Ráckeve
 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 wi dow.
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. Petõfi'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 Gödöllõ 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.
|
