Dunaújváros (; also known by other

alternative names Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

) is an industrial city in

Fejér County Fejér ( hu, Fejér megye, ) is an administrative county ( comitatus or megye) in Central Hungary. It lies on the west bank of the river Danube and nearly touches the eastern shore of Lake Balaton. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties ...

, Central

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. It is a

city with county rights A city with county rights (or urban county, Hungarian: ''megyei jogú város'', MJV) is a level of administrative subdivision in Hungary. Since 1994 all county seats are automatically awarded this status, and since 2012 this is the only way a new ...

. Situated 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Budapest on the Danube, the city is best known for its

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finis ...

, which is the largest in the country. It was built in the 1950s on the site of the former village of Dunapentele and was originally given the name of Sztálinváros before acquiring its current name in 1961.

Geography

Dunaújváros is located in the

Transdanubia Transdanubia ( hu, Dunántúl; german: Transdanubien, hr, Prekodunavlje or ', sk, Zadunajsko :sk:Zadunajsko) is a traditional region of Hungary. It is also referred to as Hungarian Pannonia, or Pannonian Hungary. Administrative divisions Trad ...

n part of the

Great Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain ...

(called Mezőföld), south of

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 o ...

on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, Highway 6, Motorways M6, M8 and the electrified Budapest-

Pusztaszabolcs Pusztaszabolcs is a town in Fejér County, Hungary. Sights * Reformed church * Roman Catholic church * MÁV 375 series steam locomotive Twin towns – sister cities Pusztaszabolcs is twinned with: * Staufenberg, Germany * Dorobanți ...

-Dunaújváros-

Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian nuclear power plant, which provi ...

railway.

Etymology and names

The city replaced the village of ''Dunapentele'' ("Pantaleon up on the Danube"), named after

Saint Pantaleon Saint Pantaleon ( el, Παντελεήμων, russian: Пантелеи́мон, translit=Panteleímon; "all-compassionate"), counted in the West among the late-medieval Fourteen Holy Helpers and in the East as one of the Holy Unmercenary Hea ...

.Antal Papp: Magyarország (Hungary), Panoráma, Budapest, 1982, , p. 860, pp. 542–544 The construction of this new industrial city started in 1949 and the original village was renamed ''Sztálinváros'' ("

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

City") in 1951. After the

Hungarian revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

the new government renamed the city the neutral ''Dunaújváros'' in 1961, which means "Danube New City" (New City on the Danube). The city is also known by alternative names in other languages: german: Neustadt an der Donau; la, Intercisa; and sr, Пантелија, Pantelija.

History

Dunaújváros is one of the newest cities in the country. It was built in the 1950s during the industrialization of the country under Socialist rule, as a new city next to an already existing village, ''Dunapentele''.

Dunapentele

Dunapentele was not built on until the 1950s. The construction started on the

's right bank. The area has been inhabited since ancient times. When Western Hungary was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

province under the name ''Pannonia'', a military camp and a town called ''Intercisa'' stood in this place, at the border of the province. The Hungarians conquered the area in the early 10th century. The village of ''Pentele'', named after the medieval Greek saint,

Pantaleon Pantaleon, also known as Panteleimon, (Greek: ) was a Greek king who reigned some time between 190–180 BC in Bactria and India. He was a younger contemporary or successor of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius, and is sometimes believed to ha ...

, was founded shortly after. Dunaújváros városháza

Between 1541 and 1688 the village was under Ottoman rule, and during the 150-year war it was completely destroyed. During the freedom fight led by Prince Ferenc II Rákóczi of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

, the place was deserted again. In the 18th century the village began to prosper. In 1830 the village was given the right to hold markets days twice a week. In 1831 there was a cholera epidemic and which caused a small scale peasants revolt. In 1833 Pentele was granted town status ''(oppidum)'' by Ferdinand V. The citizens took part in the freedom fight in 1848–49. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the new,

Communist government A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

started a major industrialisation programme, in support of its rearmament efforts. In 1949 ''Dunaújváros'' was chosen as the site of the largest iron and steel works in the country. The focus on steel production had the purpose of arming the socialist territories in fear of a third world war. With a strong steel industry they could quickly stock up on weaponry and machinery. Originally they were to be built close to

Mohács Mohács (; Croatian and Bunjevac: ''Mohač''; german: Mohatsch; sr, Мохач; tr, Mohaç) is a town in Baranya County, Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube. Etymology The name probably comes from the Slavic ''*Mъchačь'',''*Mocháč'': ...

