Lendava

Description:

Lendava (formerly Dolnja Lendava; Hungarian: Lendva, formerly Alsólendva; German: Lindau, formerly Unter-Limbach, Prekmurian Dolenja Lendava) is a town and a municipality in Slovenia in the region of Prekmurje. It is close to the border crossing with Hungary at Dolga vas-Rédics, and Hungarian is one of the official languages of the municipality, along with Slovene. Lendava was a district (Hungarian: járás) of Zala in the Kingdom of Hungary until 1918. It was annexed to Hungary again from 1941 to 1945.

The town is the centre of the Hungarian minority in Slovenia. It is also known for the monumental theater and Hungarian Community Centre, designed by the architect Imre Makovecz. It has a football team, NK Nafta Lendava, which plays in Slovenian PrvaLiga.

The Parish Church in the settlement is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria and belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Murska Sobota. There is also an Evangelical church in the town. It was built in 1931. Lendava Castle is a castle on a hill above the town centre and contains a museum an gallery

Lendava has a rich cultural and economic tradition. The oldest written source discovered, mentioning Lendava, is a deed of donation dating back to 1192. The Lendava castle has been the town’s historical, aesthetic and spiritual dominating feature for many centuries. The first fortress was built by the Banffy family in the 12th century, while the castle acquired its present form in the second half of the 18th century, when the owners were the Esterházys. Today, the castle is a home to Galerija Muzej (the Gallery Museum), where many items are preserved and where many exhibitions present the key historical periods and personalities of this area. There is the Oloris archaeological exhibition; the commemorative room of György Zala; the exhibition of military objects, named Grad na preži – The Castle on the Lookout; ethnographic objects. In 1480, King Matthias Corvinus (better known as King Matthias – the king in the mountain) visited the castle, which can be deduced from his documents sent from the Lendava castle to Bratislava. In 1573 there were two books printed in the Lendava printing studio, owned by Rudolf Hoffhalter. In 1574 a book with the Protestant contents was printed.


The Lendava Castle

At the end of the 16th century, the town of Lendava was threatened by the Turks. However, the town and its castle were never conquered. In memory of their exodus, the chapel of the Holy Trinity was built on the top of the hill in 1728 by the Gludovácz family. It is a belvedere from where there is a beautiful view of the Lendava town and the entire Dolinska region.  The most interesting point of this chapel is a skeleton supposedly belonging to a warrior who fought against the Turks, Mihael Hadik.