Diósd () is a small town located between the larger cities 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
Érd
Érd (; ; , ) is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is a city with county rights.
History
The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Archaeological findings indicate that prehistoric humans lived here 50,000 year ...
in the
Budapest metropolitan area
The Budapest metropolitan area (, ) is a statistical area that describes the reach of commuter movement to and from Budapest and its surrounding suburbs. Created by Hungary's national statistical office Hungarian Central Statistical Office, HCSO t ...
,
Pest County,
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 ...
.
Though many residents commute to work to the capital city Budapest, the largest employers in the town are a manufacturing plant named New MGM Zrt., that produces
ball bearings
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
and
tapered roller bearing for worldwide OEM customers and dealers, an
Interspar grocery store, and the
International Christian School of Budapest, a school that serves missionary families,
expatriate
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country.
The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...
s, and Hungarians.
Geography
The northern part of Diósd is located on the Tétényi plateau, which is a natural reserve. The ground has a very high concentration of limestone, and many uncommon plants can be found in this area. At least two
Beehive Stones can be found in the forest in the northwest of Diósd. Two former limestone quarries also exist where locals often like to meet.
History
Diósd was first mentioned in 1417 under
king Sigismund.
Diósd is known in German by the name ''Orasch''. The reason for this phenomenon is that after the
Turkish invasion, the area was fully uninhabited.
Swabians
Swabians ( , singular ''Schwabe'') are a Germans, German ethnographic group native to the region of Swabia, which is mostly divided between the modern states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately de ...
arrived from Southern Germany to repopulate the town and they were in majority there until the end of the second world war, when many of the Swabes were chased away. The Swabians in Diósd usually lived from making wine in wine cellars. Many of these cellars were made as big as normal houses to fit in the equipment used to make wine. Some of the wine cellars were longer than 100 meters. In the 1880s most of the vineyards were killed by
Phylloxera
Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belongs to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs); orig ...
. Since the cellars and storage houses became useless, they were converted into new residential houses. Most of these are still inhabited. Since most cellars still exist and many are located under the roads of the town, weight restrictions have to be taken seriously.
After the vineyards died, the residentials planted
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...
trees. Almost all of these were finally destroyed in the 2000s when many new houses were built on the location of the peach orchards.
At the beginning of the 20th century Diósd was part of the
Fejér county
Fejér (, ) is an administrative county in central Hungary. It lies on the west bank of the river Danube and nearly touches the eastern shore of Lake Balaton. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Veszprém, Komárom-Esztergom County ...
.
Since 1989, Diósd works in tight partnership with the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
town
Alsbach-Hähnlein in
Hesse
Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
.
Until 1994, a radio station with many antennas existed in the northern part of Diósd. Radio broadcasting had to be stopped because the M0 highway was built near the area. Today, only one antenna remains, and the radio station has been transformed into a radio and television museum.
Since the 1990s, many new houses were built in the town since people wanted to move near Budapest. Because of this, the house numbers had to be reordered by the management of the town. They were however not successful, and today many houses have two or three house numbers which lead to confusion of non-local people.
Diósd officially became a city on July 15, 2013.
Traffic
The
national road 7 runs through Diósd. It is known by locals as the "Balatoni út" (Balaton street) since if you travel on it, you eventually get to the
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 ...
. The opposite direction of this road leads to Budapest, where most of the residents of Diósd work. Budapest can also be reached by Bus from Diósd.
Diósd also has an exit on the
M0 highway which opened in 1994 and runs on the northern and eastern edge of the town.
Education
*Kindergarten
*Primary school (1st to 8th grade)
*International Christian School of Budapest
Thanks to the presence of ICSB, the town has an international (mostly Asian and
American) population.
Places of interest
*Museum for Radio and Television
*Church of St. Gellért
*Country House ("Tájház")
*Chapel of St. Anne (1772)
*Statue of Nepomuki St. János (18th century)
*Statue of St. Flórián (1852)
*Monument for the deads of the world War I. (1993)
*Friendship Monument and the Friendship Well
*two former limestone quarries
*
Beehive Stones
Twin towns – sister cities
Diósd is
twinned with:
*
Alsbach-Hähnlein, Germany
*
Brâncovenești, Romania
*
Cieszanów, Poland
*
Keť, Slovakia
*
Velyki Heivtsi, Ukraine
Gallery
image:HUN_Diósd_CÃmer.svg, Coat of arms showing the chapel and a grape vine
Image:Diósd1.jpg, Northern part of Diósd, the M0 highway is in the distance. On the top left is the former area of the radio station
Image:Magyar Gördülőcsapágy Művek, légi, Diósd2.jpg, Ball bearing factory
image:Diósd4.jpg, Northern part of Diósd with small factories and storage houses
image:Tájház_Diósd.JPG, Tájház (Country House)
image:Országzászló_Diósd.JPG, "Country Flag"
image:Felsö_Köbány_Diósd_2.JPG, Upper quarry
image:Diósd_-_kőbánya.jpg, Lower quarry
image:Diósd former radio station area.JPG, The old fence of the former radio station in Diósd, Hungary. The area has been transformed into a new residential area.
image:The M0 highway in the northern part of Diósd with the "Országzászlo".JPG, The M0 highway in the northern part of Diósd. On the right the new "Országzászlo" ("Country flag") is visible.
image:Former wine cellar in Diósd.JPG, Former wine cellar in Diósd
image:Entrance to the Radio and Television museum, Diósd.JPG, Entrance to the Radio and Television museum
image:New houses in DIósd.JPG, New houses in Diósd
image:Barátság-kút_Diósd.JPG, Friendship Well
image:Kaptárkö_Diosd.JPG, One of the Beehive Stones in Diósd
See also
*
Törökbálint
Törökbálint is a town in Pest county, Hungary. Törökbálint received town status on 1 July 2007.
The city also has a German name, ''Großturwall'', which originates from the times of the Swabian immigration after the Ottoman times of Hung ...
(''Großturwall'')
*
Érd
Érd (; ; , ) is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is a city with county rights.
History
The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Archaeological findings indicate that prehistoric humans lived here 50,000 year ...
(''Hanselbeck'')
References
External links
* in Hungarian, English and German
Radio museum Diósd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diosd
Hungarian German communities
Budapest metropolitan area