Keszthely (; also known by

alternative names Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

) is a Hungarian city of 20,895 inhabitants located on the western 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 ...

. It is the second largest city by the lake and one of the more important cultural, educational and economic hubs in the region. Due to its favorable location and accessibility by both road and rail, Keszthely and the surrounding area is a preferred holiday destination. From the middle of the 5th century until the middle of the 7th century the

Keszthely Culture The Keszthely culture was a mixed Romanised population-Germanic peoples, Germanic-Pannonian Avars, Avar, Christians, Christian enclave located in present-day Hungary, from the 6th century until the first half of the 7th century. These people could ...

flourished in the area. The Faculty for Agriculture of

University of Pannonia The University of Pannonia ( Hungarian ''Pannon Egyetem'', formerly known as ''Veszprémi Egyetem'') is a university with its main campus in Veszprém, Hungary. It was founded in 1949 and is organized in four faculties: Humanities, Engineering, ...

is located in Keszthely.

George Fejer George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

, Hungarian author and librarian at the

University of Pest A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, was born in Keszthely in 1766.

Etymology and names

The name comes from

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

''*Kostel'', see also the etymology of Kesztölc. Hungarian ''hely'': a site, a location. The Hungarian part of the name could be potentially formed by a phonetic similarity and folk etymology ''Kesztely''→''Keszthely''. 1247 ''Kesztel''. The city is also known by alternative names in other languages: ; , later ; and .

Location

The city of Keszthely is located on the northwest corner of

, on the shore of one of the biggest

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s in

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

. The city is surrounded by forests and rolling hills to the north, plains to the southeast and the lake. South from the city lies Kis-Balaton (Little Balaton), a swamp which is a part of the

Zala river The Zala is a river in south-western Hungary. Its source is in the hills northwest of Szalafő near the borders with Austria and Slovenia. The long Zala drains an area of . Several smaller rivers feed into it, including the Felső-Válicka, Sz ...

delta and acts as a natural water purifier for

. The swamp is particularly known as a water fowl habitat and enjoys international recognition and protection as a nature reserve. The city also enjoys the proximity of

Hévíz Hévíz () is a spa town in Zala County, Hungary, about from the city of Keszthely. Description of the lake The town is located near Lake Hévíz, the world's second-largest thermal lake, but biologically the biggest active natural lake. ...

, a town famous for its spa and health services. Keszthely is very close to some northern Balaton wine regions which are known to produce high-quality white wines from locally cultivated varieties. Keszthely is easily and rather quickly accessible by car from both

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 ...

, the capital of

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 ...

, and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, the capital of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Direct bus services between Keszthely and Budapest run several times a day.

Museum

Balaton Museum The Balaton Museum Association was established in 1898 for among all Sandor Lovassy's initiation. The starting of the museum building in Keszthely was in 1925 with the help of count Taszilo Festetics, on the basis of Györgyi Denes's design in Neo-baroque style. With the building of the first museum in Zala county, the stones from pulled down stables next to Festetics Mannsion were used as well. The collection shows the archeological, ethnographical, historical and natural scientific values of the Balaton area.

Climate

Keszthely's climate is classified as

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Cfb''). The annual average temperature is , the hottest month in July is , and the coldest month is in January. The annual precipitation is , of which August is the wettest with , while January is the driest with only . The extreme temperature throughout the year ranged from on December 21, 2009 to on August 4, 2017.

Twin towns – sister cities

Keszthely is twinned with: *

Alanya Alanya (; ), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort town, resort city, a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Antalya Province, Turkey. It is on the southern coast of Turkey, in the country's Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean R ...

, Turkey *

Boppard Boppard (), formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality (since the 1976 inclusion of 9 neighbouring villages, ''Ortsbezirken'') in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UN ...

, Germany *

Hof van Twente Hof van Twente () is a municipality in the region Twente, in the province Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality was established January 1, 2001, as the result of the merger of the municipalities of Diepenheim, Goor, Markelo, Amb ...

, Netherlands * Jędrzejów, Poland *

Levoča Levoča (; ; ) is the principal town of Levoča District in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia, with a population of 14,256. The town has a historic center with a well-preserved town wall, a Gothic architecture, Gothic church with the talle ...

, Slovakia *

Odorheiu Secuiesc Odorheiu Secuiesc (; , ; ) is the second largest municipality in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. In its short form, it is also known as ''Odorhei'' in Romanian and ''Udvarhely'' in Hungarian. The Hungarian name of the town "Udvarhely" mean ...

, Romania *

Piwniczna-Zdrój Piwniczna-Zdrój (until 1999 Piwniczna, , ''Pivnichna'') is a town in Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, near the border with Slovakia. Piwniczna-Zdrój is the name of both the town and its administrative district called a gmina ...

, Poland *

Stary Sącz Stary Sącz is a small historic town in Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the seat of the Gmina Stary Sącz (commune), and one of the oldest towns in the country, receiving Magdeburg rights in the 13th century. Geography Star ...

, Poland *

Turnov Turnov (; ) is a town in Semily District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. It is a traditional centre for gemstone polishing, glass craftsmanship and arts. The historic town centre is well preserved and ...

, Czech Republic

Gallery

Keszthely town centre 3.jpg, Keszthely town centre Fö ter. Keszthely. By Victor Belousov. - panoramio.jpg, Main square Keszthely - Festetics Castle.jpg, Aerial view of the

Festetics Palace The Festetics Palace is a Baroque palace located in the town of Keszthely, Zala County, Zala, Hungary. The building now houses the Helikon Palace Museum. The palace's construction, started by Kristóf Festetics family, Festetics in 1745, lasted ...

Kesztely.JPG, Front view of the palace from the garden fountain Our Lady of Hungary Church.jpg, Church of Our Lady of Hungary

References

External links

* in Hungarian, English, German and Russian
Keszthely at Veszprém University

Aerial photography: Keszthely

Keszthely in Flickr

Keszthely at funiq.hu
* http://west-balaton.hu/en/keszthely/keszthely-muzeumok/balatoni-muzeum {{authority control Populated places in Zala County