Merk Zsuzsa - Bálint Attila: Baja is town for 300 years - A Bajai Türr István Múzeum kiadványai 27. (Baja, 1999)

lost Baja to the Habsburgs already before the campaign of 1688. The Imperial Treasury, acting as a landlord, reserved Baja and the lands around it to itself. On December 24, 1696, Emperor Leopold I declared the city of Baja a royal free oppidum. (The date, which is Adam's and Eve's day, explains the coat of arms of the city, which shows the first human couple under the apple tree of Paradise.)

Our exhibition is a brief overview of the 300-year-long history of Baja from 1696 to 1996, through the eyes of the museologist.

The imperial treasury showed a very definite interest in the city of Baja from rather early on, which is understandable, as settlements like Baja, which were close to natural water transportation routes, always served as military bases for the imperial army. By accumulating vast stocks of food, fodder and firewood, they contributed to the success of imperial campaigns.

However, the end of the Ottoman rule did not mean that difficult times were over. Continuing wars took their toll; the population suffered from the mandatory quartering of imperial troops. During the war of independence lead by Rákóczi against the Habsburgs from 1703 to 1711, Baja found itself on the side of the Habsburgs, which is understandable if we recall that it was owned by the imperial treasury, and that most of its inhabitants were Southern Slavs. As a result, the kuruc troops of Ferenc Rákóczi raided the city and its surroundings several times. What little was spared under the rule of the Ottomans, was devastated during the years of the war of independence. Continual wars disabled production by killing people and by chasing away labor.

Seals of Baja

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