Fonyód (german: Fonjod) is a town and holiday resort 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 ...

, in north-west Somogy, western

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, Croa ...

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

History

The first mention of Fonyód was in a letter of Saint Ladislaus 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 ...

. 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 gre ...

). 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 Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Borsec, Romania *

Krotoszyn Krotoszyn (german: Krotoschin, yi, קראטאשין ''Krotoshin'') is a town in west-central Poland with 30,010 inhabitants . It has been part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was within Kalisz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. ...

, Poland *

Leipheim Leipheim 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 1993, Leipheim ha ...

, Germany * Mettet, Belgium *

Nové Zámky Nové Zámky (; hu, Érsekújvár; german: Neuhäus ; la, Novum Castrum; tr, Uyvar) 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, ...

, 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