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City with county rights in Northern Hungary, Hungary
The name derives fromMiško,Slavic form ofMichael.[7][8]Miškovec →Miskolc with the same development asLipovec →Lipólc,Lipóc. The name is associated with theMiskolc clan (also Miskóc or Myscouch,Slovak Miškovec, plural Miškovci) named after the settlement or vice versa. Earliest mentions areque nunc vocatur Miscoucy (around 1200),de Myschouch (1225),Ponyt de genere Myscouch (1230),in Miscovcy (1245).[8]
The city lies at the meeting point of different geographical regions – east of theBükk mountains, in the valley of the riverSajó and the streamsHejő andSzinva. According to the2001 Census the city has a total area of 236.68 km2 (91.38 sq mi). The ground level slopes gradually; the difference between the highest and lowest area is about 800 m (2,600 ft).
The lowest areas are the banks of the river Sajó, with an altitude of 110–120 m (360–390 ft). The area belongs to theGreat Plain region and is made up of sedimentary rocks. Between theAvas hill andDiósgyőr lies the hilly area of theLower Bükk (250–300 m or 820–980 ft) consisting of sandstone, marl, clay, layers of coal, from thetertiary period, and volcanic rocks from theMiocene.
TheCentral Bükk, a gently sloping mountainous area with an altitude between 400 and 600 m (1,300 and 2,000 ft), is situated between Diósgyőr andLillafüred; the area is made up oflimestone,slate,dolomite and other rocks from theTriassic period. The surface was formed mostly by karstic erosions.
The highest area, the 600–900 m (2,000–3,000 ft) highHigher Bükk boreBükk Highlands begin at Lillafüred. This mostly consists of sea sediments (limestone, slate, dolomite) from thePaleozoic andMesozoic, and volcanic rocks likediabase andporphyry. Several caves can be found in the area. The city is also known for the lowest temperature ever recorded in Hungary at−35 °C (−31 °F).[9]
Summers are fresh but sometimes warm and humid in Miskolc. Daytime temperatures of 20–30 °C (68–86 °F) or higher are commonplace. Snow and ice are dominant during the winter season. Miskolc receives about 120 centimetres of snowfall annually. Days below freezing and nights below −20 °C (−4 °F) both occur in the winter.
Climate data for Miskolc, 1991−2020 normals, extremes 1961-2020
The area has been inhabited since ancient times – archaeological findings date back to thePaleolithic, proving human presence for over 70,000 years[citation needed]. Its first known dwellers were theCotini, one of theCeltic tribes. The area has been occupied by Hungarians since the "Conquest" in the late 9th century. It was first mentioned by this name around 1210 AD. The Miskóc clan lost their power when KingCharles I centralized his power by curbing the power of the oligarchs.
Miskolc was elevated to the rank ofoppidum (market town) in 1365 by KingLouis I. He also had thecastle of the nearby townDiósgyőr (now a district of Miskolc) transformed into aGothicfortress. The city developed in a dynamic way, but during theOttoman occupation of most of Hungary the development of Miskolc was brought to a standstill. TheOttomans underSuleiman the Magnificent took Miskolc in 1544 and the city prospered further until 1687. It was also ruled by Ottomans afterBattle of Mezőkeresztes in 1596 as part ofEyalet of Egir until 1687. It was during these years that Miskolc became an important centre of wine-growing. By the end of the 17th century the population of the city was as large as that ofKassa/Košice, and 13 guilds had been founded.
During the war of independence againstHabsburg rule in the early 18th century, PrinceFrancis II Rákóczi, the leader of the Hungarians put his headquarters in Miskolc. The imperial forces sacked and burnt the city in 1707. Four years later half of the population fell victim of acholera epidemic. Miskolc recovered quickly, and another age of prosperity began again. In 1724, Miskolc was chosen to be the city where the county hall ofBorsod county would be built. Many other significant buildings were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, including thecity hall, schools such asLévay József Református Gimnázium és Diákotthon,churches, thesynagogue, and thetheatre. The theatre is commonly regarded as the first stone-built theatre of Hungary, although the first one was actually built in Kolozsvár (then a part of Hungary, nowCluj-Napoca,Romania). According to the first nationally held census (1786) the city had a population of 14,719, and 2,414 houses.
Elizabeth Square
These years brought prosperity, but the cholera epidemic of 1873 and theflood of 1878 took many lives. Several buildings were destroyed by the flood, but bigger and grander buildings were built in their places.World War I did not affect the city directly, but many people died, either from warfare or from the cholera epidemic. It was occupied byCzechoslovak troops between 1918 and 1919 after theFirst World War.
