'Tokaj' is a historical
town in
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern
Hungary, 54 kilometers from county capital
Miskolc. It is the centre of the famous
Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district which got its name after the town.
History
The wine-growing area was first mentioned by the name Tokaj in
1067. The town itself was first mentioned in documents in
1353. Its first castle was a
motte, which was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Hungary. By the
14th century the town already had a stone castle, belonging to the
Diósgyőr estate.
After
1450 Tokaj was the property of the Hunyadi family, so after
Matthias Hunyadi became king, the town became royal estate. In
1705 Francis II Rákóczi ordered the castle to be destroyed.
After the
Ausgleich (
1867) the town prospered, but when the world wars came, it suffered a lot, lost its importance and its town status. Even its role in wine trade was taken over by
Sátoraljaújhely.
Tokaj was granted town status again in
1986 and it started to prosper again. Now the town is a popular tourist attraction.
Sister cities
★
Binyamina,
Israel
★
Cormons,
Italy
★
Dej (in Hungarian: Dés),
Romania
★
Oestrich-Winkel,
Germany
★
Rust,
Austria
External links
★
Official site