Szekésfehérvár

Szekésfehérvár 

a city in Hungary, administrative center of the megye (county) of Fejér. Population, 72,500 (1970). An important transportation junction, Székesfehérvár is situated on a plain east of the Bakony Mountains. It is a major center for machine-building; enterprises include the Videoton Radio and Television Plant, the Ikarus Bus Plant, and a machine-tool plant. It also has a plant for the production of rolled aluminum. Other industries include the cotton, clothing, and food industries.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941–45), fierce battles were fought in March 1945 to the east and south of Székesfehérvár. Soviet troops from the Third Ukrainian Front repelled a counterblow by the fascist German Sixth Panzer SS Army and Sixth Army during the Balaton defensive operation of Mar. 6–15, 1945. Assuming the offensive, they liberated the city on March 23.

The center of Székesfehérvár has the winding streets of a medieval city. Architectural monuments include ruins of a Romanesque royal basilica (early 11th century), the Gothic St. Anne’s Chapel (c. 1480), and several baroque structures, including a Jesuit church (1745–51, architect M. Grábner), with frescoes executed between 1748 and 1752 by C. F. Sambach, and a Carmelite church (1731–69), with frescoes executed in 1767 by F. A. Maulbertsch. The city has a baroque cathedral (1758–68) that incorporates remains of a previous Gothic structure; it features frescoes executed in 1768 by J. Cymbal. Examples of classicism include the Episcopal Palace (1800–01) and the County Council House (1807–12, architects J. Tégl and M. Pollack). Székesfehérvár has an equestrian statue of a hussar by P. Patzay (bronze, 1939).