ÓPUSZTASZER MEMORIAL PARK

This southern region, where the Great Plain is bisected by the Tisza, lies on the axis of the great waves of migration. In 896, it was here at Ópusztaszer that Árpád, leader of the first seven Magyar tribes, spent 34 days preparing the laws of what was to become their new country, Hungary.

The park and rotunda. Here you can visit the excavations of a medieval market town, Szer, a complex of pseudo-Hungarian houses (known as the Temple of the Forest), all made of wood and with shapes inspired by tents, as well as an open-air eco-museum featuring typical farms and village houses from different regions of Hungary. In the park, lawns have been laid out for children and outdoor barbecue facilities are available. During the tourist season, equestrian performances on the theme of "From the Time of the Shamans" are held here.

Inside the tourist center is the rotunda, whose shape is inspired by a nomadic yurt. A small wax museum honors the great figures of Hungary's early centuries, and a Costume Museum features a display of late ^19th-century fashions.

Panorama. The centerpiece of the tourist center is Árpád Feszty's stunning panoramic painting The Hungarian Conquest, illustrating the arrival of Magyar tribes in the Carpathian basin. The artist drew his inspiration for the setting from the Volóc Valley, now in the Ukraine. According to legend, the Magyars passed through the Verecke Pass before settling on the plain. 120 m long and 15 m high, the work was created for the Hungarian millennium celebrations in 1896, then exhibited in Budapest, where it became very popular... until its disappearance in 1945, after the bombing.

Restored in 1995 by Polish specialists, it is now displayed in a circular room inspired by a yurt. It shows Árpád, standing on his horse, dominating the plain. All around him: a queen carried in an ox-drawn chariot, a sacrificial altar covered with corpses, a shaman ready to offer a white horse... Smoke rises: a favorable omen. The horde advances towards its new homeland.

The visitor, placed at the center of the installation, hears the roar of the ride, the creaking of the wagons and the clanking of weapons. It's a total immersion in this grand spectacle fresco, conceived at the time as a forerunner of cinema.