Kecskemét is a city in the central part of Hungary. It is the 8th largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the capital Budapest and the country’s third-largest city, Szeged, 86 kilometers (53 miles) from both of them and almost equal distance from the two big rivers of the country, the Danube and the Tisza. It is the northern of two centers of the Hungarian Southern Great Plain region; the southern center is Szeged, the seat of Csongrád county.
Kecskemét was established at the meeting point of a large sandy region and a sandy yellow soil. The territory west of the city is covered by wind-blown sand, characterized by the almost parallel northern-southern sand dunes and the plain between them. At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, the pastures had become depleted. Overgrazing by cattle had destroyed the natural vegetation cover, and the movement of sand seriously endangered the town. Concentrated reforestation and planting of fruit and vines was carried out to stabilize the soil again.
Residents created a large common field for the animals they were breeding. By the beginning of the 18th century, residents held nearly 30,000 cattle, which grazed on an almost 2,000 square kilometers (770 sq mi) field. At the end of the 18th century, animal breeding started to decline in economic importance, as the fields had become overgrazed and denuded. It took nearly 100 years before the region developed its next major agricultural commodity. In the 19th century, Kecskemét was already part of an important wine district, but the city increased in importance after the vine-pest destroyed most vineyards in the hilly regions. Damage was less significant in the plains’ areas of loose, sandy soil. In the 1870s, landowners planted large plantations of grapevines around the town. These were the basis of the 20th-century vineyards and wine industry of the 20th century in Kecskemét. Cottage-type settlements grew up at the vineyards to house workers, a pattern still characteristic of the rural areas around the town. The growth of the wine industry stimulated those of the food industry and trade. The city is still known for its barackpálinka, an apricot brandy. With their accumulation of capital, peasants began to adopt bourgeois customs and goods, stimulating trade in the town. Such regional wealth led to construction of new buildings, especially those surrounding Kecskemét’s main square. This Art Nouveau complex is architecturally significant: the Town Hall, the New College, the Ornamented Palace, the Luther-Palace, the House of Trade (today the House of Young), and the Gentlemen’s Casino, now used as the Hungarian Museum of Photography.
Kecskemét is in the center of Kiskunság, one of Hungary’s famous regions. The Kiskunság National Park was established in 1975 to preserve the many different regional species of plants and animals. It is a “mosaic”-type national park, consisting of units that are not connected. The characteristic weather in the Kecskemét region of Kiskunság is continental warm, dry, sometimes extreme. The amount of sunlight makes it possible for the region to produce agricultural products such as wheat, apricots, red peppers, and tomatoes.
