Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Esztergom
Beautifully situated in a crook of the Danube facing Slovakia,
Esztergom
is dominated by
its basilica, whose dome is visible for miles around - a richly symbolic sight, as it was here
that Prince Géza and his son Vajk (the future king and saint Stephen) brought Hungary into
the fold of Christendom. Even after the court moved to Buda following the Mongol invasion,
Esztergom remained the centre of Catholicism until the Turkish conquest, and resumed this
role in the 1820s - as the poet Mihály Babits (who lived here) remarked, “this is the Hun-
garian Rome”. Persecuted in the Rákóczi era but increasingly tolerated by the regime from
the 1960s onwards, the Church regained much of its former property and influence under
Christian governments in the post-Communist era, making Esztergom an obligatory stop for
politicians in election year.
Despite the town's current problems (see
The battle of Esztergom
)
, Esztergom makes an
ideal day-trip, combining historic monuments and small-town charm in just the right doses,
with the bonus of being within strolling distance of the Slovak town of Štúrovo (Párkány in
Hungarian).
Esztergom consists of an upper town beside the basilica, the waterfront Víziváros below it
with its magnificent Turkish remains, and a sprawling lower town separated from the island
of Prímás-sziget by a tributary of the Danube.
