Hódmezővásárhely

Geographical area

Hódmezővásárhely lies in the south-eastern part of the Great Plain, in the border of Békés-Csanádi ridge and the saline, clayey meadow-land of the district of Tisza. Concerning settling down favourable conditions have been developed in the border of the two different natural surroundings. Hódmezővásárhely has been already an inhabited place in the prehistoric age. Archaeologists found almost six thousand-year-old traces of settlement on the confines of the city.

History

People earned their livings from fishing, trade and agriculture. The development of becoming a town might happen in the middle of the XVth century, when Hód, Vásárhely, Tarján and Ábrány - formerly small independent villages - fused and one of the bigger market-towns in the Great Plain was established. The settlement, which was called Hódvásárhely in 1437, appeared as domanial centre in the charter of János Hunyadi, the landlord of the town of that time. Its location next to the road leading from Csongrád to Csanád was favourable to the trade. Markets and livestock markets provided its development in the Middle Ages.

The former market-town with endless borders was famous for its tide lands of Tisza and its „puszta" (Hungarian steppe) not only in the past, but it is even today. The traditions of grazing animal husbandry spread earlier have not sunk into oblivion. Owing to this husbanding form, the puszta of Vásárhely, namely the former outer pasture of the city is still exists up to this day.

From the point of view of tourism a great natural resource of Hódmezővásárhely is the supply of thermal water that feeds the urban open-air bath and entices so many visitors to the city in summer. With further successful and hard work and effort the city may achieve to be one of the most excellent and the most prosperous settlement of the South Great Plain region, that the citizens of the city can be meritoriously proud of. The city can be attractive for all foreign and native tourists. Museums, churches, ornamental wells, sculptures, parks and an open-air bath filled with thermal water are waiting for the guests visiting our city.

From the point of view of protection of nature its most valuable part is one of the main areas of Körös-Maros National Park. Wandering about on foot is the best in the puszta, this way it reveals itself for the most part, this way we can catch sight of the blooming camomile, the land covered with honey grass that is alive with swarms of grasshoppers, or the field-lark's nest hidden under clump of grass.

Local products

In comparison with other settlements of the country, in the turn of the century most potters worked in Hódmezővásárhely, in the citadel of the pottery in the Great Plain. The excellent clay, which could be found in this area served as basic material. The following fact proves the diversity of the famous ceramics of Vásárhely: while the ground colour of the ceramics of new-town green, the ones of Tabán is yellow; on the other hand the potters in Csúcs worked with glazed cobalt blue patterns on white base. There are several master craftsmen among the potters living and still working today. They developed the original shapes and motives while preserved the traditions.
The embroidery of Vásárhely also gained fame for the makers. The fur-embroidery was made of the basic materials of hemp and flax. The embroidering thread was made of the fur, wool of the sheep and it was coloured by plant-pigments. This resulted in a unique colour effect. The decorative motives are stylised plants, leaves and flowers, pomegranate, tulip, peony, peacock butterfly, chalice and birds. By using these patterns they made tablecloths, runners for table and wall, table sets, curtains and pillow-cases.

Cittaslow projects

Modernization of the street lighting in Hódmezővásárhely (LED-streetlights)
Number of luminaires: 6830 pieces
New luminaires: 6598 pieces
Total energy saving in the project: 565 000 kWh/year 
The CO2 emission and the energy consumption of the street lighting will be decreased by 1/3 from 2012. 
The brightness uniformity will improve by 30%, the comfort feeling of the vision by 50%. 
- The luminous intensity will improve by 30-50% in average.
The projected end time of the execution: 5th December, 2011. 
Finish of the project: 31st December, 2011

Energetic modernisation of the Németh László Elementary School
The old and obsolete windows and doors will be changed during the project, glass windows and doors will replace the glass block walls, the building envelope will be covered by a 10 cms thick thermal insulation (walls + roof), the geothermal district heating central will be transformed into a changing mass flow system instead of the current permanent mass flow system.

Energetic modernisation of the „A" Building Block of Erzsébet Hospital in Hódmezővásárhely 
Changing all windows and doors in the building. The district heating system (thermal water) will remain in the old wing of Building „A", the heating elements will be equipped with thermostatic regulation siphon and flow regulators.

Subsidizing the energy-saving modernisation and renovation of prefabricated high-rise houses
As a result of the current prefabricated high-rise house project 693 flats have been or will be renovated in Hódmezővásárhely, resulting in significant energy-savings in the households.

Mayor of Hódmezővásárhely - Péter Márki-Zay
polgarmester@hodmezovasarhely.hu

Representative of Cittaslow:

Ákos Rókus 
6800 Hódmezővásárhely, Kossuth tér 1.