Things to do in South Central Hungary
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Árkád Shopping Centre
This big, bold and new shopping centre has a food court, which is a safe bet for quick food.
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Mosque Church
Dominating Széchenyi tér, a central square of largely baroque buildings, is the 16th-century Pasha Gazi Kassim Mosque. Today it is the Inner Town Parish Church (Belvárosi plébánia templom), more commonly known as the Mosque Church. It is the largest building from the time of the Turkish occupation still standing in Hungary and the very symbol of the city. The Islamic elements are easy to spot inside: windows with distinctive Turkish ogee arches to the south; a mihrab (prayer niche) carved into the southeast wall; faded verses from the Koran to the southwest.
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All Saints' Church
The suburb of Budaiváros to the northeast of Pécs' town centre is where most Hungarians settled after the Turks banned them from living within the city walls. The centre of this community was the All Saints' Church. Originally built in the 12th century, it was reconstructed in Gothic style 200 years later.
All Saints was the only Christian church allowed in Pécs during the occupation and was shared by three sects - who fought bitterly for every square centimetre. Apparently it was the Muslim Turks who had to keep the peace among the Christians.
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Modern Hungarian Art Gallery
The Modern Hungarian Art Gallery in Káptalan utca is the best place to get an overview of art in Hungary between 1850 and today. For art up to 1950 pay special attention to the works of Simon Hollósy, József Rippl-Rónai and Ödön Márffy. For more abstract and constructionist art, watch out for the names András Mengyár, Tamás Hencze, Béla Uitz and Gábor Dienes. The Péter Székely Gallery behind the museum has large stone and wood sculptures.
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Endre Nemes Museum
Káptalan utca, running east from Dóm tér to Hunyadi János út, contains a plethora of museums, all of them in listed buildings. The entry fee to the Ferenc Martyn Museum includes entry to the Endre Nemes Museum, which is devoted to paintings by the surrealist Endre Nemes (1908-85). In a separate pavilion behind it is Erzsébet Schaár's Utca (also included in the Martyn Museum ticket), a complete artistic environment in which the sculptor set her whole life in stone.
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Basilica
Dom tér contains the four-towered basilica dedicated to St Peter. The foundations date as far back as the 11th century but most of what you see today of the neo-Romanesque structure is the result of renovations carried out in 1881. The most interesting parts of the basilica’s very ornate interior are the elevated central altar, the four 14th-century side chapels and the crypt, the oldest part of the structure.
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Misina Peak
To the northwest of Pécs, up Fenyves sor and past the zoo, a winding road leads to Misina Peak and a TV tower, an impressive 194m structure with a viewing platform and café-bar. But these are just the foothills: from here, trails lead to the lovely towns of Orfű and Abaliget, on a plateau 15km and 20km to the northwest, respectively; and to Southern Transdanubia's highest peak, Zengő-hegy (682m).
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Cella Septichora Visitors Centre
On the southern side of Dom tér is the Cella Septichora Visitors Centre, which links and explains a series of half-a-dozen early Christian burial sites that have been on Unesco’s World Heritage List since 2000. The highlight is the so-called Jug Mausoleum, a 4th-century Roman tomb whose name comes from a painting of a large drinking vessel with vines found here.
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Pasha Memi Baths (Ruins)
One of Pécs' most enjoyable pedestrian streets, Ferencesek utcája, runs east from Rákóczi út to Széchenyi tér, where Király utca also becomes pedestrian. You'll pass the ruins of the 16th-century Pasha Memi Baths, three beautiful old churches and, on Király utca, the neo-rococo Pécs National Theatre (Király utca).
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Pécs National Theatre
Pécs is also renowned for its opera company and the Sophianae Ballet, which perform here. If you're told that tickets are sold out, try for a cancellation at the box office an hour before the performance. Advance tickets can be purchased from the theatre office (72 512 675, Perczel Mór 17, 10:00-19:00 Tue-Fri, 1hr before performances Sat & Sun).
