The most ancient Hungarian house, a treasure of Hungarian architecture, the Benedictine Abbey has stood for a thousand years on St. Martin Hill, called in the Middle Ages the Holy Mount of Pannonia, at only about twenty kilometres from Gyõr. UNESCO declared the abbey a World Heritage site worthy of preservation.

The 13th-century basilica is now the scene of organ concerts. Its Gothic sanctuary with a star-studded ceiling, its chapels and its crypt (consecrated in 1001, with the only fully preserved medieval cloister in Hungary) and the wonderful Renaissance wood carvings of its red-marble porta speciosa are all of special interest. The library, one of the oldest in the world, holds 360,000 volumes. Among its treasures is the charter of Tihany Abbey, dated 1055 and containing the first written record of the Hungarian language. The library's scientific and art collections represent a priceless value. Temporary exhibitions are staged at the Gallery of the Pannonhalma Abbey. A rich numismatic collection includes a number of Roman coins. The teaching order of Benedictines continues to pass on knowledge for the monastery still operates a boarding grammar school. The protected arboretum of the abbey opposite the entrance to the monastery contains a park called the Abbey Park and an expanse of parkland. The Monument of the Millennium was erected 100 years ago, celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the Magyar conquest.

It recalls a number of national diets, peace treaties, a successfully beaten attack of the Tartars, domestic struggles of the Árpád dynasty, Turkish invasion, great fires and restorations. This fortress of Hungarian Benedictines, this illustrated "picture book” of European art history from Romanesque to Classicism was undoubtedly worthy of being registered as World Heritage site by UNESCO.

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 and Veszprém's Pantheon on the wall of the bastion. The city is a unique ecclesiastical treasure chest: the oldest frescoes in the country can be seen in the early-Gothic Gizella Chapel which was originally a two-storey structure. The Queen Gizella Museum houses an exhibition detailing ecclesiastical art and history. The cathedral is the oldest Episcopal Church and was erected by Gizella of Bavaria, the first Hungarian queen in 1001. 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 is likely to have been the first church in the country. The Classicist Piarist high school, church and monastery 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 is also among the finest of zoos.