One of the 21 wonders of Hungary
György Fenessy, the bishop from Eger, as he returned in 1688 to Eger after the march out of the Turks, he didn't want to leave in the Castle. He buys in the town two building grounds and necessary the tuff-stone the extracted from the hillside behind the palace. So they achieved double result: the palace was finished and directly below it a wine-cellar-system, where they stored the 10% tithe of the wines what from Gyöngyös to Munkačevo (today Ukraine) grew, it was in year 11-12 milion liters. The wine-cellar-system run in 3 km (1,85 miles) from the Hatvani to the Rác Gate. Today is the nicest part the Column Hall.
The cellar was not used after the nationalization in 1947, its condition sank and it became life-danger. They strengthened it with steel-concrete on the end of the 70-es, the very dangerous parts were closed up. But they made a great mistake: the concrete would not be water-proofed, so the water pans the lime from the tuff-stone and creates wonderful dripstone formations.
Eger wanted utilize the cellar-system in the competition Europe's Cultural Capital 2010. Today it's a part of the National Development Plan, and we have the chance to realise to project. Tourists can get acquainted today on the surface with the town what was built after the Turks. The history of the town will be presented here from 1004 (establishment of the bishopric) till 1687 (the march out of the Turks).
The wine-cellar-system got in January 2007. into the 21 wonders of Hungary. It depends on the inhabitants of the town, and ont he visitors of the cellar-system if it gets into the first 7 by the votes on e-mail or SMS. Look for the e-mail adress or phone number on our web-site.
One can approach the cellar-system from the Széchenyi street, through the Érsek-udvar (Bishop-court), behind the Archiepiscopal Palace.
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