The Values of Pest County –

The aim of our publication is to commemorate the built and natural heritage of Pest county.

The topography of the county shows a great variety of mountains, hills and plains. The county’s highest point is Csóványos at 939 metres above sea level. Along the Danube and other small rivers significant floodplain groves have developed. Out of Hungary’s nature conservation areas the Kiskunság National Park’s 5000 acres and most of the area of the Danube-Ipoly national park are to be found in the county. The geographical centre of Hungary is also located in Pest county, it is 1 km northeast from Pusztavacs in a natural conservation area.

The county of Visegrád Castle, named in a donation letter issued by Saint István in 1009, also included the territory of today’s Pest County. It was later divided into Pest and Pilis counties in the Árpád era of medieval Hungary. After the Ottoman occupation the territories of these two counties were unified and the Solt-szék area of Fejér county was also added to them to form a new county. In 1876 it further expanded with the territory of Kiskunság resulting in a large Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county. Pest county in the present consists of the northern part of the latter area and the parts of Hont county that remained in Hungary.

The presentation of the county’s natural and built heritage would fill several books. In the present publication we only undertake to capture an atmosphere with the help of our cameras and try to return the feelings the given location gave us.

Most of the images appearing in the book were compiled from the material of the Biatorbágyi Fotóklub Egyesület (BFE) photo competition announced in 2023. For this reason, we also consider it the catalogue of the competition. The pictures were selected subjectively, keeping in mind the opinion of the jury, and where we felt the need, we also invited external photographers to make some works available to us.

The title of the publication was inspired by the motto of our photo competition.

The competition ran in two categories:

- Built heritage

- Cultural heritage, natural environment

Already in the announcement, we drew the attention of photographers to quite a few heritage elements included in the Pest County Heritage Collection. Indicating that they will be given special attention during the selection process for the catalogue and may be prioritized. The competition was open to everyone but only photos taken in the Pest county were considered.

The jury consisted of two groups. One is from the professional community of Pest county, the other is from Hungarian photographers as judged by MAFOSZ (National Association of Hungarian Photographic Artists’ Associations) and international photographers as recognized by FIAP (Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique, International Association of Photography).

The members of the jury were:

President:

István Török-Czene – Chairman of the Heritage Committee of Pest County, painter

Members:

András Ambrus – press chief of Pest County Municipality

Ambrus Vilmos – consultant of the Heritage Committee of Pest County, ethnographer

Csaba Daróczi – EFIAP/g photographer, nature photographer

Judit Déri – EFIAP/p, AMAFOSZ/g photographer

Imre Horváth – MAFOSZ president, EFIAP/s, AMAFOSZ/s photographer

Julianna Szepesi – EFIAP/s, AMAFOSZ/g photographer

We hope our publication will attract our readers’attention and many of them will visit the numerous heritage sites of Pest county.

Dunakeszi, Árpád kori templomrom Árpád-era Church Ruins

Ráckeve, Keresztelő Szent János templom Church Of Saint John The Baptist

Old Church

Isaszeg, Lovas felvonulás

Horse Parade

Tatárszentgyörgy, Mustra Parade

Érd, Minaret sziluett

Silhouette of the Minaret

Zsámbék, Józsefváros, pincék Józsefváros, Cellars

Az utolsó vonat The Last Train