Pecs Things to Do

Király street is the pedestrian precinct of the city. The street was named Király street in 1864 in honour of József Király, who was bishop of Pécs from 1807 to 1825. In 1945 it became Kossuth Lajos street, but today the street bears the name Király again. In this street one can see many historic buildings and famous houses. The tables of the taverns in the street and the tunes played by street musicians make the main street an atmospheric part of the city.

Architectural detail of a building in Pecs
There are many beautiful buildings in Pecs. This is a detail from on along the 'walking street' that leads off of the main square. There are many shops here including ones for the famous Hungarian porcelains, Herend and Zsolynay.

The name of Aradi vértanúk street (the road of the Arad martyrs) preserves the memory of those thirteen martyrs who died in the war of liberation, which succeeded the revolution on March 15, 1848. The pedestals on the upper promenade were made for the statues of the martyrs of the 1848/49 revolution and war of liberation who were executed in Arad in retaliation.

The founder of the Pauline Order, the only order of Hungarian origin, was Bishop Bertalan, who lived in the 13th century. The church was built on the initiative of Mihály Zembruszky, Pauline monk, therefore its name is Pauline Church. Károly Weichinger designed the one-steepled, rubblestone church building, which was completed in 1938. An arcade links the detached 26 meter high belfry to the three-aisled church building.

The sepulchral monument (türbe) of Idris baba is situated in the picturesque garden of the children's hospital. Idris baba was a doctor and he lived in Pécs in the second half of the 16th century. He must have come to Hungary with the conquerors or the first settlers. After his death the residents started to worship the famous doctor and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage. When the Turkish occupation ended the Jesuit Order took possession of the türbe. In 1693 it was converted into a chapel and was named after Saint Rókus who protected the city against the plague. When the epidemic was over the army came into possession of the building and stored gunpowder in it until 1913, when the restoration work began.

The bath domes used to be an inevitable component of the Turkish townscape. The Turkish bath was not only a place for cleaning the body but also an important centre of social life. The great Turkish traveller Evlia Celebi claims that there were three baths in Pécs in the second part of the 17th century - the baths of Memi Pasha, Ferhad Pasha and Kassim Pasha - which all have been either partly or entirely destroyed. The bath of Ferhad Pasha disappeared very early, only the basement walls have been found. The bath of Memi Pasha was pulled down in the 1880s, but it was excavated and restored in 1963 together with the fountain, which used to be inside.

The synagogue on Kossuth square was built between 1865 and 1869. Its organ is the product of the Angster Works. The inscription around the clock is an imperative: "Let all nations call it the house of prayer".

My favourite street in Pécs is Ferencesek street which leads from Széchenyi square to Kórház square. If you walk along this street towards Kórház square you reach the Franciscan Church in the end of the street, after which the street itself was named. Like Király street this street is a pedestrian precinct with lots of shops on both sides.