After theTreaty of Trianon, Hungary lostKassa (today Košice, Slovakia) and Miskolc became the sole regional center of northern Hungary. This was one of the reasons for the enormous growth of the city during the 1930s and 1940s.
Early in World War II Hungary became an ally of Nazi Germany. Unhappy with the Hungarian government, German troops occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944 and put the anti-semiticArrow Cross Party in charge of the government. Jews in Miskolc and elsewhere were ordered to wear yellow stars on their clothing.[12] Under the supervision ofNaziSS-ObersturmbannführerAdolf Eichmann, "deportations" from Miskolc began on June 11 or 12th, 1944. Over 14,000 Jewish adults and children were sent by cattle car to Auschwitz, where most were gassed on arrival. After the war Jews who survived the holocaust returned to Miskolc hoping to reclaim their land and possessions. Over 130 were rounded up by members of the local Arrow Cross Party and summarily murdered[citation needed]. The Jewish cemetery on a hill overlooking Miskolc[13] has a memorial for them. It includes the 10 commandments, carved in stone, all written in Hebrew exceptThou shall not kill, which is written in Hungarian.
The preparation forWorld War II established Miskolc as the national centre of heavy industry, a position the city maintained until the 1990s. Although Miskolc suffered a lot during the last year of the war, it recovered quickly, and by absorbing the surrounding villages, it became the second-largest city of Hungary with more than 200,000 inhabitants.
On July 30 and August 1, 1946, theMiskolc pogrom led to death of one accusedJewishblack marketeer, the wounding of another, and subsequently the death of a Jewish policeman. Economic hardship andanti-Semitism motivated the riots.
In 1949, theUniversity of Miskolc was founded (as a successor of theAcademy of Mining, formerly in Selmecbánya, which is nowBanská Štiavnica, Slovakia).
County hall of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén on City Hall square
During its long history Miskolc survived fires, floods, plagues and foreign invasions, but maintained its position as the centre of northeastern Hungary. The 1990s brought a crisis in the iron industry with a decline in the population.
Miskolc is now trying to become known as a cultural – instead of merely an industrial – city. Among the various cultural events, one of the most important festivities is theInternational Opera Festival, held every summer.
Tourist destinations in Miskolc includeTapolca,Lillafüred and Felsőhámor. Tapolca has a park with a boating pond and the uniqueCave Bath. Lillafüred and Felsőhámor are pretty villages in a valley surrounded by mountains and forests; their sights include the Hotel Palace on the shore of the Lake Hámori, the Szinva waterfall (the highest waterfall of the country), the Anna Cave and the István Cave.
The population (around 1910) is multidenominational and multiethnical, and the differences in the level of education mirrors the stratification of society, following these facts.http://mek.oszk.hu/16900/16992
Forestry Office on Deák squareThe TV tower on Avas became the symbol of the cityErzsébet SquareMain entrance of the University of Miskolc
Miskolc is generally thought of as an industrial city, and the largest boost to its economy was indeed provided by the industrialization during the Socialist era; in fact industry (including metallurgy) has a long history in the city.
Miskolc was already an important market town in the Middle Ages, mostly due to its proximity to the main trade routes of the region. In regards of the economy, real development started only after the Ottoman occupation. In the 18th century, the town already had a lumber mill, a paper manufacture, a brewery, a gunpowder factory and fifteen mills on the Szinva stream. Theglass works manufactures andiron furnaces appeared in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The first iron furnace, built byHenrik Fazola around 1770, did not survive, but the second one, built in 1813, can still be visited. Several new settlements were formed in the Bükk mountains to provide dwellings for the workers of glass works manufactures and furnaces. Many of them – including Alsóhámor, Felsőhámor, Ómassa andBükkszentlászló – are now parts of Miskolc.
Development quickened from the second half of the 19th century, partly because of the political situation (after theAusgleich) and partly because of the newly constructed railway line. A large furnace (second largest in the country) was built in Diósgyőr, and several other factories were built. The mining industry became more and more important, too. Within forty years the population doubled. The industrialization led to the forming ofGreater Miskolc with the unification of Miskolc and Diósgyőr (1945) and several nearby towns and villages (between 1950 and 1981). The unification was only the first step in Miskolc being developed into an industrial centre. Development reached its highest point in the 1980s, when the metal factory had more than 18,000 workers and production was over one million tons per year. The population hit all-time record (over 200,000 inhabitants), two-thirds of the working people worked in heavy industry.
