The Land of Pannonia [antikvár]

3. Belfry, BajánsenyeWe invite the reader for a walk through Western Hungary, an approximately forty to fifty-kilometre-wide strip of land stretching between the source of the river Zala and the Danube. On three sides the area is surrounded by national borders: in the north stretches Czechoslovakia, in the west Austria, and in the south Yugoslavia.These borders were established in 1920 by the peace treaty of Trianon. For centuries Western Transdanubia had belonged to a larger Central European geographical, economical and cultural unit. This earlier area had strctched from the Steyer Alps to the Transdanubian Hills. The close relationship between Western Hungary and this larger region is evident even today. Let us consider a few examples.In Szombathely there are remnants of a Roman road from the time when Savaria (present-day Szombathely) belonged to Pannónia Superior, the Roman province whose capital was Carnuntum (Deutsch-Altenburg), near present-day Vienna.In the fourteenth century, Johannes Aquila, an architect and painter acclaimed throughout Europe, lived in the area. While he was born in Radkersburg, in present-day Austria, his frescoes appear in the little church of the Hungarian village, Velemér, and in the Yugoslav villages of Martijanc and Turnisce.IVliklós Zrínyi (1620-1664), the famous Hungarian poet, statesman and soldier, defended the fortresses of Cakovec (Csáktornya) and with it the region around the river Mura (Mur), now in Yugoslavia, but he studied in Graz and frequented the emperor's court in Vienna.On Franz Liszt's schedule of concerts cities like Vienna, Bratislava (at that time called Pressburg by theGermans, and Pozsony by Hungarians), Győr (Raab) and Sopron (Ödenburg) appear side by side.But today's visitor to Sopron, Győr or Bratislava can also find close relationships between the physical appearance of these towns. During the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, traces were left behind of the same style in all these towns: on the architectural characteristics of train stations, schools and military barracks.In short, the geographical endowments, the history and special situation of Western Transdanubia make it something special within Hungary. This region now forms the western gateway of Hungary; it is a place of transit, an exceedingly rich, varied, many-faceted landscape. It is a part of the country where the geographical area narrows, and therefore the cultural-economical circulation is brisker; the drift, flow, rush of life richer, more colourful, more flourishing.History and PopulationWhere different terrains meet, roads, trails and paths are opened up. Even in prehistoric times this area used to be crossed by caravan routes. The famous Amber Road used to stretch from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean basin; the road in the Danube valley connected East and West. Where there are roads, human communities wiU soon spring up. In the Bronze Age, on the mountain by Velem, there grew up a veritable town of foundries whose busy smelting shops flourished for centuries. The barbarian province latinized during the five centuries of Roman rule: the provincials built roads, houses, villas, temples and theaters, and adopted the Mediterranean way of life. Christianity had spread during the Roman rule; Upper Pannónia produced its4. Mosaic floor of a Roman-age villa at Szombathely, in the one-time province of Savaria