, but the Hungarian-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

n relations worsened, and this new site was chosen, farther away from the Yugoslav border. The city was designed to have 25,000 residents. The construction of the city began on May 2, 1950, near Dunapentele. Within one year more than 1,000 housing units were built and construction on the factory complex began. The city officially took the name of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

on April 4, 1952; its name was ''Sztálinváros'' 'Stalin City' as a parallel to

Stalingrad Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stalingrád, label=none; ) ...

in the USSR. The metal works (formerly called: Dunai Vasmű, no
ISD DUNAFERR
were opened in 1954. The city had a population of 27,772 at this time; 85% of them lived in nice, comfortable apartments, while about 4,200 people still lived in uncomfortable barracks which originally provided "homes" for the construction workers. In the middle of the 1950s, public transport was organized, with buses carrying 24,000 passengers each day. During the 1950s many cultural and sports facilities were built, the Endre Ságvári Primary School being the largest school in Central Europe in the 1960s. The official and obligatory architectural style and art movement of the communist system was

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

. Per definition the style's meaning was communist, its form was national, and its preferred mode of representation was the

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

. There are several public statues and reliefs in the town, which represent the allegoric union of workers, peasants and intellectuals, surrounded by traditional folk motifs. Thanks to the inspiration of

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

the buildings and monuments of this era (1949–56), like the forge, the cinema, the theatre, the hospital and the city's schools where characterized by a

structural functionalism Structural functionalism, or simply functionalism, is "a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability". This approach looks at society through a macro-level o ...

, but the ideological function resulted in classicist decorations, like columns, tympanums and arcades, because of which the informal name of the style became 'Stalin's Baroque' . Penteleihid1

In 1956, the construction was hindered by an earthquake and a flood, and in October by the start of the

1956 Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hung ...

. During the revolution the city used its historical name ''Dunapentele'' again. The ''Rákóczi'' radio station, which was created by the revolutionaries, broadcast from Dunapentele (in fact from a bus that was constantly moving around in the city so that it couldn't be located.) Even though the citizens of Dunapentele tried to defend their city, the Soviet army occupied the city on November 7, 1956. The city came under martial law and soviet tanks were stationed throughout the city. After the revolution the city was still the "trademark city" of socialism in Hungary, and was presented as such to foreign visitors. Among the visitors were

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...

and the Indonesian president

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

. The city also provided a scenic backdrop to popular movies. In 1960, the ten-year-old city already had 31,000 residents who celebrated its anniversary. On November 26, 1961, the city's name was changed to ''Dunaújváros'' (Duna, új, város meaning ''Danube-new-city''; "New City upon

". See also

Tiszaújváros Tiszaújváros (; sk, Nové Mesto nad Tisou) is an industrial town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, south-east of Miskolc, near the river Tisza. History Tiszaújváros as a town owes its existence to the industrialization wav ...

) as a consequence of Stalin's death (1953) and the Hungarian Revolution (1956). In 1990 it became a city with county rights—as one of the then four, (now five) cities in the country that have this status but are not county capitals—in accordance with a new law that granted this status to all cities with a population over 50,000. Even though the population of Dunaújváros has been under 50,000 since 2008, it has kept its status as a city with county rights (along with

Hódmezővásárhely Hódmezővásárhely (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in southeast Hungary, on the Great Hungarian Plain, at the meeting point of the Békés-Csanádi Ridge and the clay grassland surrounding the river Tisz ...

, which is in a similar situation). The ISD DUNAFERR (formerly: Dunai Vasmű) factory complex is still is an important enterprise in the Hungarian steel industry, and a major employer (as of 2020, it has 4,500 employees) in the area. College of Dunaujvaros

Today, Dunaújváros is home to many new infrastructures ( Pentele Bridge, direct M6-M8 highway link between

and Dunaújváros), the new

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n Hankook factory, Europe's biggest tire factory of Hankook, and Hamburger Hungaria, one of the largest

containerboard Containerboard or corrugated case material (CCM) is a type of paperboard specially manufactured for the production of corrugated board. It includes both linerboard and corrugating medium (or fluting), the two types of paper that make up corruga ...

manufacturers in Europe. This and other projects make Dunaújváros a new Hungarian boomtown. Thanks to its formal political and economic importance, the communist

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban d ...

,Pittaway, M. (2005). Creating and domesticating Hungary’s socialist industrial landscape: From Dunapentele to Sztálinváros, 1950–1958. Historical Archaeology, 39(3), 75–93. the socialist realist architecture and its unique atmosphere the town is the considerable memento of communism. Many of the half-century-old buildings have received the protection of historic monuments, and the town is in the focus of growing touristic interest.

Demographics

In 2001 Dunaújváros had 55,309 residents (92.5% Hungarian, 0.6%

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

, 0.6%

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, 6.3% other). Religions: 38.9%

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, 8.3%

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

, 2%

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

, 37.8%

Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, 0.2% other, 12.8% no answer.

Politics

The current mayor of Dunaújváros is Pintér Tamás (

Jobbik The Movement for a Better Hungary ( hu, Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom), commonly known as Jobbik (), is a conservative political party in Hungary. Originating with radical and nationalist roots, at its beginnings, the party described itself ...

