Tihany
Open-air ethnorgaphics museum
Benedictine
Abbey Museum
Geyser field
Keszthely
Festetich
castle
Heviz
thermal
bath
Badacsony
Wine tasting
TIHANY
The settlement owes its fame to the abbey established in
1055 with its ecclesiastical and religious history heritage. Tihany Peninsula,
the first landscape protection area to be created in Hungary, has a great wealth
of natural treasures.
The settlement and its surrounding area have been
inhabited since prehistoric times. Built in the Iron Age, the earthen redoubt
here is one of the most attractive in the region.
Dated 1055, the first
written reference concerning Tihany is the famous deed of foundation of the
Abbey. This is the oldest written linguistic record of the Hungarian language;
its original is kept in the Pannonhalma Abbey. In the middle of the 11th century King
Andrew I invited Benedictine monks to Tihany and ordered the building of the
church and its monastery. The king's grave is in the Romanesque undercroft of
the present church.
During the Middle Ages, Tihany Peninsula gave a home
to the villages of Tihany, Apáti and Újlak. Originally Tihany was situated
northwest of the church, on the present Apáti hillside. The remains of the old
church walls still can be seen today.
At the end of the Turkish
occupation the abbacy built a new Baroque church and monastery. The work
continued until 1754. Relics of the cultural heritage and civilization,
reminiscent of the Abbey's golden age are exhibited in the Benedictine Abbey
Museum .
Examples of the region's traditional folk architecture and everyday
utensils can be viewed in the open-air ethnographic museum.
Both the
settlement and its surroundings have a great wealth in natural treasures. Access
to the Tihany landscape protection area on the Peninsula is only allowed on foot
and is restricted to designated paths. A special feature of the local climate is
that it allows figs to ripen as often as three times a year, but even more
famous is the lavender, first planted in the 1920's and then spread over Summit
Hill .
Accommodation in Tihany