In the The city of Pécs, southwetsern Hungary

 “History is an alternating series of frying pans and fires.” — Peter Esterhazy

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(in southwestern Hungary) The city of Pécs, seat of Baranya County, lies at the southern foot of the wooded Mecsek Mountains, 135 miles (220 km) southwest of Budapest. The site was occupied by the Roman town of Sopianae, the capital of the province of Southern Pannonia, which succeeded an Illyrian and Celtic settlement. In 1009 Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, made the town a bishopric. (The name Pécs first appeared in the late 11th century.) The city has a large main square with a well-preserved mosque (Ghazi Kassim Pasha), which is now a Roman Catholic church. The city’s cathedral, founded in 1009 on the site of an old Roman church, was extensively renovated in the 1960s.
+ Pécs is Hungary's hidden gem, an ancient city located near the Croatian border. Blessed with a mild climate, an illustrious past, and many fine museums and monuments, it is one of the most pleasant cities to visit in Hungary. With its universities, the nearby Mecsek Hills and the lively nightlife, it's second only to Budapest on many travelers' Hungarian bucket list. Lying equidistant from the Danube to the east and the Dráva to the south on a plain sheltered from the northern winds by the hills, Pécs enjoys a microclimate that lengthens the summer and is ideal for viticulture and fruit production, and especially almonds.

+ Pécs was historically a multi-ethnic city where many cultures intermingled, creating a melting pot of different values, the rich result of 2,000 years of history. In recent times, the city has been recognized for its cultural heritage, including by being named as one of the European Capital of Culture cities. An old-established trade and handicrafts city, during the 14th and 15th centuries Pécs was also a great center of humanist studies. (It was occupied by the Turks from 1543 to 1686.) The earliest university in Hungary, the University of Pécs, founded in 1367 by Louis I, was abolished by the Turks but was renamed Janus Pannonius University of Pécs and reopened in 1922. The University was reformed in 2000 by the merger of Janus Pannonius University, the Medical University of Pécs, and Illyés Gyula Teacher Training College. In the 18th century, German immigrant miners came to work the local coal seams, and there remains in Pécs today, one of the few German minorities in Hungary. In 1780 the city received a free royal charter. The Pécs–Komló coalfield, then suppling coking coal to Dunaújváros, formed the basis for the rapid development of the city in the 19th and 20th centuries. Uranium ore was also mined in the vicinity. The Zsolnay factory in Pécs gained international fame for its ceramic ware (majolica), and the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, containing 15 renovated historic buildings and 88 statues, features artisan shops and a collection of Zsolnay pieces. Pécs is also the site of the Kodály Center, an architecturally important concert hall that opened in 2010.