The economic recession after the end of the Socialist era hit the industrial cities of Northern Hungary the hardest. Theunemployment rate rose until it became one of the highest in the country, the population of Miskolc dramatically decreased (not only because of unemployment though, but also due tosuburbanization which became prevalent nationwide). The economic situation of the city went through a change, smaller enterprises appeared in place of the large state-owned companies.
By the early 2000s the decade of changes was over, and the city went through the recession successfully. International companies andsupermarkets appeared in the area. The local government is trying to strengthen the city's role in culture and tourism. By the end of 2004, thehighway M3 had reached the city.
The most popular sport in Miskolc isfootball. The leading club of the city isDiósgyőri VTK[17] (short name: DVTK). They have won theHungarian Cup several times and represented Hungary many times in Europe. The capacity of the stadium,DVTK Stadion, is 14 655 and the stadium has under-soil heating and fully covered stands.
The other team,Miskolci VSC, plays in the county division. Miskolc has got other former first division representatives, namelyMiskolci Attila (seven seasons at the highest level), andPerecesi TK (one).
TheAvas is a hill (234 m or 768 ft) in the heart of Miskolc. On the hilltop stands the Avas lookout tower, the symbol of the city. On the northern part of the hill, close to downtown Erzsébet Square, is theGothic Protestant Church of Avas, one of the two oldest buildings of Miskolc (the other is theCastle of Diósgyőr.) The limestone caves of Avas are used as wine cellars; the narrow, winding streets give a Mediterranean atmosphere to this part of Avas Hill. The southern part of Avas, also called Avas-South, is where the largest housing estate of the city stands, with 10-story Socialist-style concrete buildings providing homes for about one-third of the city's population.
Miskolc's city centre is not as rich in monuments as that of other cities; only the Main Street (Széchenyi St.),Városház tér (City Hall Square) andErzsébet tér (Elizabeth Square) have preserved the 19th-century style of the town. There are not only historical buildings but also modern shopping malls and offices in the city centre.
The other town forming today's Greater Miskolc is mostly famous for its medievalcastle. Miskolc's football team also got its name from Diósgyőr, since their stadium stands there. Historical Diósgyőr is connected to Historical Miskolc by a district calledÚj(diós)győr (Újgyőr); its main square is an important traffic hub. Also in Új(diós)győr(Diósgyőr-Vasgyár) stands the steel factory that made Miskolc the most important heavy industrial city of Hungary (and earned it the nickname "Steel City").Diósgyőri Gimnázium also stands in this district.
TheUniversity of Miskolc is among the newer ones. It was founded in the 1950s, so its buildings are not old, historical ones.University Town is one of the newer parts of the city and can be found between Miskolc and the holiday resort Miskolctapolca. The university, the campus, and the sport facilities are surrounded by a large park.
Another holiday resort,Miskolc-Lillafüred, is a village surrounded by the Bükk mountains. Its most notable building is the Palace Hotel (Palotaszálló).
One of the most well-known holiday resorts in the country, Tapolca (officiallyMiskolctapolca or Miskolc-Tapolca to avoid confusion with the Transdanubian town of the same name) is the home of the uniqueCave Bath, a natural cave with thermal water. Tapolca is quite far from the city centre and counts as one of the posh areas of Miskolc. It is a popular tourist attraction.
These former villages were annexed to the city in 1950 (Bükkszentlászló in 1981) and are still separated villages, connected to the city only by itspublic transport system.
There is a narrow-gauge railway that connects Lillafüred to Miskolc known as the Lillafüredi Állami Erdei Vasút (Lillafüred Forest State Railway). It winds through scenic forests, and takes between a half hour and 45 minutes for the train to go between the two major stops. The Miskolc stop is located in Diósgyőr.
Public transport in Miskolc is provided by the companyMVK Zrt., owned by the local government. There are 36 bus lines and 2 tram lines. The first tram entered service on July 10, 1897 (making Miskolc the third city in Hungary to have a tram line), the first scheduled bus line started on June 8, 1903 (first in the country as well.) Today the public transport of Miskolc is one of the best ones in Hungary. There are several taxi companies too.
TheLillafüred Forest Train connects Diósgyőr to Lillafüred. It is mainly a tourist attraction.
MAN Lion's City CNG on Line 35 (Avas kilátó-Centrum) in Miskolc
The city has two railway stations (Tiszai andGömöri) and a smallunpaved airport, which is not open to the public, used mainly as a sports facility and has no role in public transport since 1963.
The current mayor of Miskolc isPál Veres (Independent).
The local Municipal Assembly, elected at the2019 local government elections, is made up of 28 members (1 Mayor, 19 Individual constituencies MEPs and 8 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:[19]
