Eger

The impressive Baroque style Archbishop's Palace Cultural, Touristic and Visitor Centre offering a special church arts exhibition opened its gates to visitors in February 2016. In the exhibition you can have a glimpse in the every day life of bishops, archbishops who financed architectural constructions and supported fine arts besides their church coordinating activities during the centuries. The proof of it can be seen in the exhibition. The objects connected to masses or celebrations reflect on another part of their complex leader role. A special emphasis was payed on showing spaces of their private life, private piety, prayers to visitors - bringing the life of the followers of Christ nearer the public, addressing everyone.

The most exciting attraction, Camera obscura can be foung on the top of the tower. You are prectically in the middle of a giant camera where the living picture of the town is projected on a table with a system of lenses and mirrors. This "Dark room" in Eger is unique universally, since it is the oldest working equipment of this kind on the continent! Visit it in sunny weather if you can, since the quality of the picture is the best at that time, in cloudy weather the quality is a bit worse and in rainy weather there is no picture, as the camera cannot work. The room was created even originally to make fun; an old legend in Eger says that jealous men in the past could control their wives walking in the town. So it was not worth braking faith any time and anywhere, especially in Eger...

It is the minaret having survived in the best condition in the country. The tower is 40 meters high and the balcony circling the terrace in on 26 meters high. Up there your breath will be taken by the view, however, it is also due - besides the fantastic panorama - to having overcome 97 high steps of the spiral staircase to get up. Those having movement disability or height fobia perhaps the minaret will give nice memories admiring it rather from outside but those who like challenges it is really worth climbing up the balcony as well!

The Archdiocese Library of Eger was established by Károly Eszterházy in 1793, already from the beginning it was meant to be public, very rare at that time. The opening had been preceeded by thorough book collection since the second half of the 1760s, when professors were asked to make lists of literature they wished or to search for and buy them for the library. The institution finally opened with 16000 volumes. Several private collections melted into the stock of the library, also Károly Eszterházy's after his death. By now the total collection of the library has grown to 170 thousand volumes.

Nowadays can only be seen the ruins of Valide Sultana hamam, but a contemporary Turkish travelogue says it used to be a really impressive building with a red dome, pleasant water. The meaning of the name is: the Sultan's mother. Baths had great importance in the Ottoman culture, they were considered to be a kind of community spaces where people could meet and talk. And, anyway, they could thoroughly scrutinise each other. Since baths were not mixed at that time, men had to miss the sight of ladies, or, they got indirect information. But how? A good mother does everything for her son... Yes, at that time it was a custom that at first boys' mothers scrutinised the young, naked girls, just for the sake of their son. You can unleash your imagination, however, the real function was not that personal. In reality mothers just wanted to be sure of the health of the girls, whether their body was suitable for giving birth.