Csurgó

Csurgó [ tʃurɡo ː ] is a small town in southwest Hungary, in the region Dél Transdanubia, Somogy, small area Csurgó, near the border with Croatia. Nationally, the city is mostly known as the center of the Reformed Church in Hungary, where it operates since the 18th century, a high school.

History

The place was first mentioned in records in 1019. Core of the settlement should have been in the 12th and 13th century convent, which is assigned to one of the sources of different orders. Once mentioned as Conventual Knights Templar, another source, however, speak of the Order of St. John. In 1405 Csurgó became a town. In the 15th century a castle was built here that was destroyed in the 18th century and now no longer exists by the noble family of Zriny. As of 1543 the singer and lute player Sebestyen Tinódi two years lived in the city after his liege Valentin Török had been taken prisoner by the Turks in 1541 and deported from Hungary. Hungarian historian of the 16th century, Miklós Istvanffy, mentioned the place under the spelling Khorgo in his description of the Turkish wars. In 1600, there was a migration of Slovenian Protestants who fled the Habsburg Counter-Reformation in Hungary. Later, these reformed Slovenes mingled with their Hungarian co-religionists, which the Slovenian language slowly disappeared. After the wars against the Turks, the Habsburgs handed over the control of the city to the noble family Festetics and settled here Slovakian and Croatian refugees, as well as settlers summoned German. There were in the city and a Jewish community that produced some nationally known rabbis, including Mordechai Benet (1753-1829, later rabbi in Moravia Mikulov ), Louis Lichtenstein and Ludwig Venetians.

In 1799, the Hungarian poet Mihály Csokonai Vitéz lived for a short time in the city and taught at the Reformed school as an assistant teacher. Here was his comic epic " Dorothea or The Triumph of the ladies of the carnival ." At the beginning of the 19th century the city consisted of two parts. In Old Csurgó there was the Catholic Church in New Csurgó the Reformed Church. The ruins of the castle was exactly in the middle between the two districts. 1826 were counted 1,240 inhabitants, of whom 690 Catholics, 500 Reformed and 50 Jews. This composition changed to 1858 in 1000 Catholics, 700 Reformed, Evangelical Lutheran 120 and 80 Jews. The majority of Hungarian inhabitants were reformed, but partly also Catholic. The Slovaks and Croats were mostly Catholic and the German inhabitants Catholic or lutheranisch.

Located on the road from Vienna to Szigetvár city was known mainly for its fruit orchards and the white wine, and for the fertile farmland and rich grazing land around it. By the beginning of the industrial revolution, however, the centers of economic development and therefore shifted Csurgó was downgraded to the status of a market town in 1850. The construction of the Dombóvár - Gyékényes line Csurgó got in 1872 after the railway network, but this could not significantly alter the geographic isolation of the city. Csurgó remained a small rural town. Only in 1989 it received the full status back as a city. The railway section between Somogyszob and Gyékényes, located on the Csurgó, was electrified in 1994.

Twinning

• Germany Haim Hausen ( Germany / Bayern)
• Romania Cristuru Secuiesc (Romania )
• Aumale France (France / Dep. Seine- Maritime)
• Markelo Netherlands, The Netherlands
• Vráble Slovakia, Slovakia
• Fehérvárcsurgó Hungary, Hungary
• Croatia Vrsar, Croatia
• Japan Yuzawa, Japan