Geographical and ethnical area

The city of Bátaszék is located in the south-eastern part of Tolna county, south from the county seat Szekszárd, 20 kilometers west from the river Danube. Our city - in the meeting point of Sárköz and the rolling country of Baranya - is a typical flat-country settlement in a plain area. The land of South-Transdanubia begins a few kilometers from our city structured by fruitful, delighting hills, valleys, low ridges of hills and tiny basins.

The sizes are men-scaled, we can easily clamber up to the gently sloping hills, appropriate for grape and wine production, fields are separated by forests, woods and grounds. Southern features dominate in the climate, flora and fauna of the landscape. The weather is warmer here than the national average, the number of hours with sunshine is higher. Savory grape grow on the hills, fiery wines ripens in the cellars. On the fields first of all cereals and corn is being grown, but many others deal in animal husbandry. Our forests are inhabited by deers, wild-boars, the bushy and woody places are loved by pheasants, partridges, wild-rabbits and foxes. If we leave towards east from our city, we get to the Danube-Drava National Park that includes the Forest of Gemenc, if we turn towards west, we arrive to the Lake of Szálka, situated in a beautiful location, surrounded by hills.

Bátaszék, because of its location belongs to the natural region of Sárköz, but ethnically it cannot be categorized to the region, famous for its traditional dress. Even though in the middle-ages it had been mentioned among the settlements of Sárköz, but not after the large German resettlements in the 18th century.

1142 meant a real turning point in the history of the region, when the Cistercian monks, arriving from Heiligenkreuz from Lower-Austria established the first Cistercian abbey, named Cikador, here, in the area, surrounded by moors. The resettlement of Germans started after the expulsion of the Turks (1718). The Germans had been tax-free for three years, the shrine of the medieval church had been renovated for them.

Bátaszék is a settlement, rich in ancient monuments and attractions. In the center of the city an archeological research excavated the remains of Cikador, the church of the first Cistercian abbey of Hungary, from which a ruin-garden had been formed in 2001. The baroque church, built on the remains of the medieval abbey church, demolished by the Turks in the middle of the 18th century came into such a bad estate to the end of the 19th century, that building of a new church was necessary, the festal consecration of which had taken place in 1903. The neogothic large church with imposing ornamentation and an 82.5 meters high tower is the second highest ecclesiastical building in Hungary. The Trinity statue, built in baroque style stands in the center of the city, erected by people of Bátaszék in 1794, because of a pledge during an epidemic. In the beginning of the 18th century the chapel of Saint Orban - beautiful remembrance of the baroque architecture - had been built on the Grape Hill near the settlement, with stave-vaults and cavalry-tower, renovated in 1990.

One of the most beautiful Calvary chapels of Hungary gained its today’s, eventual form in the second part of the 18th century, to be found at the border of Bátaszék, among the road, leading to Mohács. On the top of the three-shipped chapel - that has three entrances - there is a passable patio with the crosses of a cavalry-scene, with three image figures.

Besides the Peasant House two other collection exhibition of great value are on display in Bátaszék. One of the largest archeological private collections had been established by dr. Csanády György, doctor (1930-1996). The ecclesiastical remembrances of our city are to be found in the ecclesiastical collection, established in the oratorio of the parish church.