Tokaj , is a historical town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is the name of an administrative county in north-eastern Hungary , on the border with Slovakia. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Nógrád, Heves, Hajdú-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. The capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county is Miskolc...

 county, Northern 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...

, 54 kilometers from county capital 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...

. It is the centre of the famous Tokaj-Hegyalja

Tokaj-Hegyalja

Tokaj-Hegyalja is a historical wine region located in southeastern Slovakia and northeastern Hungary. Hegyalja means "foothills" in Hungarian, and this was the original name of the region....

 wine district where the world famous Tokaji

Tokaji

Tokaji is the name of the wines from the region of Tokaj-Hegyalja in Hungary and Slovakia. The name Tokaji is used for labeling wines from this wine district. This region is noted for its sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, a style of wine which has a long history in this region...

 wine is produced.

History

The wine-growing area was first mentioned by the name Tokaj in 1067. The town itself was first mentioned in documents in 1353. Its first castle was a motte

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

, which was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Hungary. By the 14th century the town already had a stone castle, belonging to the Diósgyőr estate

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:...

.

After 1450 Tokaj was the property of the Hunyadi family, so after Matthias Hunyadi

Matthias Corvinus of Hungary

Matthias Corvinus , also called the Just in folk tales, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, at the age of 14 until his death...

 became king, the town became royal estate. In 1705 Francis II Rákóczi

Francis II Rákóczi

Francis II Rákóczi Hungarian aristocrat, he was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden...

 ordered the castle to be destroyed.

After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 the town prospered, but when the world wars came, it suffered a lot, lost its importance and its town status. Even its role in wine trade was taken over by Sátoraljaújhely

Sátoraljaújhely

Sátoraljaújhely or אוהעלי ) is a town located in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county in northern Hungary near the Slovak border. It is east from the county capital Miskolc.- History :...

.

Tokaj was granted town status again in 1986 and it started to prosper again. Now the town is a popular tourist attraction.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Tokaj is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with:
Binyamina Givat Ada, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 Cormons

Cormons

Cormons is a comune in the Province of Gorizia in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 45 km northwest of Trieste and about 12 km west of Gorizia, on the border with Slovenia...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Dej

Dej

Dej is a city in northwestern Romania, 60 km north of Cluj-Napoca, in Cluj County. It lies where the Someşul Mic River meets the river Someşul Mare River...

 (in Hungarian: Dés), Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 Oestrich-Winkel

Oestrich-Winkel

Oestrich-Winkel is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.- Location :This is a young town with roughly 12,000 inhabitants, having come into being in 1972 through the merger of the self-governing communities of Mittelheim, Oestrich and Winkel;...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Rust

Rust, Austria

----Rust is a city in Burgenland, Austria located at the shore of the Neusiedler See. Although it has only about 1,700 inhabitants, it is a Statutarstadt, as it was endowed with the rights of a free city by the Hungarian crown in 1681. As a Statutarstadt, it also forms its own administrative...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

External links

• Official Site
• Tokaj and the Historic Wine Region - tourism informatin
• Tokajwine.net - Wine Encyclopedia and Review of over 2000 wines from Tokaj, by Alkonyi László
• Gallery
• Tourist Information
• Tokaj Attractions
• Aerial photographs