Pusztaszabolcs
Pusztaszabolcs | |
|---|---|
Aerial view | |
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Coat of arms | |
Location of Fejér county in Hungary | |
Pusztaszabolcs Location of Pusztaszabolcs | |
| Coordinates: 47°08′29″N 18°45′34″E / 47.14127°N 18.75940°E | |
| Country | Hungary |
| County | Fejér |
| District | Dunaújváros |
| Area | |
• Total | 51.67 km2 (19.95 sq mi) |
| Population (2015) | |
• Total | 5,904[1] |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 2490 |
| Area code | (+36) 25 |
| Website | www |
Pusztaszabolcs is a town in Fejér County, Hungary. Flanked by the loess fields of the Mezőföld and the Danube back-swamps, Pusztaszabolcs occupies 51.7 km2 (20.0 sq mi) at the junction of three main railway corridors—Budapest–Pécs, Székesfehérvár–Paks and the freight cut-off to Dunaújváros.[2]
History
Although first attested as Zabolch in a 1270 charter, the modern settlement coalesced only after 1861, when the Southern State Railway opened a station on the freshly laid Budapest–Zimony line; within a decade trackside plots were selling for twice the price of the surrounding cropland.[3] Rail employment, grain warehousing and a sugar-beet press boosted head-count from 642 in 1870 to 5,904 by 2015, and the 2022 census records a further rise to 6,134 residents, two-thirds of whom commute daily to Dunaújváros steelworks or Székesfehérvár electronics plants.[4]
Landmarks
The town centre is anchored by two contrasting churches: the single-nave Roman Catholic Church of the Visitation (1834, Copf-style façade and Empire altar), enlarged after the 1863 cholera epidemic, and the Reformed church (1928), whose square brick tower mirrors inter-war Calvinist architecture across Fejér. Between them stands a First-World-War stele by sculptor Lajos Berán, while the small open-air railway museum beside the station preserves a 1942-built MÁV 375 steam locomotive—a type once synonymous with branch-line traffic in Transdanubia. An autumn railway open-house forms part of the town's annual event calendar.[3]
Transport
Since 2018 the municipality has capitalised on its transport node: an EU-funded project electrified and doubled 55 km of track between Pusztaszabolcs and Százhalombatta, replaced the century-old lattice footbridge with lifts and glazed walkways, and built a 300-space park-and-ride intended to shift commuter traffic off Highway 6. Parallel investments laid a 23-km cycleway that ties the town into the Lake Velence loop and the Danube EuroVelo 6 spur.[2]
Twin towns – sister cities
Pusztaszabolcs is twinned with:
- Staufenberg, Germany
- Dorobanți, Romania
Gallery
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First World War monument
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Map of Pusztaszabolcs from the First Military Mapping Survey of the Austrian Empire.
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Map of Pusztaszabolcs from the Second Military Mapping Survey of the Austrian Empire.
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Map of Pusztaszabolcs from the Third Military Mapping Survey of the Austrian Empire.
References
- ^ Gazetteer of Hungary, 1 January 2015. Hungarian Central Statistical Office.
- ^ a b "Átadták a villamosított Százhalombatta–Pusztaszabolcs vasútvonalat" [Electrified Százhalombatta–Pusztaszabolcs line inaugurated]. MÁV-START Zrt. 3 December 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Pusztaszabolcs város története és nevezetességei" [History and sights of the town of Pusztaszabolcs]. Pusztaszabolcs Municipality. 2025. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ "Pusztaszabolcs – Population Census 2022". CityPopulation.de – data from Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
External links
- Official website in Hungarian
- Street map (in Hungarian)