Balatonszemes is a village in Somogy county,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning 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 ...

. It lies on the southern shore of

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

, on the northern slopes of the Outer Somogy hills overlooking the lake and on the half-kilometre wide coastal plain. It has a train station on the (

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

-) Székesfehérvár- Gyékényes railway line. The settlement is part of the

Balatonboglár wine region The Balatonboglár wine region, also known as the South Balaton wine region, is the only one wine region in Somogy County, Hungary. The area consists of 37 settlements, mainly located on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, but also some near Kapo ...

. A Balatonboglári borvidék hegyközségi tanácsának alapszabálya (PDF)
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History

The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The large

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones bu ...

in the present-day cemetery is thought to be of

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

origin, and probably contains the ashes of a prominent person. Archaeological remains from antiquity prove that both Celts and Romans lived here. It was inhabited by

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

from the time of the

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

. The important trade route from the Danube to the Adriatic Sea ran southwest from the shore of Lake Balaton, and as a lookout and well-defensible point it was a fortified place from ancient times. In the Middle Ages a castle here was part of the chain of fortresses in Turkish times, and as such regularly changed hands between the Hungarians and the Turks, was repeatedly destroyed and then refortified. The earliest parts of the village's Roman Catholic church date back to the 12th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, from 1790 to 1861, there was also a stagecoach station in the village, which still stands today and houses the Postal Museum. Originally a village of peasants and fishermen, Balatonszemes – like other settlements along the lake – started to be also considered a bathing resort by the end of the 19th century (soon after the railroad was built), and the building of villas and holiday homes began, which was given a new impetus when the boat harbour was built in 1913.

Gallery

File:Balatonszemes bycle road.jpg, Cycling road File:Lake Balaton near Balatonszemes.jpg, Lake Balaton near Balatonszemes File:Statue of Zoltán Latinovits in Balatonszemes.jpg, Statue of

Zoltán Latinovits Zoltán Latinovits (9 September 1931, in Budapest – 4 June 1976, in Balatonszemes) was a Hungarian actor. Early life His mother divorced his father Oszkár Latinovits in 1941 and married István Frenreisz, a medical doctor, with whom she had ...

File:Plaque of the Statue of Zoltán Latinovits in Balatonszemes.jpg, Plaque of the Statue of

File:Statue of Saint Anthony of Padua in Balatonszemes.jpg, Statue of Anthony of Padua

Notable residents

(1931-1976), Hungarian actor * István Bujtor (1942-2009), Hungarian actor, director, producer, and screenplay writer * Eszter Perényi (born 1943), Hungarian violinist

External links

Street map (Hungarian)

References

Populated places in Somogy County {{Somogy-geo-stub