Horváth M. Ferenc: Vác Magyarország kincsestára (Vác, 2018)

HETKAPOLNA

Conquering Hungarians settled on the area of the Park, the wooded parkland on the south of the town, near the road crossing it, as early as the 10th or 11th century. According to chronicles this was the place where a miraculous hind appeared before King Géza I and his brother, Prince László, and where in 1074 they vowed to build a chapel in the hope of winning the battle against the Holy Roman Emperor and German King Henry IV. The cult of this place continued, and in the 18th century a church and seven wayside shrines, „chapels” were built here in honour of the Virgin Mary, the patron of Hungary. This is where the name of

8

the church, Seven Chapels, comes from. In April and July 1849 the Hungarians fought two victorious battles here against the Austrian army. In 1867 a monument was erected in memory of the Hungarian soldiers, which still stands today. In the second half of the 19 th century the area was turned into a park, and the former fish-pond is now used as an angling lake. You can follow the nature trail in the flood basin to explore the wildlife along the Danube. The bicycle path crossing the Park passes by a baroque bridge with stone saints, built in the middle of the 18th century, it is the oldest road bridge in the country still in use today.