Baja () is a

city with county rights A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in , southern

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 second largest city in the county, after the county seat at

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...

, and is home to some 35,000 people. Baja is the seat of the Baja municipality. The environs of Baja have been continuously inhabited since the end of the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, but there is evidence of human presence since

prehistoric times Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

. The settlement itself was most likely established in the 14th century. After the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

had conquered Hungary, it grew to prominence more than the other nearby settlements, and was granted town rights in 1696. Today, Baja plays an important role in the life of Northern Bácska as a local commercial centre and the provider of public services such as education and healthcare. It has several roads and a railway connection to other parts of the country, and also offers local Public transport for its residents. Being close to the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and the forest of Gemenc, as well as having its own cultural sights, makes it a candidate for tourism, but this is not well established yet.

Etymology

The city's Hungarian name is probably derived from a

Turkic language The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

. The commonly known "bull" name is likely not its real origin, but may have gotten its title from the first owner of the city, Baja. The

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name of the town is ''Francillo''. Baja also used to have a German name: ''Frankenstadt''. The South Slavs,

Bunjevci Bunjevci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bunjevci, Буњевци, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevac, Буњевац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevka, Буњевка) are a South Slavs, South Slavic sub-ethnic ...

and

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

, who live in the city call Baja by the same name as Magyars do, but with a slightly different pronunciation ( instead of ). Its spelling in Serbian

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

writing is Баја.

History

The city was first mentioned in 1308. The Bajai family was the first known owner of the town. In 1474 the settlement was given to the Czobor family by

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

. During the Turkish Conquest in the 16th and 17th centuries it was the official center for the region and it possessed a

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

. This era saw the immigration of

and

into the town. There was also an active

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

mission with monks from

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

In the 18th century, Hungary with its regained territories was a part of the Habsburg Empire.

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

and Jews migrated into the town. Due to its location on the

, it became a transportation and commercial hub for the region. This was the place where grain and wine were loaded onto boats to be transported upriver to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and Germany. In 1727 the Czobor family regained its ownership. Until 1765, the inhabitants belonged to three nations; Bunjevac (under name of ''

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

ns''), the

and the

. Following this, according to a government decree the ''Natio Dalmatica'' was changed into the ''Natio Hungarica'', but even in 1768, the elected mayor swore the oath in the Bunjevac language in the

Church. In 1699, Baja was

Bács-Bodrog county Bács-Bodrog County (, , ) was an administrative county () of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1802 to 1920. Most of its territory is currently part of Serbia, while a smaller part belongs to Hungary. The capital of the county was Zombor (present-day ...

's most "industrialized" city. In the 19th century Baja became a minor railway hub, but its importance declined as the railway to

Fiume Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and in 2021 had a po ...

(Rijeka) was built in order to get Hungarian grain seaborne. The city was still a commercial and service center for the region. In 1918, after World War I, the ceasefire line placed the city under administration of the newly formed

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

. By the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

from 1920, the city was assigned to Hungary, and became the capital of the reduced county of . After World War II the city became known for its

textile mill Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...

and because of its important bridge crossing the

. Its importance is still evident as people from the Bácska region (Serbian:

Bačka Bačka ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska (), is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary. ...

) of Hungary come for higher education, government and business services.

Historical population

The city's population was growing rapidly in the 20th century (especially in the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

and during the socialist era), but in the last decade its population declined significantly. The demographic evolution of Baja is the following:

Demographics

The city has 33,142 residents as of 1 January 2023. In the 2001 Census, the 16% larger population of 38,360 reported its ethnicity thus: *93.5%

; * 2.7%

; * 1.3%

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

; * 0.4%

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

s; * 0.1%

Slovaks The Slovaks ( (historical Sloveni ), singular: ''Slovák'' (historical: ''Sloven'' ), feminine: ''Slovenka'' , plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history ...

; * 0.5%

Romani people {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

; * 6.1% unknown or did not say. 3522 Bajaat the

Hungarian Central Statistical Office The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HSCO; , ) is a quango responsible for collecting, processing and publishing statistics about Hungary, its economy, and its inhabitants. The office provides details for parliamentary and administrative o ...

