For the community in the Evros Prefecture

Evros Prefecture

Evros is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Its name is derived from the river Evros, which appears to have been a Thracian hydronym. Evros is the northernmost regional unit. It borders Turkey to the east, across the river Evros, and it...

 in Greece, see Avas, Greece

Avas, Greece

Avas or Avantas is a village in the southwestern part of the Evros Prefecture in Greece. Avantas is located 10 km north of Alexandroupoli, east of Thessaloniki and northeast of the Greek capital Athens...

; for the village in Azerbaijan, see Avaş

Avas

The Avas is a hill of volcanic origin in Miskolc, Hungary. Its top is the highest point of Miskolc proper...

.

The Avas is a hill of volcanic origin in Miskolc

Miskolc

Miskolc is a city in northeastern Hungary, mainly with heavy industrial background. With a population close to 170,000 Miskolc is the fourth largest city of Hungary It is also the county capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and the regional centre of Northern Hungary.- Geography :Miskolc is located...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. Its top (234 m above sea level, 104 m above the city) is the highest point of Miskolc proper (although other parts, annexed to the city later, lie higher up in the Bükk

Bükk

The Bükk Mountains are a section of the North Hungarian Mountains of the Inner Western Carpathians. Much of the area is included in the Bükk National Park.-Geography:...

 mountains). On the top stands a TV tower with observation deck

Miskolc-Avas TV Tower

Miskolc-Avas TV Tower is a 72 metre tall TV tower with an observation deck on the Avas hill in Miskolc, Hungary. The Avas TV Tower was designed by Miklós Hófer and György Vörös, and was built in 1966 in place of a wooden lookout tower...

 which is a former symbol of the city and provides a nice panorama.

The name of the hill is an archaic Hungarian word meaning "forbidden". It was named that at a time it was forbidden for shepherds to graze their herds there because the old wine cellars threatened with caving in.

In the early 20th century several prehistoric artefacts were found in the Avas, proving that a people belonging to the Neolithic Szeleta culture lived here. (The culture itself was named after Szeleta Cave, in Lillafüred

Lillafüred

Lillafüred is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary. Officially it is a part of Miskolc, actually it is almost 12 kilometres away from the city, in the Bükk Mountains...

, where many important archaeological finds were found.)

The limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 caves of Avas, that were once used by prehistoric men, are now used as wine cellars; the narrow, winding streets give a Mediterranean atmosphere to this part of Avas Hill.

On the northern part of the hill, close to downtown

Downtown (Miskolc)

Miskolc City Centre is basically the historical part of the city of Miskolc, Hungary. Most of the other parts of the city were either independent towns and villages previously, or they were built later....

 Erzsébet Square, stands the Gothic Protestant Church of Avas

Gothic Protestant Church of Avas

The Gothic Protestant Church of Avas is the oldest building in the centre of the city of Miskolc in Northern Hungary. It was built in the 13th century as a small, Romanesque style church, and later it was expanded to a larger Gothic style church. In 1544, during the Ottoman occupation of Hungary...

, the oldest building of Miskolc proper (the other oldest building is the Castle of Diósgyőr

Castle of Diósgyor

The Castle of Diósgyőr is a medieval castle in the historical town of Diósgyőr which is now part of the Northern Hungarian city Miskolc.-History:...

) and its belfry (16th century.) There are also several wine cellars dug in sandstone nearby, in the so-called Kis-Avas ("Little Avas") district.

The TV tower is 72 meters high and was built in 1963. The previous tower was made of wood and was designed by Bálint Szeghalmi, who also designed the Wooden Church

Wooden Church (Miskolc)

The Wooden Church is a church in Miskolc, Hungary. It is built of carved wood. The present building was built in 1999 in place of the previous one that was destroyed by arson in 1997....

; it was destroyed by Soviet soldiers during the revolution in 1956

1956 Hungarian Revolution

The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....

.

The southern part of Avas, also called Avas-South, is where the largest housing estate of the city stands, with 10-storey Socialist-style concrete blocks of flats

Panelház

Panelház is the name of a type of block of flats in Hungary and Hungarian inhabited areas of the Pannonian Basin. Transylvanian Magyars call these buildings tömbház . It was the main housing type built in the Socialist era. From 1959 to 1990 788,000 panel flats were built in Hungary...

providing homes for about one-third of the city's population. The district has five primary and four secondary schools, two post offices and a police station.