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Millenary Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and its Natural Environment
Site number:
758
Type of site: Cultural
Date: 996 - 1224
Date of Inscription: 1996
Location: Europe, Hungary, County of Györ-Moson-Sopron
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Description: The abbey was first settled by Benedictine monks in 996. They founded the country's first school and, in 1055 wrote the first document in Hungarian; their presence stimulated the conversion of many Hungarians. This monastic community has advanced culture throughout central Europe ever since its founding. The succession of architectural styles of the monastic buildings reveals the site’s 1,000-year history, with the oldest elements dating from 1224. The site to this day houses a school and the monastic community. --WHMNet paraphrase from the description at WHC Site, where additional information is available.
  Pannonhalma is a small town in western Hungary, in Győr-Moson-Sopron county with approx. 4000 inhabitants. The town, known as Győrszentmárton until 1965, is dominated by its most famous landmarks: the thousand-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey and the Benedictine Secondary School, which are situated above the village, on Szent Marton Hill. The hill itself is still known by this ancient name and the name 'Pannonhalma' was introduced as part of the Hungarian language reforms in the nineteenth century. The association with Saint Martin ('Szent Márton' in Hungarian) derives from a belief that Martin of Tours was born here, though others believe he was born in nearby Szombathely. There is a small statue in the town at the crossroads under the abbey which shows the saint as a Roman soldier, cutting his cloak according to the legend associated with him. The wall behind this is part of the original fortifications which were built in 1569 as a result of incursions into Western Hungary by the Ottoman Turks. The area remained a moving frontier between the Islamic Ottoman empire and the Christian west for the following 140 years and the town suffered considerable damage during this time. From at least the nineteenth century, Szent Marton had a significant Jewish community. They played an important role in the commerce of village, as it was then, until the latter years of World War II. In 1944 the remaining Jewish families were rounded up and sent to extermination camps. A small synagogue, built in the late 1800s, remains on the main street, though it is no longer in use. The building is in the process of being restored and a monument has been constructed on the street in front of it. Some dozens of Jews were protected in the abbey when it was taken under control of the International Red Cross in October 1944, along with 3000 other refugees, many of them children, thanks to the efforts of a Swiss national, Eduard Benedek Brunschweiler. The IRC was expelled from Pannonhalma by the Red Army in April 1945. In 1996 parts of the town were included in UNESCO's demarcation of the Abbey as a World Heritage Site. Four years later, the village of Pannonhalma was officially granted 'town' status. --Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/758
Reference: 1. UNESCO World Heritage Center, Site Page.
 
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