Balatonszemes is a village in Somogy county,

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 ...

. It lies 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 ...

, 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 city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; ; ; ; Serbian language, Serbian: ''Стони Београд''; ), known colloquially as Fehérvár (), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the Regions of Hungary, regional capital of C ...

Gyékényes Gyékényes () is a village in Somogy county, Hungary next to the Croatian border. Its train station serves as an important crossing point into Croatia. History Gyékényes and its surroundings were already inhabited in the time of the Roman E ...

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 Kap ...

. A Balatonboglári borvidék hegyközségi tanácsának alapszabálya (PDF)
/ref>

History

The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The large

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

in the present-day cemetery is thought to be of

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

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, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

from the time of the

conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

. 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 A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

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 ha ...

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 Anthony of Padua, Order of Friars Minor, OFM, (; ; ) or Anthony of Lisbon (; ; ; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor. ...

Notable residents

(1931-1976), Hungarian actor *

István Bujtor István Bujtor (5 May 1942 – 25 September 2009), born István Frenreisz, was a Hungarian actor, director, producer and screenplay writer. He starred in the TV mini-series '' Mathias Sandorf'' based on the novel Mathias Sandorf by Jules Vern ...

(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