Kecel is a town in Bács-Kiskun county, in southern

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 ...

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, ...

in Hungary call this town ''Kecelj''.

History

The first documents mentioning Kecel date back to 1198. Like many other Hungarian towns, Kecel has lost its population during the Turkish Conquest. On April 22, 1734

Gábor Patachich Gábor (sometimes written Gabor) may refer to: * Gábor (given name) * Gabor (surname) * Gabor sisters, the three famous actresses, Eva, Magda and Zsa Zsa * Several scientific terms named after Dennis Gabor ** Gabor atom ** Gabor filter In i ...

, the bishop of Kalocsa issued papers reestablishing the town of Kecel. At the time, most people made their living by

herding Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group ( herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds i ...

. However, the rising population made this extremely hard, so people committed themselves to

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

which still remains the main industry in Kecel. In 1802 a number of new buildings were built including: the

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 letter ...

church, the Town Hall, the first

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compu ...

, post office, and the police and fire stations. The

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

also reached Kecel. Kecel received town rights in 1993. The town was served by the

Kiskőrös Kiskőrös ( sk, Malý Kereš / Kiškereš, yi, קישקעריש ''Kishkerish'', german: Körösch, hr, Kireš) is a town in Bács-Kiskun, Hungary. Kiskőrös is situated between the Danube and Tisza rivers at around . Sándor Petőfi, the ...

–

Kalocsa Kalocsa (; hr, Kaloča or ''Kalača''; sr, Kaloča or Калоча; german: Kollotschau) is a town in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. It lies south of Budapest. It is situated in a marshy but highly productive district, near the left bank of the ...

railway line, operated by

MÁV Hungarian State Railways ( hu, Magyar Államvasutak, MÁV) is the Hungarian national railway company, with divisions "MÁV START Zrt." (passenger transport), "MÁV-Gépészet Zrt." (maintenance), "MÁV-Trakció Zrt." and "MÁV Cargo Zrt" (freig ...

, until its closure in 2007. The Pintér Művek Military Museum and Park (), which houses a large collection of military equipment and vehicles, is located on the outskirts of the town in the territory of a metal works factory of the same name.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2001, there were 9,259 people and 3,600 households.

Twin towns – sister cities

Kecel 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: *

Schwarzenbruck Schwarzenbruck is a municipality in the district of Nürnberger Land in Bavaria in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe aft ...

, Germany (1991) * Lupeni, Romania (2009)

References

External links

* in Hungarian Populated places in Bács-Kiskun County Towns in Hungary {{Bacs-geo-stub