Fonyód is a town in Somogy county, the center of the Fonyód district. It is a popular resort and port city on the southern shore of Lake Balaton. It also includes Bélatelep and Fonyódliget. Its population (as of July 1, 2019) is 5201 people.
Location
It is located on the southern shore of Lake Balaton,
next to Nagy-Berek. The location of the city is recognizable from
afar by the two highest mountains rising on the southern shore of
the lake, rising next to each other, the 207-meter-high Sipos Hill
and the 233-meter Castle Hill, which offer a beautiful panorama of
the lake.
Administratively, Fonyódliget, Bélatelep and
Alsóbélatelep are also part of Fonyód. The latter is located about
two kilometers from the city center, at the western foot of Fonyódi
Hill, on the shores of Lake Balaton.
In the area of the
city, the main road 7 runs east-west and a few kilometers south of
it, avoiding the populated areas of the M7 motorway; the main road
here is the 6701 road from Kaposvár to here. Fonyód railway
junction: the Kaposvár – Fonyód railway line branches off from the
Székesfehérvár – Gyékényes railway line (Southern Railway) at the
station here.
Fonyód also has its own port, from where
hundreds of thousands of people sail to the other side every year.
The island of anglers of more than 40 fish species living in Lake
Balaton begins at the entrance to the port.
The origin of his
name
Its name is traced back to the verb ‘fon’: it was inhabited
by royal spinning peoples who weaved mats, willows, nets.
The first group of people around Fonyód appeared 17–18
thousand years ago. At the time of the conquest, it belonged to the
estates of the Bő clan. It is believed that there may have been a
strong castle on Castle Hill, served by a population engaged in
viticulture, fruit growing, and animal husbandry.
It was
first named after King St. Ladislaus in 1093-95. He cites it among
the estates of St. Martin's Abbey in the form 'Funoldi'. In 1232 IX.
Pope Gregory's letter also commemorates him, but Master Albeus
canons from Esztergom 1237–40. did not occur in the census of.
1332-37. It was recorded in the papal tithe list in the form of
Sconold, Fonold. By this time he already had a parish.
It
occurred in the form of Fonoldh in the 1536 tax register. 1563: LV.
According to the article of law, the castle of Fonyód, which
originally belonged to the Polish family in Lake Balaton, was ruled
by Bálint Magyar from Palonai. The enemy finally fell into the hands
of the enemy in 1575, after the death of Bálint Magyar, but they
destroyed it to the ground, and according to the testimonies of
1612, the captains of Tihany laid their hands on the Polish cattle.
In 1726 it belonged to the Puszta and the Polish family. In 1733 it
belonged to the widow of Miklós Lengyel. For the present, only the
former moat indicates its former extent. It was not until the middle
of the 18th century that life resumed in the depopulated settlement.
In the first half of the 19th century we find it in the possession
of Julianna Lengyel, Baron Pyhthory Menyhért. From the 1840s
onwards, part belonged to the Inkey family and part to the Wodianer
family. At the time of the War of Independence, it was still
inhabited by 108 people (celery, manorial fishermen). A rudimentary
harbor was built in the 1840s, bringing the steppe into shipping.
Drainage, fishing and viticulture provided livelihoods for newer
families. For centuries, the vineyards of Fonyód have established a
flourishing vineyard on its untouched slopes. Railway construction
later became a driving force, because from its inception many men
worked on deforestation and earthworks on the southern shore of Lake
Balaton. In 1869 it was inhabited by 312.
At the turn of the
century, Fonyód started to become a resort, and dr. To the county
chief physician Manó Szaplonczay, who persuaded Béla Zichy, the
owner of the forested mountain, to parcel out an area of his
estate for holidaymakers. The Balaton – Fonyód Bélatelep was
established in 1894, and an upscale fork was built by the turn of
the century. The opening of the railway line between Kaposvár and
Fonyód in 1896 also made it easier to travel here from the county
seat. From then on, the settlement started to develop rapidly, and a
new zone, the Sándortelep, began to form. This part of town dr. It
was named after a doctor, Sándor Berzsenyi, who won officials as
landowners, and they built more modestly than in Bélélepi, but much
closer to the water. Fonyód became an independent village in 1906.