. 1 January 2009. As of 1 January 2019, there are 17 149 houses.

Geography

Location

Baja is located about south of

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 ...

and southwest of Kecskemét, at the crossing of Road 55 and Road 51, on the river

. Baja's main river is Sugovica (also called ''Kamarás-Duna'').
Baja is at the meeting point of two large regions: the

Great Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain (however, the Great Hungarian Plain was not par ...

(Alföld) and

Transdanubia Transdanubia ( ; , or ', ) is a traditional region of Hungary. It is also referred to as Hungarian Pannonia, or Pannonian Hungary. Administrative divisions Traditional interpretation The borders of Transdanubia are the Danube River (north and ...

(Dunántúl). The River

separates the two regions. The occidental part of the city is where the Gemencforest starts to spread out next to the '' István Türr Bridge''. Gemenc is part of the Danube-Drava National Park. It can be discovered from Baja via a

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

.
Baja is located on the left bank of the river, on the Great Hungarian Plain. However, Baja is more similar to the cities of

. To the east, arable crops such as maize, wheat and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

are grown.

Climate

Baja is at the meeting of the continental and mediterranean region of Hungary. The summers are hot (the temperature sometimes goes up to 36–37 °C) and stifling, while the winters are cold and snowy. It often rains in the spring. At summertime extreme torrential rains are getting common every now and then in the region.

Economy

The city plays an important role in the country's

water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it pr ...

on the river Danube with its second biggest port in Hungary. Baja gives home to an extensive corporation: to AXIÁL Co. Axiál sells agricultural machines all over eastern Europe with great success. Gemenc Forest and Game Co. Ltd. is managing the nearby

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

, Gemenc. There are numerous commercial structures in the city, which prove important to the people living in and around Baja. Roughly 10 years ago a

TESCO Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

supermarket opened along with a shopping centre next to it.

Culture, education, and life

The city has some museums and

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

, most of them with permanent exhibitions. These include the '' István Türr Museum'' (exhibits objects of former local life), the ''István Nagy Gallery'' (a collection of István Nagy's paintings), and the ''Bunjevci House'' (about

traditions). The annual ''Fisherman's Soup Boiling Festival'' is a famous event in Europe, which includes a great fish soup boiling contest, and other cultural occurrences. There are 15 churches in the city, representing the religion of each ethnicity. These religions include (with the number of believers) Roman Catholic (25 203),

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

(1 623), Evangelist (268), Unitarian, Orthodox (90),

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and Judaism (27). Located relatively close to the

, to Gemenc and

, the city is also feasible as a base for regional tourists. There are three notable educational institutes in the city: Béla III High school and the Eötvös József College. A smaller observatory also exists. There is the MNÁMK (Magyarországi Németek Általános Művelődési Központja; English: ''General Culture Center of Germans Living in Hungary'').

Endre Ady Library

Baja's library got its name from the famous Hungarian poet,

Endre Ady Endre Ady (Hungarian: ''diósadi Ady András Endre,'' archaic English: Andrew Ady; 22 November 1877 – 27 January 1919) was a turn-of-the-century Hungarian poet and journalist. Regarded by many as the greatest Hungarian poet of the 20th centur ...

. The library's building used to be Baja's synagogue. The building was offered by the city's Jewish community. The

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

appreciation memorial stands in the synagogue's garden. The library has a very large collection of pre-18th-century books. The "Ancient book" collection includes 4,352 volumes, and a lot more writings, because many of the volumes are collectives (for example, one of them contains 17 writings). The library has three incunabulums.

Current and past residents in Baja

* András Jelky, a man who travelled around the world in a strange way (1730 – 1783) * Bogoboj Atanacković (1826–1858), a well-known Serbian novelist and a friend of poet

Branko Radičević Aleksije "Branko" Radičević ( sr-Cyrl, Алексије Бранко Радичевић, ; 28 March 1824 – 1 July 1853) was a Serbian poet who wrote in the period of Romanticism. Biography Branko Radičević was born in Slavonski Brod on 1 ...

