Tihany

The settlement owes its fame to the abbey established in 1055 with its ecclesiastical and religious history heritage. Tihany Peninsula, the first landscape protection area to be created in Hungary, has a great wealth of natural treasures.

The settlement and its surrounding area have been inhabited since prehistoric times. Built in the Iron Age, the earthen redoubt here is one of the most attractive in the region.

Dated 1055, the first written reference concerning Tihany is the famous deed of foundation of the Abbey. This is the oldest written linguistic record of the Hungarian language; its original is kept in the Pannonhalma Abbey. In the middle of the 11th century King Andrew I invited Benedictine monks to Tihany and ordered the building of the church and its monastery. The king's grave is in the Romanesque undercroft of the present church.

During the Middle Ages, Tihany Peninsula gave a home to the villages of Tihany, Apáti and Újlak. Originally Tihany was situated northwest of the church, on the present Apáti hillside. The remains of the old church walls still can be seen today.

At the end of the Turkish occupation the abbacy built a new Baroque church and monastery. The work continued until 1754. Relics of the cultural heritage and civilization, reminiscent of the Abbey's golden age are exhibited in the Benedictine Abbey Museum (Bencés Apátsági Múzeum).

Examples of the region's traditional folk architecture and everyday utensils can be viewed in the open-air ethnographic museum (szabadtéri néprajzi múzeum).

Both the settlement and its surroundings have a great wealth in natural treasures. Access to the Tihany landscape protection area on the Peninsula is only allowed on foot and is restricted to designated paths. A special feature of the local climate is that it allows figs to ripen as often as three times a year, but even more famous is the lavender, first planted in the 1920's and then spread over Summit Hill (Csúcs-hegy).

How to get there:
By public transport, take a train to Balatonfüred then take a local bus, or take a local Volán bus from Veszprém. By car, take Route 71. Tihany also has a marina and the ferry coming from Szántód, a village at the southern shore of Lake Balaton, arrives here.