Opusztaszer National Heritage Park

Opusztaszer is the traditional site of the assembly at which Arpad and the Hungarian tribal leaders are said to have organised the conquered land, and the park built there carries a heavy load of national symbolism. Its centrepiece is the Feszty Panorama, a circular painting of the arrival of the Hungarians made by Arpad Feszty and assistants for the millennium of 1896, around a hundred and twenty metres long and fifteen high, badly damaged in the siege of Budapest and restored over years before reopening here in 1995, viewed from a central platform with a foreground of modelled terrain. Around it are excavated monastery ruins, an open-air museum of plain buildings, a windmill and a nomad yurt camp.

What you actually see

• The Feszty Panorama - a circular conquest painting of 1896, restored.
• Excavated monastery ruins - the medieval site under the park.
• The open-air village museum - farmhouses and a windmill from the plain.
• The yurt camp - reconstructed nomad dwellings and horse displays.

When to go

April to October, when the open-air sections and displays run. Half a day. The panorama is entered in timed groups and queues build at weekends.

Honest expectations

The national framing is emphatic and some visitors find it heavy going. The panorama viewing is a short timed slot for the ticket price. The site is spread out and hot in summer with limited shade. Public transport is poor.

Nearby

Szeged is south; Kecskemet lies north-west.