Introduction of Nagyecsed, Hungary

Ecsed Castle

Nagyecsed can be found in the north eastern of Hungary on the ’Szatmár’ part of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County. It is a small town with 6697 inhabitants, with a 20% of Roma community.

The Ecsed Marsh, which was named after the Ecsed settlement, that existed in the times of the Hungarian conquest and the Ecsed Castle, which was built in the marsh, made Nagyecsed the centre of the area. It was proven by the archeology researches that the extensive former marsh was already inhabited in the Bronze Age too. During the Hungarian conquest, Tas Chieftain had a mud castle called ‘Sárvár’ built on the emerging island of the marsh some kms further from the present town. In the mud castle the Gut-Kelend clan had a Christian monastery built in the 11^th century, of which remains can be found up to now. In 1334 Charles I permitted the Bathori family who came from the Gut-Kelend clan to build a stone castle. The Ecsed Castle was completed by 1354. In the 15th century it was the most important strength of the county. In 1490 the inhabitants of the settlement got a charter of liberation, which became the base of the development as a market town. After the failure of the Rákóczi War of Independence, the Szatmár Peace declared the destruction of the Ecsed Castle in 1711. The modern fortification, which used to have a reputation of being impregnable, was blow up. The winning power razed the area to the ground. After the destruction of the castle, the citizens of Nagyecsed did not let their rights, they litigated with the Károlyi counts for their illegally withdrawn privileges for 100 years.

From 1749 more attempts were made at the draining of the marsh. After much failure people managed to drain the huge water world from 1895 to 1898. After the drainage the increasing agricultural production set the modern development of the settlement in motion. New churches and schools were built; the lifting over pumping plant: which is in working order these days and also good for producing electricity and the railways station are also from that period. In 1965 the settlement enriched itself with a secondary grammar school.

On 1^st July, 1997 Nagyecsed got a town title again after 389 years. The town has rich and sparkling community and cultural life, many non-profit organisations and clubs are operating in the city. The Hungarian folkdance group has the aptitude for making more people acquainted with the unique recruiting dance called ‘verbunk’. A majorette group works in the town, which takes constantly part in not just the programmes of the town, but in the programmes of the surrounding settlements. The horse club regularly organizes carriage competitions and cavalcades. The Rákóczi Sport Club holds together the professional and mass sports of the town – it has football, handball, weight lifting and table tennis sections. Several cultural and musical programmes are organized in the town – carriage competitions, cavalcades, balls, town days and Christmas concerts. Nagyecsed has several natural and cultural attractions, e.g. Berey József Institute of Local History, II. Rákóczi Ferenc Cultural Centre and Library, The Reformed Great Church, botanical garden and animal shelter, monastery remains, the industrial heritage of the pumping station.

Pump station

In the last 10 years numerous buildings and institutes of the town were renewed and developments were realized with the support from EU funds: reconstruction of the water reticulation and the water treatment station, building of the wastewater and rainwater pipeline and organization of the  waste management, renovation of the cultural and community centre, the kindergarten and the elementary school, building of the new city hall, the new main square, a centre of the basic social services, a landfill and development of a health centre. The beneficiary of the KIDIN Project, Municipality of Nagyecsed has implemented more human development projects with non-profit partners. The municipality established a community centre for supporting the disadvantaged, mostly Roma inhabitants and for providing a location of the programmes.

Town from bird’s-eye view

The webpage of Nagyecsed (HU)