Geography

Tura lies between the Great Plain

Great Hungarian Plain

The Great Hungarian Plain is a plain occupying the southern and eastern part of Hungary, some parts of the Eastern Slovak Lowland, southwestern Ukraine, the Transcarpathian Lowland , western Romania , northern Serbia , and eastern Croatia...

 and Mátra Hills, in the Galga Valley.

Communications

The Bagi Junction of the M3 motorway

M3 motorway (Hungary)

The M3 is a Hungarian motorway connecting Budapest to Nyíregyháza. It will eventually connect Budapest to the Ukrainian border. Two other motorways branch off it, the M30 and the M35 . The M3 follows the route of route 3, and, later, route 4...

 and primary route 32 (from Jászfényszarú

Jászfényszaru

Jászfényszaru is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary.-Geography:It covers an area of and has a population of 5887 people ....

) serve the town.

Express and stopping trains of the Hungarian State Railways

Hungarian State Railways

Hungarian State Railways is the Hungarian national railway company, with divisions "MÁV Start Zrt" and "MÁV Cargo Zrt" ....

 serve the town on the Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

—Hatvan

Hatvan

Hatvan is a town in Heves county, Hungary. Hatvan is the Hungarian word for "sixty". Hatvan is located at around ....

—Miskolc

Miskolc

Miskolc is a city in northeastern Hungary, mainly with heavy industrial background. With a population close to 170,000 Miskolc is the fourth largest city of Hungary It is also the county capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and the regional centre of Northern Hungary.- Geography :Miskolc is located...

 line.

Around the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries the MÁV (Hungarian State Railways) employed more and more people in Tura and it became a railway town

Railway town

A railway town is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site.In Victorian Britain, the spread of railways greatly affected the fate of many small towns...

.

History

The first mention of Tura is as in a charter of 1220. At that time the Ákos family owned the town. In 1425 one of the family's descendants, Miklós Ördög Prodavizi, gave the estate to King Sigismund

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor

Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...

  in exchange for other properties.

A charter of 1523 mentions that the settlement levied its own taxation. In 1544, after the capture of Buda

Buda

For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...

 by the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 three years earlier, Tura came under Turkish rule. The town was never emptied and its church survived that period. Even though in 1594 Simon Forgách won in battle against the Turkish army, the Turkish still ruled Tura for centuries more. In 1633–34 the settlement was mentioned as a Turkish town with two taxable lands. At the end of Turkish rule there were only 61 families in the town.

In the 18th century Tura's population started to grow because of agriculture. Trade improved and people sold their goods in the Buda, Pest, Miskolc, Hatvan, Vác

Vác

Vác is a town in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The archaic spellings of the name are Vacz and Vacs.-Location:...

 and Gyöngyös

Gyöngyös

Gyöngyös is a city in Heves county in Hungary, east of Budapest. Situated at the foot of the Sár-hegy and Mátra mountains, it is the home of numerous food production plants, including milk production and sausage factories...

  markets. In 1740 Tura was Antal Hévizi Nagy’s land and it became a duty free

Duty (economics)

In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. It is a tax on certain items purchased abroad...

 town. At that time there were 59 taxable houses.

Until 1873 Tura was owned by the Esterházy family, but they sold it to Baron Sigismund Schossberger. On 20 July 1849 one of the biggest battles of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848

Hungarian Revolution of 1848

The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of many of the European Revolutions of 1848 and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas...

 took place in Tura, between Mór Perczel

Mór Perczel

Sir Mór Perczel de Bonyhád , was a Hungarian landholder, general, and one of the leaders of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.- Life before 1848 :...

's and Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy’s troops. In 1910 there were 900 houses and 4759 inhabitants.

Economy

Tura had a leading role in agriculture. In the (Lower Galga) animal breeding and fruit cultivation was significant. Collective farming

Collective farming

Collective farming and communal farming are types of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise...

 started in 1949. Later on, industrialisation started to improve too. At one time there were 200 employees. In the 1990s the collective farms started to be privatised and new owners rented them out.

The main industries are vegetable and flower cultivation and the Galga-Coop plc sells the goods at the local market or in Budapest.

Landmarks

• Roman Catholic
  Roman Catholicism in Hungary
  The Roman Catholic Church in Hungary is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome....
  
   church
• Tura Castle
• Lake Kónya
• Schossberger Castle (by Miklós Ybl
  Miklós Ybl
  Miklós Ybl was one of Europe's leading architects in the mid to late nineteenth century as well as Hungary's most influential architect during his career...
  
  , built in 1883). The building is in the middle of a 10 hectares (24.7 acre) park
• Baroque granary (built in 1808) near the castle
• 200 years old Roman Catholic Church. There are some Gothic
  Gothic architecture
  Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
  
   ruins under the church
• Folk museum, opened in 1989
• Obelisk to honour the battle of 1849, standing 8 metres (26.2 ft) high
• Dora Mill
• Town hall, built in 1902
• Nature reserve
• Hot spa
  Spa
  The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
  
  .

Famous people

• László Gellér (b. 1944), Hungarian ski champion (competitions in Hungary)
• George de Hevesy
  George de Hevesy
  George Charles de Hevesy, Georg Karl von Hevesy, was a Hungarian radiochemist and Nobel laureate, recognized in 1943 for his key role in the development of radioactive tracers to study chemical processes such as in the metabolism of animals.- Early years :Hevesy György was born in Budapest,...
  
   (1885–1966), winner of the 1943 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
  
  
• Géza Kovács, director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic
• Lászó Kovács (1908–1962), chorister teacher, the inaugural winner of the Kossuth Prize
  Kossuth Prize
  The Kossuth Prize is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionary Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 by the Hungarian National Assembly, to acknowledge outstanding personal and group achievements in the fields of...
  
  
• Mária Maczkó (b. 1961), folk-song singer and master of folk art
• József Szaszkó, a master of the zither
  Zither
  The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...
  
  
• Sándor Sára (b. 1933), film director and documentary film maker, the first leader of Duna TV
  Duna TV
  Duna TV or Duna Televízió is one of two public television services in Hungary. "Duna" is the Hungarian name for the Danube. Duna TV operates two channels: Channel 1 and Channel 2-Autonómia....
  
  
• József Szénási, journalist

• Cimbaliband, a world famous folk-song band
• Zagyva Banda, a folk-song band.

Tura in folk art

Tura is famous for its folk songs and fancy work. Béla Bartók

Béla Bartók

Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

 the composer collected more than 150 folk songs in Tura in 1906. His name is on the wall of the Tura Community Centre. The famous fancy work of Tura has a long history. The style of fancy work was very popular after the Second World War, and many stylists used it for their clothes.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Tura, Hungary is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with:: Sântimbru

Sântimbru

Sântimbru may refer to several places in Romania:* Sântimbru, a commune in Alba County* Sântimbru, a commune in Harghita County...

, (1990): Jasov

Jasov

Jasov is a small town and municipality in Košice-okolie District in the Kosice Region of eastern Slovakia.-St.John The Baptist Church:This is the biggest monastery complex in Slovakia and the , which forms its centrepiece, is considered one of the country's most important late-Baroque...

  (1993): Maserà di Padova

Maserà di Padova

Maserà di Padova is a comune in the Province of Padua in the Italian region of Veneto, located about 40 km southwest of Venice and about 11 km south of Padua...

(2004)