• +36 24 429 747
  • 2300 Ráckeve, Eötvös street 1.

Small region-Ráckeve

Small region

Alsónémedi – Apaj – Áporka – Bugyi – Délegyháza – Dömsöd – Dunaharaszti – Dunavarsány – Halásztelek
Kiskunlacháza – Kulcs – Lórév – Majosháza – Makád – Rácalmás – Ráckeve – Szigetbecse – Szigetcsép
Szigethalom – Szigetszentmárton – Szigetszentmiklós – Szigetújfalu – Taksony – Tököl

Ráckeve

For centuries Ráckeve was the “capital” of Csepel Island.  It is 47 km from Budapest by the Ráckeve Danube branch. Budapest is about 70 minutes from here by suburban train. Ráckeve can be reached by car by taking the M0 highway, through Halásztelek and Szigetszentmiklós. From the lowland it is accessible through the Budapest-Baja main road No 51. The city’s old and new parts are connected with a bridge.

Ráckeve Local Government: Szent István Square 4. 2300 Ráckeve
Tel.: (24) 523-333
web: rackeve.lap.hu , www.rackeve.hu

Szentábrahámtelke was the predecessor town of Ráckeve. The first document mentioning it is from 1212.  People who were escaping from the Turks settled down in Szentábrahámtelke in 1439-1440 and created a free royal town with privileges.  At the end of the 15th century, most of the town’s inhabitants were Serbian merchants, who dealt with long-distance and local trade and shipment. Zsigmonds’s wife, the prevailing queen, received the city of Ráckeve along with the entire Csepel Island for a wedding-present.  Mátyás’s documents mention it as a royal possession. Csepel Island was Beatrix’s largest lot of private land.  An Italian artist designed the Serbian church in 1487, in the style of Mátyás’s gothic school.

After the occupation of Buda, Ráckeve became a city of the Turkish borderline. At the end of the 16th century, during the fifteen years war, it was destroyed but was quickly restored. After the fall of Székesfehérvár in 1543, a huge group of Hungarian people settled down here.

Between 1684 and 1688 this area became a battlefield again because of the liberation of Buda. On the island, many villages became threatened by a dwindling population.

In 1698, prince Eugene of Savoya bought the island for 15,000 forints from Heisler Donát’s widow.  A declining Hungarian and Serbian population was augmented by German Catholics, who were given allowances for farming and building operations.

In 1702 the baroque castle of Eugene of Savoya was built by the plans of Johann Lucas von Hildebrand from Vienna. In 1728, the renowned military engineer Rosenfeldt came and created the maps of Ráckeve and Csepel Island.

In the 18th century Mária Terézia reclaimed the island and gave it to her daughter Krisztina as a present for her wedding. The princess rented the region to Szaplonczay János for 36,000 forints.  From this point forward, the privileges of the town were no longer extended to the inhabitants of Ráckeve.
The events in 1848 disturbed Ráckeve too.

Petőfi’s friend, Ács Károly was born in Ráckeve and became a notable figure of the war of independence for his role in encouraging the inhabitants to turn against Vienna. After this, the emperor put him in jail. A few years later he was released and later played an important role in the translation of Serbian, Croatian and Romanian poetry.

After the fall of the war of independence, the development of Ráckeve stagnated.  Although the railway connection between Budapest and Ráckeve was built in 1892, no industry had been established and in 1872 Ráckeve resigned its city rank.

In 1897 was the ribbon cutting ceremony for Árpád-bridge. After the demolition of the old town hall in 1901, a new one was built in a secessionist style. A new neogothic protestant church was built in 1913. The Savoya castle was almost demolished too, because of the high restoration costs.

In 1920 Ráckeve’s population was 6524 inhabitants.

To commemorate the First World War, a statue was erected in 1930 with 133 names on it. The Ács Károly Foundation built a Winter Agricultural School in 1940. In summer 1944 the Jewish people of Ráckeve were carried away, with very few of them ever to return.  In 1944 Soviet forces came to liberate Ráckeve, but only 20 days earlier retreating German and Hungarian forces blew up the Árpád-Bridge which was not to be restored until 1947.

After the war the administration and economy slowly regained its original shape.  Land was distributed in Ráckeve and intellectual life renewed in several areas.  The library was founded in 1948. In 1950 Ady Endre Secondary School from Gödöllő came to Ráckeve, forming the intellectual centre of the town.  The Catholic and the state schools merged to create the local primary school.  In 1963, the Árpád Museum was built.  In the 1970s Ráckeve advanced further, and after some industrial development Ráckeve recouped its city rank.  The environment and scenery of the town is really special for tourists.

Scroll Up