The Rise of the Árpáds comes with illustrated scenes and an educational approach.Continue reading
On Friday, the Aranymonostor (“Golden Monastery”) Visitor Center in Bugac (southern Hungary) was inaugurated, built with around HUF 1.4 billion (EUR 3.5 million) of state and EU funding. The center presents the life of the Árpád-era monastery and the surrounding settlement, as well as the artifacts found there.
At the inauguration ceremony, László Szabó, Mayor of Bugac, said that the municipality of Bugac had won funding for the first phase of the project – the construction of the visitor center – in a consortium with the Bács-Kiskun County Development Agency Nonprofit Ltd. The establishment of the visitor center is a milestone not only for Bugac, but also for the county’s tourism, he stressed.
The second phase of the development of the visitor center is expected to be completed in June.
Additional funds will have to be raised for the third phase, which would include the construction of a lookout, a camping site, and a reception building, as well as the rehabilitation of the ruins. This will be followed by the fourth phase: the construction of the monastery using Árpád-era construction techniques.
Photo: MTI/Ujvári Sándor
The exterior appearance and architectural design of the reception building, which will blend into the landscape, will have a flat, round, notched silver side, reminiscent of a coin found in the sand. Its shape also refers to the cloisters of former monasteries. The building is fully accessible due to its ground-floor design, and energy-efficient thanks to its modern technological and structural solutions.
Photo: Facebook/Aranymonostor Látogatóközpont Bugac
Life in the old settlement of Péteri began in the 1050s, most likely as a result of royal settlement. The monastery was founded between 1130 and 1140 by the Becse-Gergely family, a prominent noble family of the time.
Photo: Facebook/Aranymonostor Látogatóközpont Bugac
Situated along an important military and trade route, the strategic settlement became a religious and economic center of the Danube-Tisza area by the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. The Tatar invasion of 1241-42 put an end to the life of the settlement, which was vast and urbanized before. Archaeological excavations on the site have uncovered masses of evidence of the outstanding wealth and great power status of Árpád-era Hungary.
Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Aranymonostor Látogatóközpont Bugac