Szentendre

Szentendre
Szentendre
	Szentendre
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Szentendre Location of Szentendre
	Coordinates: 47°42′16″N 19°04′07″E / 47.70440°N 19.06858°ECoordinates: 47°42′16″N 19°04′07″E / 47.70440°N 19.06858°E
Country	Hungary
County	Pest
	Area
• Total	43.83 km2 (16.92 sq mi)
	Population (2004)
• Total	23,554
• Density	537.39/km2 (1,391.8/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	2000
Area code(s)	26

Photo of Szentendre's "Fő tér" (Main Square)

Decorated Shop Windows

Main Square

Szentendre (Croatian: Senandrija, Serbian: Сентандреја, Sentandreja) is a riverside town in Pest county, Hungary, near the capital city Budapest. It is known for its museums (most notably the Open-Air Ethnographic Museum), galleries, and artists.

Due to its historic architecture and easy rail and river access, it has become a popular destination for tourists staying in Budapest. There are many facilities, including souvenir shops and restaurants, catering to these visitors.

Name [edit]

The name of the town is ultimately based on the Medieval Latin form Sankt Andrae (English: St.Andrew). Because of the diverse mix of nations to have once settled in Szentendre, the settlement has a variety of names according to language. The Hungarian name for the town is Szentendre; the German name is Sankt Andrä; in Serbian, the name is Sentandreja (Serbian Cyrillic: Сентандреја); the Slovak name is Svätý Ondrej.

History [edit]

Populated for well over a millennium in ancient times, under the Romans it was called Ulcisia Castra, meaning Wolf Castle for their fort.

Since the Middle Ages, Szentendre and the surrounding villages had also been settled by many Bulgarians. In 1690, the Serbian teacher and hegumen Stevan wrote that Szentendre was called Bolgarija by some. The Bulgarian neighbourhood included Catholic settlers from Chiprovtsi and a Roman Catholic "Chiprovtsi church" (Csiprovacska templom). The names of many locals show Bulgarian ancestry.^[1]

Since the 16th century, the town was considered the center of the Serb community in this part of Hungary. At one point it had as many as eight Serbian Orthodox church buildings and three chapels, and only one each Roman-Catholic and Evangelical. It is still the see of the Buda Diocese of the Serb Orthodox Church.

In the 18th century, after liberation from the Ottomans, the Crown recruited farmers and artisans from Germany and southern Slavs to repopulate areas that had been occupied by the Ottomans. Szentendre enjoyed a rebirth, with new settlers including Serbian, Croatian, Slovak, and Greek immigrants, who settled alongside the Magyar residents. According to the 1720 data, 88% of the population of the town were South Slavs (mostly Serbs, but also some South Slavic Catholics).^[2] The town to this day is characterised by southern European elements, including baroque architecture, churches of various faiths, narrow sidestreets, and cobblestone roads.

Arts [edit]

People from Szentendre [edit]

Jakov Ignjatović, famous Serbian 19th century novelist and prose writer
Gavril Stefanović Venclović, early 18th century Serbian poet, writer, enlightener, orator and painter of church icons
Jovan Avakumović (poet) was born in 1748 in Szentendre during the Enlightenment, producing works in verse in Serbian vernacular.
Evgen Dumča
Jelena Bozda
Avakum Avakumović
Sima Ignjatović
Pavle Sofrić
Béla Apáti Abkarovics was a Hungarian painter of Serbian roots, born at Erdmihályfalva, but lived and worked in Szentendre

Population [edit]

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1870	4,683	—
1880	4,229	−9.7%
1890	4,260	+0.7%
1900	4,822	+13.2%
1910	5,673	+17.6%
1920	5,877	+3.6%
1930	7,210	+22.7%
1941	9,651	+33.9%
1949	9,283	−3.8%
1960	10,466	+12.7%
1970	13,008	+24.3%
1980	16,901	+29.9%
1990	19,351	+14.5%
2001	22,747	+17.5%
2011	25,963	+14.1%

In the 18th, century Szentendre had Serb majority, but in the 19th century they dropped to minority due to one-child family model,^[5] ethnic Germans followed the decadent Serb community. By the late 19th century rapidly growing Hungarians became the dominant ethnic group, assimilated Germans and the remaining Serbs too. In 2001, Szentendre had 22,747 inhabitants, of whom there were 21,001 ethnic Hungarians, 225 Germans, and only 100 Serbs.

Nationalities

Magyars - 92.3%
Germans - 1%
Slovaks - 0.6%
Roma - 0.5%
Serbs - 0.4%
Others - 1%
No answer, unknown - 4.2%

Religions

Roman Catholic - 49.3%
Calvinist - 13.5%
Lutheran - 2%
Greek Catholic - 1.4%
Others (Christian) - 1.2%
Others (non-Christian) - 0.3%
Atheist - 16.9%
No answer, unknown - 15.4%

Today there are active Serbian, Croat, German, and Polish municipal minority self-governments in Szentendre.

International relations [edit]

A sunlit icon of Jesus above the gate to a Serbian Orthodox church in Szentendre.

Twin towns - Sister cities [edit]

Szentendre is twinned with:

Kalisz in Poland^[6]
Uusikaupunki in Finland^{[citation needed]}

References [edit]

Károly Kocsis (DSc, University of Miskolc) – Zsolt Bottlik (PhD, Budapest University) – Patrik Tátrai: Etnikai térfolyamatok a Kárpát-medence határon túli régióiban + CD (for detailed data), Magyar Tudományos Akadémia (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) – Földrajtudományi Kutatóintézet (Academy of Geographical Studies); Budapest; 2006.; ISBN 963-9545-10-4

^ Király, Péter (2002). Die Čiprovecer in Ungarn (in German). Budapest: ELTE Szláv Intézet.
^ Dr. Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjiga 2, Novi Sad, 1990.
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ Illyés Gyula: Pusztulás ("Dissolution"), 1933
^ "Kalisz Official Website - Twin Towns". (in English and Polish) 2005-2008 Urząd Miejski Kalisz. Retrieved 2008-11-29.