Nagycenk Szechenyi Mansion

Nagycenk was the seat of Istvan Szechenyi, the nineteenth-century reformer who put his money and energy into the chain bridge at Budapest, Danube steam navigation, horse breeding and the Academy of Sciences, and whose house is now a memorial museum covering that work in detail. The building is a Baroque range extended in his lifetime, and he installed gas lighting and other novelties in it as demonstrations. In front runs a double avenue of limes planted in the eighteenth century and stretching more than two kilometres, one of the longest of its kind in the country. A narrow-gauge museum railway operates from the village with preserved steam locomotives on summer weekends.

What you actually see

• The Szechenyi memorial museum - the reformer's house and his projects.
• A two-kilometre lime avenue - the eighteenth-century double planting.
• The steam museum railway - preserved locomotives running in summer.
• The family mausoleum - the Szechenyi tomb in the village.

When to go

April to October; the railway runs mainly at summer weekends. Half a day. Museums close on Mondays. Check railway operating days before travelling for them.

Honest expectations

The museum is text-heavy and assumes some knowledge of Hungarian history. The railway runs on limited days and is short. The village is quiet with few services. The avenue is a walk, not a sight in itself.

Nearby

Sopron is north-west; Fertorakos lies north.