Budafok

Budafok–Tétény, which today has a population of nearly 60 thousand, was created in 1950 by merging the city of Budafok and the villages of Nagytétény and Budatétény. Geographically, it lies on the Tétényi Plateau, a karst surface consisting of dolomite and limestone, forming the southern foreland of the Buda Hills, and on its slopes running down to the Danube, whose loess soil was excellently suited for grape growing. The rocky grassland part of the plateau next to the Kamara Forest, which is the habitat of many rare plant and animal species, and the Háros Island with its still untouched arterial forest, are nature reserves.

The first significant monument in the region, which has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic Age, was left by the Romans, who established the Campona castellum (Nagytétény), which was one of the significant military camps of the limes. Being an important Danube crossing, the population was continuous, and archaeological finds from the time of the migrations have also been found. After the conquest, the winter quarters of the chief Töhötöm (Tétény) were located in the territory of Nagytétény. In the settlement, which was then called Tétény, László IV (Cuman) held a parliament in 1279 to settle the Cuman question. According to the documents, the king and his entourage stayed in the Csúti Premontrei provostship on the Háros (once called Csúth) island. In addition to the village of Csút, which lies north of Tétény, there was a third settlement in our region, Kána, which is located on the present-day Budafok plateau. Tétény experienced its heyday in the second half of the 15th century, when it was already a market town (oppidum). By the end of the Turkish rule, three settlements in the region had been destroyed, with Tétény being the only one that survived, which its landlord, György Száraz, populated with German settlers after 1711. Later, Hungarian serfs were also settled here.

The history of Budafok begins at this time, and after the Turkish rule, in 1698, the area became the property of Prince Jenő of Savoy as the vineyard hill (Latin: Promontorium) of the Csepel-sziget estate. The Promontor seigneurs' community was established as an independent settlement only after the prince's death, in 1739, mostly from German vineyard owners who had come over from Csepel. Their first houses were built in the Brunnthal (today's Péter-Pál utca) valley. The rapid development of the settlement, like Tétény, was due to the viticulture and quarrying. The development of the district's unique cellar system is also connected to these. The uninterrupted development was stopped by the phylloxera epidemic of 1886, which almost completely destroyed the vineyards that were the main source of livelihood.

By this time, Budatétény (until 1915, its name was Kistétény) had also become an independent settlement, characterized by scattered houses and villas, as the village was one of the vineyards of Nagytétény until 1873. After the separation, the old village began to be called Nagytétény instead of Tétény.

The construction of the railway lines (1861: southern railway, 1882: Pécs railway) laid the foundation for the development of later years. The industrialization that began in the last decade of the century and at the beginning of the 20th century (breweries, champagne factories, match factories, pig fattening farms) became decisive in the life of the settlements that were increasingly integrated into the economic circulation of the capital. In 1899, the HÉV reached Budafok, and in 1909, it reached Nagytétény. In these years, the Baross Gábor settlement belonging to Nagytétény also began to develop, which was almost a separate settlement far from the mother village.

The former Promontor became Budafok in 1886, and in 1926 it received city status. As a continuation of the discontinued grape culture, the city developed into a significant winemaking center in the 20th century, where winemakers are still trained to this day. In 1987, Budafok received the international certificate of distinction “City of Grapes and Wine”.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the population of the settlements increased significantly, the German character was increasingly pushed back, and a Hungarian majority was formed. The majority of the Germans were resettled in Germany after World War II, but today the cultivation of German national traditions is being revived again. Despite industrial development, the eviction of the Germans who had lived here for hundreds of years, the annexation to the capital, large-scale relocations, and the construction of housing estates, the predominantly garden-type district still preserves the character of its former creative settlements, in which our ancestors left us a series of monuments.

Source: Budafokteteny.hu

Photo: Budafoki Borfesztivál Facebook page