Veszprém
Called 'The city of queens' because it was the privilege of the bishops of Veszprém to crown Hungarian queens, this was the first bishopric in the country and it lies on the banks of the river Séd. In the castle district, where the royal palace stood between the 11th and 13th centuries, fine urban middle class houses along the 500-m long ridge of Castle Hill evoke the history of the region. The entrance of the Heroes' Gate is also here, while nearby is the fire tower (9 Vár utca) and Veszprém's Pantheon on the wall of the bastion. The collections of the Castle Gallery and the brick Museum are housed in the Dubniczay House (29 Vár utca). The beautiful Baroque Episcopal Palace (18 Vár utca) is open to the public. However, the halls and rooms of the Episcopal Archives and Library can be visited only by prior arrangement. The city is a unique ecclesiastical treasure chest: the oldest frescoes in the country can be seen in the early-Gothic Gizella Chapel (18 Vár utca) which was originally a two-storey structure. The Queen Gizella Museum houses an exhibition detailing ecclesiastical art and history. The sanctuary and crypt of the Episcopal cathedral, a basilica minor, can also be visited. The cathedral is the oldest Episcopal Church and was erected by Gizella of Bavaria, the first Hungarian queen in 1001 (18-20 Vár utca) The 15th century relic of Gizella is a gift from the German city of Passau. Erected in the 9th and 10th centuries, the St. George Chapel (20 Vár) is likely to have been the first church in the country. The Classicist Piarist high school (10-12 Vár utca), church and monastery (12/A Vár u.) are from the 18th century. The Hungarian nation erected here a monument in honour of its first king on the 900th anniversary of his death. The statues of St. Stephen and Queen Gizella stand on the lookout bastion overlooking the valley, offering a breath-taking panorama of the St. Stephen bridge over the stream. The Kálmán Kittenberger Botanical and Game Park (17 Kittenberger K. utca) is also among the finest of zoos.
