Sashegy
Encyclopedia
Sashegy is a hill and neighbourhood in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, 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...

. It is a green, upper middle class area in Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...

 with expensive family homes. Administratively Sashegy is divided between the 11th
Újbuda
Újbuda is the 11th district of Budapest , Hungary. Currently it is the most populous district of Budapest with 137,426 inhabitants . Until the 1890s Újbuda's present territory was a field south to the historical town of Buda. The construction of a new residential area started in the 1900s, the...

 and the 12th districts
Hegyvidék
Hegyvidék is the official name of the XII district of Budapest , capital of Hungary. It is a region of Buda, on the west bank of river Danube.- Geography :...

 of Budapest.

Maps



The borders of Sashegy are: Hegyalja út from Dayka Gábor utca - Kálló esperes utca - Hegyalja út - Budaörsi út - Brassó út - Dayka Gábor utca until Hegyalja út.

Name

The present-day name was given to the hill in 1847 when the geographical features of the Buda Hills were renamed by the initiative of Hungarian philologist Gábor Döbrentei
Gábor Döbrentei
Gábor Döbrentei , Hungarian philologist and antiquary, was born in a city in Austria-Hungary then called Nagyszőlős...

. Sashegy is the translation of the former German name, Adlerberg. According to a popular legend a parade was held on 2 September 1686 by the victorious Christian armies after capturing Buda Castle
Buda Castle
Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, first completed in 1265. In the past, it was also called Royal Palace and Royal Castle ....

 from the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...

. During the parade eagles flew from the hill nearby towards the castle.

Medieval Hungarian names were also recorded. At first the hill was called Királyhegy (lit. King's Hill) in the 13th century because Hungarian kings usually took a rest here during hunting trips. Later it became a church property under the names Paphegy, Baráthegy or Istenhegy (lit. Parson's Hill, Friar's Hill or God's Hill). The Ottomans called the hill Muhanek in the 16th and 17th century.

History

After the Ottoman occupation vineyards were planted on the lower slopes of the hill. German colonists played an important part in the rebirth of viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

 in the Buda Hills. During the 18-19th centuries Adlerberg, as it was then called, was part of the Buda-Sashegy Wine Region. According to the 1789 land register of Buda the vineyards on Adlerberg covered 0,6 km². The Buda-Sashegyi Kadarka wine, made from Black Kadarka, earned a reputation throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. The vineyards of Sashegy were destroyed in 1890 by the phylloxera
Phylloxera
Grape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...

. After the plague viticulture was supplanted by the production of stone-fruits. The lower slopes were planted with orchards, mainly peach-trees, while the rocky upper areas of the hill remained barren all times.

In the beginning of the 20th century a military complex was built at the foot of the hill (now Petőfi Barracks). The first great building on the hill itself was the college of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Sion, established in 1930. Suburbanization
Suburbanization
Suburbanization a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs...

 only began in the 1940s and 1950s when family homes were built in place of the old orchards. In 1944 concrete bunkers were built on the top of the hill, and many new villas were destroyed during the siege of Budapest in 1944-45. The present stock of houses mainly comes from the last decades of the 20th century. The natural upper areas were preserved with the establishment of the nature reserve in 1958. According to the 1990 census Sashegy had 9030 inhabitants (7969 in the 11th and 1061 in the 12th district part).

Streets

The process of suburbanization was accelerated by designation of new streets across the neighbourhood. The main roads around foot of the hill followed much older pathways like the old Sashegyi út (now Hegyalja út) which connected the valley under Gellért Hill
Gellért Hill
Gellért Hill is a high hill overlooking the Danube in Budapest, Hungary. It is part of the 1st and 11th Districts. Gellért Hill was named after Saint Gerard who was thrown to death from the hill. The famous Hotel Gellért and the Gellért Baths can be found in Gellért Square at the foot of the...

 with Farkasrét.

The majority of the new streets were established in the period between 1928 and 1941. The most important among them was Miasszonyunk útja (now Meredek utca), leading towards the college, in 1930.

Education

The only school in the neighbourhood is Arany János Elementary and Secondary School (1 Meredek utca, 12th District). The huge, yellow Neo-Baroque building on the hillside was built in 1930 by the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion
Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion
The Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion is a Roman Catholic religious order of women founded in France in 1843 by Theodor Ratisbonne, encouraged by his brother Alphonse Ratisbonne, with the purpose of promoting the conversion of Jews to Christianity. The congregation established several educational...

. It was originally a college of girls with French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 as the language of education. The school was secularized after the Commuist takeover in 1948. The Arany János Elementary and Secondary School was established in 1954.

Nature Reserve

The Sas-hegy Nature Reserve belongs to the Danube-Ipoly National Park. The 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) area on the top of the hill was placed under protection in 1958. It was one of the first nature reserves of Hungary, protecting the limestone landscape and its special flora and fauna. The top of the hill is 257 m high and offers a breathtaking panorama towards Buda Castle
Buda Castle
Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, first completed in 1265. In the past, it was also called Royal Palace and Royal Castle ....

, Gellért Hill
Gellért Hill
Gellért Hill is a high hill overlooking the Danube in Budapest, Hungary. It is part of the 1st and 11th Districts. Gellért Hill was named after Saint Gerard who was thrown to death from the hill. The famous Hotel Gellért and the Gellért Baths can be found in Gellért Square at the foot of the...

and the districts of Buda. The park service maintains a visitor center and a 2350 m long circular trail, displaying the most important natural features of the reserve. http://www.dinpi.hu/index.php?pg=menu_777

External links


  • http://natur.budapest.hu/text/sashegy.html
  • http://www.vendegvaro.hu/34-41
  • http://www.sashegy-vedo.hu/ Neighbourhood NGO
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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