Tata



Tata (Dotis) is a town in northwestern Hungary, Komárom-Esztergom county, 9 km northwest from the county seat Tatabánya.

Location
Tata is located in the valley between the Gerecse Mountains and Vértes Mountains, some 70 km from Budapest, the capital. By virtue of its location, the city is a railway and road junction. Motorway M1 (E60, E75) from Vienna to Budapest passes through the outer city limits, and the railway line Budapest–Vienna goes through the city.

Demographics
According to the 2001 census, the town has 23,937 inhabitants: 93.3% Hungarians, 1.6% Germans, 0.6% Roma, 0.2% Slovaks and 6.5% other.

History
The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times; archaeological findings date back to 50,000 BCE. Later it was a Roman settlement.

The first known mention of Tata is from 1221. Its castle was built by the Lackfi family and had its prime under Matthias Corvinus, who had it rebuilt in a Renaissance style.

In 1526 when the disastrous battle with the Turks happened and Louis II died in the battlefield, Count György Cseszneky was the châtelain of the Castle Tata. In the struggle for the throne of Hungary between Voivode John Zápolya and Archduke Ferdinand of Habsburg, Cseszneky supported Ferdinand's claim. However, when Zápolya's commander Gáspár Ráskai laid siege to the Castle of Tata, Cseszneky unwillingly yielded to the superior force and handed the castle over.

During the Ottoman occupation, the castle of Tata was an important fortress. It was captured in 1529 and had many different owners in the next decades until it was burned down by the Habsburgs in retaliation for the Rákóczi's War of Independence.

In 1727, Count József Esterházy bought Tata and the surrounding villages. The town prospered, in 1765 it already had a secondary school.

According to the article in the Pallas Lexicon about Tata in 1851, the town was a "pretty and developing village in the Tata district of Komárom comitatus; 895 buildings, 6925 mostly Hungarian residents (3633 Roman Catholics, 2518 Lutherans and 673 Israelites), centre of the district, with secondary school, railway station, post office. Tata and the adjoining village Tóváros (4257 residents) are built around a large lake, Tata on the hillside, Tóváros on the plain. Between them there is the Esterházy mansion and an old castle with archive and gallery including a painting of Leonardo da Vinci. The theatre was built in 1889. The mansion is surrounded by the beautiful English garden (140 hectares)."

In 1938, the village of Tóváros was annexed to Tata, which was renamed Tatatóváros for a short while; one year later it was named Tata again. It was granted town status in 1954.

Main sights

 * Castle next to the Öreg-tó (Old Lake)
 * The Esterházy Palace
 * Heroes' Square with World War I monument and synagogue
 * Kossuth Square with town hall
 * The parish church of Tata
 * The Capuchin church
 * Calvary Hill
 * Lookout tower
 * Water mills
 * Belfry
 * The English Park
 * False ruins
 * Fényes Bath

Twin towns — Sister cities
Tata, Hungary is twinned with:
 * [[Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg|20px]] Alkmaar, Netherlands, since 1985
 * [[Image:Flag of Germany.svg|20px]] Gerlingen, Germany, since 1987
 * [[Image:Flag of France.svg|20px]] Dammarie-lès-Lys, France, since 1993
 * [[Image:Flag of Italy.svg|20px]] Arenzano, Italy, since 1994
 * [[Image:Flag of Slovakia.svg|20px]] Svodín, Slovakia, since 1997
 * [[Image:Flag of Italy.svg|20px]] Montebelluna, Italy, since 2000
 * [[Image:Flag of Romania.svg|20px]] Sovata, Romania, since 2002
 * [[Image:Flag of Poland.svg|20px]] Pińczów, Poland, since 2004