called the "town of bridges" because of them *Small- boat harbour

Twin towns – sister cities

Békés is twinned with: *

Gheorgheni Gheorgheni (; hu, Gyergyószentmiklós ) is a municipality in Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania. The city administers four villages: * Covacipeter / Kovácspéter * Lacu Roș ...

, Romania *

Myszków Myszków is a town in Poland, with 31,650 inhabitants (2019). Situated on the Warta river in the Silesian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Częstochowa Voivodeship (1975–1998), it is the capital of Myszków County. Myszków historica ...

, Poland * Novi Itebej (Žitiště), Serbia

References

External links

* in Hungarian, English and German
Official news website of Békés
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekes Populated places in Békés County Shtetls