Kiskunfélegyháza () is a city in
Bács-Kiskun County
Bács-Kiskun (, ) is a county (''vármegye'' in Hungarian) located in southern Hungary. It was created by the merger of the pre-World War II Bács-Bodrog and the southern parts of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun counties. With an area of 8,445 km2, ...
, Hungary.
Geography
Kiskunfélegyháza is located in the middle of the
Great Hungarian Plain, southeast from
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 ...
.
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
, Highway 5, 451, Budapest–
Cegléd
Cegléd (; ) is a city in Pest County, Pest county, Hungary, approximately southeast of the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Name
The name of the town is of disputed origin. The name may be derived from the word "szeglet" (meaning "corner") due to i ...
–
Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
railway line and railway lines to
Szolnok
Szolnok (; also known by #Name and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. A city with county rights, it is located on the banks of the Tisza river, in the heart of the Great Hungarian ...
,
Kiskunhalas and
Szentes also cross the town. The surrounding country is covered with vineyards, fruit gardens, and tobacco and corn fields.
Name
''Félegyháza'' means "half church" in Hungarian, while prefix ''Kiskun'' refers to the region
Kiskunság ("Little Cumania").
History
Numerous
Roman urns and other ancient relics have been dug up in the vicinity.
Conquering Hungarians arrived in the 9th century, adopted Christianity and settled down in the region by the 10th century.
The first settlements devastated by the
Mongols in 1241–42, the region became uninhabited. King
Béla IV invited
Cuman
The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Rus' chronicles, as " ...
settlers,
[Antal Papp: Magyarország (Hungary), Panoráma, Budapest, 1982, , p. 860, pp. 405-407] who also adopted Christianity, farming lifestyle and the Hungarian language.
[Károly Kocsis (DSc, University of Miskolc) – Zsolt Bottlik (PhD, Budapest University) – Patrik Tátrai: Etnikai térfolyamatok a Kárpát-medence határon túli régióiban, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) – Földrajtudományi Kutatóintézet (Academy of Geographical Studies); Budapest; 2006.; , CD Atlas] The town was existing in 1389 when a document mentions ''Feledház'', an earlier name for the settlement.
The town was ruined in 1526 by
Ottoman troops and was uninhabited until the Christian troops liberated the area.
Kiskunfélegyháza was reestablished by
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
Hungarian settlers
from
Jászfényszaru and
Üllés in 1743.
Queen
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...
moved the courts and prisons for the
Kiskun district to Kiskunfélegyháza in 1753 and granted
town privileges also in 1774.
Notable people
*
Ferenc Móra (1879–1934), novelist
*
Béla Magyari (1949–2018), cosmonaut
*
Sándor Petőfi
Sándor Petőfi ( []; né Petrovics; ; ; 1 January 1823 – most likely 31 July 1849) was a Hungarian poet and Classical Liberalism, liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary's national poet, and was one of the key figures of the Hungari ...
(1823–1849), national poet
*
László Réczi (1947), wrestler
*
Csaba Szűcs (1965), athlete
*
Gyula Zsivótzky (1937–2007), athlete
*
Tamás Sulyok (1956), lawyer, President of Hungary
Twin towns – sister cities
Kiskunfélegyháza is
twinned with:
*
Bagnols-sur-Cèze
Bagnols-sur-Cèze (, "Bagnols-on-Cèze"; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France.
History
A small regiona ...
, France
*
Braunfels, Germany
*
Corund, Romania
*
Die, France
*
Feltre, Italy
*
Jászfényszaru, Hungary
*
Kikinda
Kikinda ( sr-Cyrl, Кикинда, ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the North Banat District in Serbia. The city's urban area has 32,084 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 49,326 inhabit ...
, Serbia
*
Rabka-Zdrój, Poland
*
Sighișoara
Sighișoara (; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Schäsbrich'', ''Šesburχ'', or ''Scheeßprich''; ; or ) is a Municipiu, city on the Târnava Mare, Târnava Mare River in Mureș County, central Romania. Located in the ...
, Romania
*
Turda
Turda (; , ; ; ) is a Municipiu, city in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in the southeastern part of the county, from the county seat, Cluj-Napoca, to which it is connected by the European route E81, and from nearby Câmpia ...
, Romania
*
Uhrovec, Slovakia
See also
*
Bankfalu
References
External links
* in Hungarian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiskunfelegyhaza
Populated places in Bács-Kiskun County
Towns in Hungary