At the joining point of Prince St. Imre street and Sándor Petõfi street, in front of the corner building of the primary school stands the Olympic Oak. In the Olympic Games in Berlin on 9 August 1936, Márton Lõrinc won the Games in bantam weight in Graeco-Roman wrestling. As he was not able to plant the pedunculated oak in his Transylvanian village, he offered it to Szentes and planted it here in 1937. |
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Several classicist, romantic and early ecclestic houses from the last century in the Sándor Petõfi Street (formerly Úri Street) are very important in the image of the town (no. 4., 5., 7-9., 11-14.). The classicist Pál Péter House (no. 9.) was built for a wine- merchant around 1830. It has a wagon-roofed cellar under its street wing. The Middle Class Home Museum, the local history collectionof the József Koszta Museum got place here. The collection includes relics of local history, applied and fine arts, history of music and literature, small scale industry and trade of agricultural towns. The permanent exhibition displays the relics of the middle class way of living in the 19-20th century such as the furniture of the assimilated Jewish family of Péter Pollácsek from the turn of the century, or the surgery and music-book collection of a doctor, Pál Ottokr Péter in seven rooms. In the cellar of the house temporary exhibitions and performances are organized. (Open every day from 13 till 17 o'clock, except for Monday. Tel: 316-678) |
The buildings on Kossuth Square are the most typical ones of the town. At the corner of Sándor Petõfi street stands Petõfi Hotel of Art Nouveau style planned by Marcell Komor and Dezsõ Jakab in 1898. (2, Petõfi street.) The theatre with 500 seats is called after the native József Tóth great character actor. His bust over the entrance was made by Antal Koncz. |
Mihály Horváth Secondary Grammar School (2, Prince St. Imre street), which has a great past, stands beside St. Anne Church. It was built by Károly Benkó in 1888, then enlarged between 1915 and 1918 by Lajos Ybl. The secondary grammar school, which has been functioning since 1859, is the most elevated secondary school in Szentes. It teaches languages at high level, and its drama section, which was the first in Hungary, made it known all over the country. The full-sized picture of Károly Zolnay (1833-1925), the former director of the school and the organizer of secondary education in Szentes, hangs in the hall of the school. The portrait was painted by Géza Zolnay in 1926. In its front garden we can see the statue of Mihály Horváth made by Zsigmond Kisfaludy Strobl in 1934, which had decorated Kossuth Square until 1974. |
From the entrance of the garden a straight route leads to József Koszta Museum, which celebrated the centenary of its foundation in 1997. The building was built in 1870 in late classicist style. Especially the collection from the era of the Great Migrations of the museum is well-known. It is the result of the excavations of an enthusiast and expert autodidact, Gábor Csallány. The ethnographical collection of prominent worth preserves besides the memories of the trades of agriculture, watermiller, weaver, bluedyer and honeycake maker, a rich collection of the pieces of work of the once famous potters of Szentes. For the memory of the 425th anniversary of the market town's existence, a local history exhibition showing the life of the market town and an ethnographical exhibition introducing water life style and farming were opened. 35 pictures by József Koszta are displayed in a separated room. |
Let's go back the Elizabeth Square and walk in József Tóth street to the north. In a one storey building from the 19th century, under the number 26, was József Tóth, the most significant dramatic actor of the middle of the last century, born. He was a member of the National Theatre from 1850 till 1867. The houses at 15 Jószef Tóth, 18 Ferenc Sima street and 2 Céhház street were built at the beginning of the 19th century and still preserve the atmophere of the old Szentes. |
Opposite the hospital, in one of the former houses of Ferenc Sima street lived and worked István Drahos graphic and wood-engraver (1895-1968). Mainly his ex libri and woodcarvings are famous. He even planned stamps. His legacy is looked after in Koszta Museum. |
In front of 5, Lajos Kossuth street the sculpture by Ferenc Kovács, while on the other side of the road in front of the Post Office Palace the attractive statue of Fortune by Valéria Tóth was raised in 1991. |
Apponyi square, until its building up in 1962, was the market square of Szentes. Today the square is surrounded by modern buildings. The monument of the Ground-man stands in the middle of the square (László Marton, 1969). A bit further the memorial tablet of Heinrich Böll on the building of János Bartha Gardening Secondary School (45, Lajos Kossuth street) can be seen. The German winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature was a patient in the millitary hospital working in the Economic School in 1944. Kossuth street continuing as Baross street leads to the railway station, where trains leave for Hódmezõvásárhely, Orosháza, Kiskunfélegyháza and Kunszentmárton. |
There are some sights on the outskirts of the town as well, such as the Water Museum over the Obester housing estate on the right side of Csongrádi street. The still operating machines and apparatus of the former pumping plant were responsible for drainage and protection against floods. (Open on weekdays from 8 till 15 o'clock.) Beside the 45 road leading to Szarvas, there is the 139-hectare lake established to store thermal water. The lake is suitable for water sports most of the time of the year. The establishment of a holiday resort and water-sport area is planned around the lake. The lake is a place of hatching and migration for water-birds. |