Pécsvárad

The Benedictine Abbey and Monastery in Pécsvárad was founded in 1000. Bishop Astrik, the first abbot of Pécsvárad, brought home the Crown of King St. Stephen, a gift from the Pope in Rome. He assisted the King with establishing the church and the state in 11thcentury Hungary. The Fortress of Pécsvárad, built in the 13th century upon the monastery, is one of the most important medieval monuments of Hungary. Its most intact parts are the old tower and the 15-m unearthed nave and frescoed sanctuary of the Benedictine abbey church. The Fortress Museum, housing an exhibition that displays the archaeological memorabilia of the fortress and the abbey, is located in the 18th-century castle.

Siklós

Situated in the country's most westerly town, Siklós Castle is one of Hungary's medieval fortresses that has survived intact. Turkish cannons left its walls unharmed; nor did Emperor Leopold I blow it up, contrary to the way he treated the other medieval outposts of Hungary. It has valuable monuments from each era of its history dating back to 1294, including Romanesque windows, the most ornate Gothic balcony in Hungary, a 14th-15th-century castle chapel, a Renaissance gated bulwark with a drawbridge and a Baroque castle palace, all attesting to a high level of architectural sophistication in medieval Hungary. In the parish church restorers discovered some exquisite examples of 15th-century Gothic fresco paintings.
The town was granted the Europa Nostra Award in recognition of the quality of the restoration of the pentagonal building of the djami of Makolcs Bey.

Szigetvár

Szigetvár has been a symbol of self-sacrificing patriotism since the Turkish invasion of 1566. Following a 22-day siege of the fortress and having defended the fort against the Turks, 24 times superior in number, the soldiers, led by Captain Miklós Zrínyi, broke out of the fortress, sacrificing their lives in close combat. A lion statue, a memorial of their heroism, stands on the original battlefield, called the Park of Turkish-Hungarian Friendship, where 400 years after the battle the effigies of Miklós Zrínyi and Suleiman II are placed next to each other.

Architectural monuments of the Ottoman rule of the town include Ali Pasha's djami, built in 1589, today a Baroque Roman Catholic parish church and a dwelling house, the only one of its kind in Hungary. The latter, called the Turkish House, holds an exhibition showing the Ottoman era. The visible parts of the fortress, the mosque and a minaret, were also built by the Turks. Interestingly, the old turbe (tomb) built in Turbék-Puszta is currently a Baroque Roman Catholic church, and a holy pilgrimage place for Muslim Turks.