Csepel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Csepel (German: Tschepele; Croatian: Čepelj; Serbian: Čepelj) is a neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. It is identical with District XXI. Csepel officially became part of Budapest on 1 January 1950.
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[edit] Location
Csepel is located at the northern end of Csepel Island in the Danube, and covers one tenth of the island's area. Being on an island, it is the only complete district of Budapest which is neither in Pest nor in Buda. It has approximately 85,000 inhabitants.
Csepel is most easily accessed from central Budapest by the HÉV suburban railway. Bridges connect Csepel to southern parts of Pest, Ferencváros and Pesterzsébet, and a ferry links Csepel to Soroksár.
[edit] Name
The village and the island was named after the first comes (ispán) of the area, Csepel. The German and Serbo-Croatian names derived from the older Hungarian one.
[edit] History
Csepel Island became the personal domain of Árpád after the migration of Hungarians into Pannonia in the early 10th century. It remained a favourite resort of the Hungarian kings in the Middle Ages. From 1484 onwards Csepel was the wedding-present to future Hungarian queens. The Ottoman Turks totally destroyed the village and the royal manor house in the 16th century. In the end of the 17th century Serb refugees from Turkish occupied Serbia settled here. In the beginning of the 18th century Prince Eugene of Savoy, owner of the island, re-established the settlement, and populated with German colonists. It became an independent municipality in 1742. The original village was located in the present-day Freeport (Szabadkikötő) area but it was totally destroyed by the great flood of 1838. The new village was built on higher ground, in present-day Ófalu (Old Village). The town had a population of 9462 people according to the 1910 census (the ethnic composition was 84 % Hungarian and 18 % German). Formerly it was a working class city with several factories; there was even a bicycle named Csepel. During the 1956 revolution in Budapest, Hungarian fighters made their last stand in Csepel. Today, Csepel contains housing estates as well as middle class garden suburbs. The district is also home to the noteworthy sports club Csepel SC.
[edit] Landmarks
Noteworthy sights include the Baroque parish church built in 1770, the Csepel Gallery and Museum of Local History, and the Csepel Collection of Factory History.
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