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Zsolnay Porcelain Museum
The Zsolnay Porcelain Museum traces the history of the porcelain factory established here in 1853 and which remained at the forefront of European art and design for more than half a century. Many of its maiolica tiles were used to decorate buildings throughout Budapest and contributed to establishing a new pan-Hungarian style of architecture.
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Janus Pannonius Archaeology Museum
The Janus Pannonius Archaeology Museum, in the 17th-century home of a janissary commander just behind the Mosque Church in Széchenyi tér, traces the history of Baranya County up to the time of Árpád. It also contains many examples of Roman stonework from Pannonia, a model of St Bertalan's Church and medieval porcelain.
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Pasha Hassan Jakovali Mosque
Southwest of Pécs' inner town and opposite the Pátria hotel is the Pasha Hassan Jakovali Mosque, wedged between a trade school and a hospital. The 16th-century mosque - complete with minaret - is the most intact of any Turkish structure in Hungary and contains a small museum of Ottoman objets d'art.
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Ferenc Martyn Museum
Káptalan utca, running east from Dóm tér to Hunyadi János út, contains a plethora of museums, all of them in listed buildings. The Ferenc Martyn Museum displays works by the Pécs-born painter and sculptor (1899-1986) and sponsors special exhibits of local interest.
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Havi-hegy Chapel
To the northeast of Pécs' town centre up on a hill is Havi-hegy Chapel, built in 1691 by the faithful after the town was spared the plague. The church is an important city landmark, and offers wonderful views of the inner town and the narrow streets and old houses of the Tettye Valley.
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Kioszk
While visiting the cathedral or the museums along Káptalan utca, stop in for a drink or a coffee at the Kioszk in the little park between Káptalan utca and Janus Pannonius utca. It's probably the only chance you'll ever have to drink in what was once a baptistry.
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barbican
To the west and north of Dóm tér is a long stretch of the old city wall that enclosed an area far too large to defend properly. The circular barbican, the only stone bastion to survive in Pécs, dates from the late 15th century and was restored in the 1970s.
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Jug Mausoleum
The entrance to the Jug Mausoleum, a 4th-century Roman tomb whose name comes from a painting of a large drinking vessel with vines found here is on the southern side of the baroque Ecclesiastical Archives (Egyházi levéltár) in Dóm tér.
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Zengő-hegy
From Misina Peak (Misina; 535m) to the northwest of Pécs, up Fenyves sor, trails lead to the lovely towns of Orfű and Abaliget, on a plateau 15km and 20km to the northwest, respectively; and to Southern Transdanubia's highest peak, Zengő-hegy.
reviewed
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Áfium
This welcoming restaurant will fill the needs (and stomachs) of diners in search of South Slav specialities from just over the border in Croatia and Serbia. Don’t miss the ‘hatted’ (actually a swollen bread crust) bean soup with trotters.
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Virág
There's an ongoing debate in Pécs over which cukrászda (cake shop) serves better cakes and ice cream: the Mecsek (72 315 444; Széchenyi tér 16), near the old Nádor hotel, or the Virág. The best bet is to try them both.
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Mecsek
There's an ongoing debate in Pécs over which cukrászda (cake shop) serves better cakes and ice cream: the Mecsek, near the old Nádor hotel, or the Virág (72 313 793; Irgalmasok utcája). The best bet is to try them both.
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Garden of Ruins
You can get a taste of the Mecsek Hills by walking northeast from the centre of Pécs to Tettye and the Garden of Ruins, what's left of a bishop's summer residence built early in the 16th century and later used by Turkish dervishes as a monastery.
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Bishop's Palace
The Bishop's Palace, dating to 1770, to the southwest of Dóm tér is only open to groups (and even then, rarely), but have a look at the curious statue of Franz Liszt (Imre Varga; 1983), peering over from a balcony.
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Aranykacsa
Aranykacsa may have dropped its pretentiousness a couple of notches, but it still takes pride in its silver service and sports a menu with the likes of duck liver with caviar, and pheasant roast accompanied by green salad.
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