Fonyód () is a town and holiday resort on the southern shore of

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the larges ...

, in north-west

Somogy County Somogy (, ; ; , ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Somogy County lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia's Koprivnica- ...

, western

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, with over 4,700 residents. It is the seat of

Fonyód District Fonyód () is a district in northern part of Somogy County. ''Fonyód'' is also the name of the town where the district seat is located. The district is part of the Southern Transdanubia, Southern Transdanubia Statistical Region. Geography Fony� ...

History

The first mention of Fonyód was in a letter of

Saint Ladislaus Ladislaus I (, , , ; 1040 – 29 July 1095), also known as Saint Ladislas, was King of Hungary from 1077 and King of Croatia from 1091. He was the second son of King Béla I of Hungary and Richeza (or Adelaide) of Poland. After Béla's death ...

from 1082, as the village ''Funoldi''. In 1232, the village was included into the lands of the

Tihany Abbey The Tihany Abbey is a Benedictine monastery established in Tihany in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1055. Its patrons are the Virgin Mary and Saint Aignan of Orleans. Foundation The Benedictine monastery in Tihany was established in 1055 by King Andr ...

. Maps from the 14th century show Fonyód as an island (with Balaton being larger), with a castle. The castle was occupied and destroyed in 1575 during the Turkish invasion, with no one living in the village by 1580. After the Turkish occupation, Fonyód remained uninhabited until the 19th century. The construction of a railway around Lake Balaton greatly contributed to the village's development. By 1900, Fonyód had become a holiday resort, and by 1910 over a thousand visitors were arriving each year. Fonyód attained town status in 1989.

Economy

The town is famous for its mineral water which is bottled there under the name ''Fonyódi'' and is owned by the Croatian company, Jana (part of

Agrokor Agrokor () was a conglomerate, largely centered in agribusiness, with headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia. Founded in 1976 as a flower grower, it became a joint stock company in 1989, with 100 percent ownership held by founder Ivica Todorić. It grea ...

). The electronics producer ''cms manufacturing'' (owned by the Austrian ''cms electronics'') and the Italian electronics device producer '' Datalogic'' operate factories in the town.

Notable people

Csilla Molnár Csilla Andrea Molnár (20 January 1969 – 10 July 1986) was a Hungarian beauty queen. She was crowned Miss Hungary on 5 October 1985, in Budapest, the first Hungarian beauty queen after a 50-year interval. She also entered for the Miss Europa ...

(1969–1986), beauty queen * Ilona Győri (1929–2001), actress * András Fodor (1929–1997), poet and essayist

Twin towns – sister cities

Fonyód is twinned with: *

Borsec Borsec (, ) is a town in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. The town and the surrounding areas are well known for their spas and mineral waters. It has a population of 2,585, with a majority of ethnic Hungarians (more specifically Szeklers). ...

, Romania *

Krotoszyn Krotoszyn (, ''Krotoshin'') is a town in west-central Poland with 29,485 inhabitants . It is the seat of Krotoszyn County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Founded in the late medieval period, Krotoszyn prospered as a regional center of tra ...

, Poland *

Leipheim Leipheim ( Swabian: ''Leiba'') is a town in the district of Günzburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the Danube, west of Günzburg, and northeast of Ulm. The village Riedheim and the hamlet Weissingen are districts of Leipheim. Since ...

, Germany *

Mettet Mettet (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Mettet had 11,977 inhabitants. The total area is 116.78 km², giving a population density of 1 ...

, Belgium *

Nové Zámky Nové Zámky (; ) is a town in Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of southwestern Slovakia. Geography The town is located on the Danubian Lowland, on the Nitra River, at an altitude of 119 metres. It is located around 100 km fr ...

, Slovakia

Gallery

Fonyód légifotó1.jpg Fonyód légifotó2.jpg Fonyód légifotó3.jpg Balatonboglár Datalogic.jpg

References

External links

* in Hungarian, English and German
Street map
Populated places in Somogy County History of Somogy {{Somogy-geo-stub