Tata

The city has numerous historic buildings: castles, palaces and mills. There is also an outdoor museum of geology and an Ethnic German Museum that collects artefacts from around the country.

The city's hot springs and pleasant natural conditions have made it a place of human settlement for several thousand years. Its written history begins with the expansion of the Roman Empire into Pannonia. The people of Brigetio (now Szőny, a part of the city of Komárom) built an aqueduct to connect the Tata springs to their houses. The springs were also the reason for the establishment of St Peter's Abbey, which was mentioned first in 1093.

Tata Castle had its heyday during the reigns of the kings Zsigmond of Luxembourg and Matthias Hunyadi (Corvinus) during the 14th and 15th centuries. In Matthias' times, the Renaissance palace was considered to be one of the finest buildings of the country.

The Tata domain was purchased by the Lord Chief Justice Count Joseph Esterhazy in 1727, who made it the administrative centre of his domains stretching from parts of present-day Croatia to County Pozsony/Bratislava. The Esterhazy family remained the domain lords of Tata until 1945.

The booming 18th century market town was the first in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to establish a faiance works. The construction of the railway in 1883 was also a significant step of its progress.

The two market towns of Laketown (Tóváros) and Tata were unified in 1938. The new town was first called Tatatóváros, later this was shortened to Tata. Tata received city status in 1954.

The springs, most of which had run dry as a result of mining at Tatabánya, are coming back to life these days. Several old springs have started up again, making Tata literally the 'city of waters'. Although with new functions, the mills that were originally built to make use of those waters are still a part of the city's atmosphere.

The village of Agostyán was annexed to the city in 1985. It had been settled by German settlers who arrived in the 18th century. Villagers still retain their ethnic culture.

How to get there: By railway, trains depart from Budapest, Győr, and Komárom. Bus transport is significant locally; coaches run to Tata from Budapest and Tatabánya. By car take the M1 motorway. From Slovakia you may approach crossing the Danube at Komárno/Komárom.