In the following decades, the guest traffic picked up, and in one
season 4–5 thousand people stayed in Fonyód. By 1928, the motorway
was completed next to the railway, and the settlement became an
independent large village, then after 1950 it became the district
seat. Exploration for hot water was also started in 1957, as a
result of which carbonated water was found, and since then mineral
water has been known as ‘Fonyódi’. The town celebrated its 900th
anniversary in 1982 and was granted city status on March 1, 1989.
Fonyód also has a crèche, a kindergarten, a primary school, a
grammar school, a vocational school, a prosecutor's office, a court,
a cultural center, a library and a museum collection.
From
2013, Fonyód became the district seat again.
Cultural life
King Matthias High School
The building of the
Mátyás Király Gimnázium and Postaforgalmi Szakközépiskola was built
according to a type plan in 1963, it was expanded between 1986 and
1989 according to the plans of the architect Ferenc Salamin, when it
received the style features typical of Hungarian organic
architecture. Its spacious hall not only serves education, but also
the arena of the city's artistic and cultural life.
The
grammar school hosted the Fonyódi Helikon poet's meeting for 25
years, where the best-known authors of contemporary Hungarian and
cross-border Hungarian literature can meet each other and their
readers.
The former Villa Gallery
Not far from the port,
Fürdő u. No. 3 It was built in the early 1900s, originally owned by
the mayor of Kaposvár, István Németh. In addition to the artists
living and creating in Fonyód, it included the work of many of the
leading artists. It opened in 1986 as the Summer Gallery. The owner
sold it to Fonyód municipality, privately owned.
Fonyód
Museum
As a result of local, county and national cooperation, a
villa building was re-enchanted in 2003 (owned by Antal Velics,
built in 1906), and in Bélatelep, Bartók Béla u. No. 3 The Fonyód
Museum is located in the old cinema building, where, in addition to
the permanent local historical and ethnographic material, visitors
can get acquainted with the fauna and flora of Lake Balaton and the
importance of nature protection. In addition, there are also
temporary exhibitions.
Festivals
The Fonyód Summer
Festival was created in a tradition-creating way. This is the
commemoration of the former defenders of the Fonyód castle, where
riders and archers dressed in period costumes will give a
presentation at the excavated and restored Pheasant Palánkvár. The
city has a long tradition of St. Stephen’s Day events, on August 20
every year. The event, which attracts a large number of interested
people, will feature a parade of dancers dressed in folk costumes
and the blessing of new bread, combined with a short, ecumenical
service. One of the largest winter gastronomic programs on Lake
Balaton, the Fonyód Sausage Festival, organized since 2010, attracts
visitors from all over the country.
Places of interest
The most impressive shopping line on the southern shore of Lake
Balaton was completed in 2004 between the boat station and the beach
The double nude of sculptor István Kiss stands on the waterfront; it
became a symbol of the settlement.
The monument of the first
flyover of Lake Balaton, Antal Lányi, is also located here.
In
the Pheasant Park you can see the ramparts of the former pile
building of the Pheasant Castle and the newly excavated moat. The
foundations of the church in the castle can still be seen today.
Press House Restaurant - one of the intact monuments of local folk
architecture (more than 200 years old listed building).
The
headstones in front of the Protestant church evoke the memory of the
civilians of World War II, and the monument in Kossuth Forest
commemorates the heroic dead of World War I and World War II.
The
more than 100-year-old Roman Catholic church.
The bell tower of
the chapel in Szent István Street is reminiscent of the Hungarian
holy crown.
The monument-protected villa line of Bélatelep was
built in the 1890s.
Várhegy Lookout Tower (formerly Berzsenyi
Lookout Tower, "Várhegyi Széplátó" since 2012)
Wine castle
Sipos mountain lookout
Memorial plaque of András Fodor
Twin
town park
Panoramic promenade
Walko Lookout Tower (in memory
of Lajos Walko)
Crypt Villa (built in 1941)
Kossuth Forest
Monument to Manó Szaplonczay
Statue of Mihály Pál entitled Wind
of Lake Balaton
Statue of Turul (2010)
Erzsébet camp in
Fonyódliget
Under the auspices of the Elizabeth Camps in the
school year, the so-called it provides free class trips and free
holidays for thousands of children in need during the summer
holidays on weekly shifts.