In the city of Pécs, in southwestern Hungary

 “In Hungary, all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.”

-- Franz Liszt
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(in southwestern Hungary) The city of Pécs is found on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains, close to its border with Croatia. It is the economic centrer of Baranya County, and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs. A city dating back to ancient times, settled by the Celts and the Romans, it was made an episcopal see in early medieval Hungary. It has the oldest university in the country, and a rich cultural heritage from the period of a 150-year Ottoman occupation. It is historically a multi-ethnic city where many cultures have interacted through 2000 years of history. (In recent times, it has been named as one of the European Capital of Culture cities.)

+ Pécs lies at the southern foot of the wooded Mecsek Mountains, 135 miles (220 km) south-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 city has a large main square with a well-preserved mosque, which is now a Roman Catholic church. The city’s cathedral, which was founded in 1009 on the site of an old Roman church, was extensively renovated and restored in the 1960s.

+ Pécs is a long-established trade and handicrafts city, and during the 14th and 15th centuries it 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 one of the few German minorities in Hungary).

+ Blessed with a mild climate, an illustrious past, and several fine museums and monuments, Pécs is one of the most interesting cities to visit in Hungary. With its universities, the nearby Mecsek Hills, and lively nightlife, it is second only to Budapest on many travellers' Hungarian bucket list. Lying equidistant from the Danube River (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. A fine time to visit is during a warm indián nyár (Indian summer), when the light takes on a special quality.

+ The Zsolnay factory in Pécs gained international fame for its ceramic ware and the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, containing renovated historic buildings and 88 statues (and features artisan shops. and a collection of Zsolnay pieces).