Kalocsa

Kalocsa has been an archiepiscopal seat since the foundation of the Hungarian church, and the Baroque cathedral and palace beside it carry that weight, together with a library of well over a hundred thousand volumes in a decorated hall. What the town is popularly known for is smaller and brighter: the Kalocsa style of folk decoration, dense floral patterns in strong colours worked as embroidery and, more unusually, painted freehand onto the interior and exterior walls of houses by women who specialised in it, a practice that developed in the nineteenth century and is kept alive in the folk art house. The other local product is paprika, grown and milled here, with its own small museum.

History

The town is almost as old as the Hungarian state: after the conquest the tribe of Prince Árpád settled here, and King Stephen founded the archdiocese of Kalocsa alongside Esztergom. The Ottomans entered the town on 15 August 1529, Calvinist Haiduks burned it in 1602, and on 13 October 1686 the Ottomans burned the castle and withdrew; returning archbishops brought in new settlers, Cardinal Imre Csáki recovered the lands between 1710 and 1732, and in the 19th century the archbishops József Kunszt and Lajos Haynald founded schools that kept the town important, though the railway arrived only in 1882 (Wikipedia, Kalocsa).

The main sights

• Painted house walls - freehand floral decoration applied by hand.
• Kalocsa embroidery - the dense floral style in thread.
• The cathedral library - a decorated hall of over a hundred thousand volumes.
• The paprika museum and mills - the town's other trade.

When to go

April to October. Half a day. The library is visited on guided tours at set times. Museums close on Mondays. September is the paprika harvest.

Practical notes

The folk art is heavily commercialised and much of what is sold is machine-made. Museums are small and some feel dated. The town is a quiet provincial centre with limited food options.

Nearby

Hajos cellar village is south-east; Baja lies south.