* Dénes Jánossy, corresponding member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( , MTA) is Hungary’s foremost and most prestigious learned society. Its headquarters are located along the banks of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. The Academy's primar ...

* Dezső Miskolczy, researcher of

Mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

s, a member of

* Dinko Šokčević, Croatian historian * Ede Telcs, sculptor * Emma Sándor, composer, wife of

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (, ; , ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education. ...

* Gavrilo Popović, Bishop of

Šabac Šabac ( sr-Cyrl, Шабац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river ...

, Rector of Lyceum and the

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek language, Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of Conversion to Christia ...

of Belgrade. * Ibolya Dávid, present-day democrat politician of the Hungarian Democratic Forum * István Türr, a general under

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

* Ivan Mihalović, Croatian linguist * Jenő Ernst, doctor, biologist, member of the

* Joakim Vujić, known as the "Father of Serbian Theatre", writer and playwright who lived and worked in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth- century. * Jovan Pačić (1771–1849), Serbian writer, poet, translator, illustrator and watercolor painter, the first to translate

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

in Serbian. * József Bayer, member of the

* József Kliegl Kliegl József (hu) inventor of the setting machine * Kálmán Tóth, 19th-century poet * Karl Isidor Beck,

n poet, writer of poem The Blue Danube * Lázár Mészáros, Hungary's first

defence minister A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

* Luka Čilić, Croatian writer * Lukijan Bogdanović, Serbian Patriarch (1908-1913) * Mita Popović, Serbian poet * Pavel Đurković, famous Serbian icon painter and muralist who lived and worked in the Habsburg Empire, from 1772 until 1830. * Rajko Tomović, Serbian scientist * Radovan Jelašić, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia * Teodosije Mraović, Metropolitan of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

in the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

from 1883 to 1889 * Zsuzsanna Ikotity, a famous poet.

Gallery

File:Ferences templom Baja.jpg, Franciscan Monastery File:Városháza (Grassalkovich-ház) (2123. számú műemlék).jpg, Town Hall File:Baja - Eötvös utca - 1382.jpg, Eötvös street File:Baja Sugovica kikötő.JPG, Sugovica yacht harbor File:Jézus Szíve templom Baja.JPG, Sacred Heart church File:Görögkeleti szerb templom (2130. számú műemlék).jpg, Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas

Twin towns – sister cities

Baja is twinned with: *

Argentan Argentan () is a commune and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondissement in the Orne department in northwestern France. As of 2019, Argentan is the third largest municipality by population in the Orne department.

, France *

Hódmezővásárhely Hódmezővásárhely (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in southeast Hungary, on the Great Hungarian Plain, at the meeting point of the Békés-Csanádi Ridge and the clay grassland surrounding the river Tisz ...

, Hungary *

Labin Labin (Italian language, Italian/Istriot language, Istriot: Albona) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, with a town population of 5,806 (2021) and 10,424 in the greater municipality (which also includes the small towns of Rabac, Rabac-Porto Albona a ...

, Croatia * Sângeorgiu de Pădure, Romania *

Sombor Sombor ( sr-Cyrl, Сомбор, ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the West Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city has a total population of 41,814 (), while its adminis ...

, Serbia * Târgu Mureş, Romania *

Thisted Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the North Denmark Region of Denmark. It has a population of 13,505 (1 January 2025)Waiblingen, Germany

Nearby villages

* Pörböly * Dunafalva * Érsekcsanád * Gara * Vaskút * Csávoly * Szeremle * Bátmonostor * Dávod * Hercegszántó

References

Bibliography

* ''Nemzeti és etnikai kisebségek Magyarországon'', Budapest 1998 * ''Baja története.'' Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1989

Notes

External links

Official sites

Baja's public homepage

Official site of the local government

Web cameras

Baja, Danube bridge

Additional links

* in Hungarian

Observatory Home Page

Baja sport news

bajastory.info magazine

Magnifiable city map

Aerial photographs from Baja
{{Authority control Populated places in Bács-Kiskun County Places in Bačka Populated places on the Danube Populated places established in the 14th century Hungarian German communities Serb communities in Hungary Towns in Hungary Cities with county rights of Hungary