). The local Municipal Assembly, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 15 members (1 Mayor, 10 Individual constituencies MEPs and 4 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:

Sport

The most popular sport is

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

, and the city is home to the Steel Bulls. The second most popular sport in the town is

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

. The town has one team playing in the top-level league, the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the

Dunaújváros PASE Dunaújváros Pálhalma Agrospeciál Sport Egyesület is a Hungarian football club located in Dunaújváros, Hungary. It currently plays in the Hungarian National Championship. The team's colors are blue and yellow Yellow is the color ...

. However the most well-known team is the defunct

Dunaújváros FC Dunaújváros FC (previously known as ''Dunaferr SE'') was a football team from Dunaújváros, Hungary. Though they won the Hungarian NB I in 1999–2000, recently they played in the second league, until the team withdrew in March 2009, ceasi ...

which also won the 1999–2000 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season. The women's

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...

team of

Dunaújvárosi FVE Dunaújvárosi Főiskola Vizílabda Egyesület is a Hungarian water polo club from Dunaújváros founded in 1989 in the Dunaújváros College. It is best known for its women's team, which has won eight national championships since 2001.

won the 2018 edition of the

LEN Trophy The LEN Euro Cup is the second-tier European water polo club competition run by the Ligue Européenne de Natation for those clubs who did not qualify for the LEN Champions League. The cup was inaugurated in 1992. History Names of the competi ...

Notable people

Károly Bezdek Károly Bezdek (born May 28, 1955 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian-Canadian mathematician. He is a professor as well as a Canada Research Chair of mathematics and the director of the Centre for Computational and Discrete Geometry at the Uni ...

(born 1955), professor of mathematics * Fruzsina Brávik (born 1986), 2008 Olympian in water polo * Anita Bulath (born 1983), handball player * Csanád Erdély (born 1996), ice hockey player * (born 1988), ice hockey player * Viktor Horváth (born 1978), Modern Pentathlete * Miklós Kiss (born 1981), designer and visual artist * Zsófia Kovács (born 2000), gymnast *

Balázs Ladányi Balázs Ladányi (born 6 January 1976) is a Hungarian former professional ice hockey left winger. Ladányi played for Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák, Újpesti TE, Diables Rouges de Briançon, Alba Volán Székesfehérvár, HC Bolzano and Debrece ...

(born 1976), ice hockey player * Bálint Magosi (born 1989), ice hockey player * Gergő Nagy (born 1989), ice hockey player * Imre Peterdi (born 1980), ice hockey player * Miklós Rajna (born 1991), ice hockey player * Viktor Szélig (born 1975), ice hockey player * Viktor Tokaji (born 1977), ice hockey player * Georgina Toth (born 1982), Hungarian–Cameroonian hammer thrower *

János Vas János Vas (born 29 January 1984) is a professional Hungarian ice hockey forward currently playing for DVTK Jegesmedvék of the Erste Liga. Vas was drafted 32nd overall by the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League in 2002 NHL Entry D ...

(born 1983), ice hockey player *

Márton Vas Márton Vas (born March 2, 1980) is a Hungarian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was a member of the Hungarian national team. His brother, János Vas, is also a professional ice hockey player and member of the Hungarian national ...

(born 1980), ice hockey player

Twin towns – sister cities

Dunaújváros is twinned with: * Alchevsk, Ukraine *

Elbasan Elbasan ( ; sq-definite, Elbasani ) is the fourth most populous city of Albania and seat of Elbasan County and Elbasan Municipality. It lies to the north of the river Shkumbin between the Skanderbeg Mountains and the Myzeqe Plain in central ...

, Albania *

Giurgiu Giurgiu (; bg, Гюргево) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city ...

, Romania *

İnegöl İnegöl (known as , ''Angelokomis'' in the Byzantine period) is a city (center of the İnegöl district) in the Bursa Province of Turkey. It has a population of 340,000 (2011 figures). İnegöl is one of the centers of the Turkish furniture indust ...

, Turkey *

Silistra Silistra ( bg, Силистра ; tr, Silistre; ro, Silistra) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Si ...

, Bulgaria *

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, hu, Szávaszentdemeter, la, Sirmium) is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left ban ...

, Serbia *

Terni Terni ( , ; lat, Interamna (Nahars)) is a city in the southern portion of the region of Umbria in central Italy. It is near the border with Lazio. The city is the capital of the province of Terni, located in the plain of the Nera river. It i ...

, Italy * Villejuif, France

References

Notes

External links

* in Hungarian
Dunaújváros 2400
(detailed history, Hungarian only, with many pictures)
Portal site
(Hungarian only)
Video news portal
(Hungarian only)
Aerial photography: Dunaújváros
*The city features prominently in the film '' The Ister''
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunaujvaros Socialist planned cities Populated places in Fejér County Populated places established in 1951 Populated places on the Danube Cities with county rights of Hungary Planned cities in Hungary Roman settlements in Hungary Serb communities in Hungary De-Stalinization