With a population of 170 000, Miskolc is the largest city of Northern Hungary.
Since the political transition in 1989, it seeks to reinforce its place in the country’s cultural life and tourism. From this perspective its main sights are the Cave Bath in Miskoltapolca, the Castle of Diósgyőr, the Hotel Palace in Lillafüred, the National Theatre of Miskolc and the Bükk National Park. As the leading city in the region, it is a university town, and cultural, economical center of the county and its vicinity.
- National Theatre of Miskolc
- Museum of Theatre History and Acting
- Miskolc Gallery
- Gothic Protestant Church of Avas
- People's Garden
- Avas Lookout Tower
- Heroes' Square
- Wooden Church
- Greek Orthodox Church and Museum,
- Otto Herman Museum
- Kós House
- Szinva Terrace
- Laser Point Spectacle Collection
- Castle of Diósgyőr
- Paper Museum of Diósgyőr Papermill
- Hotel Palace
- State Forest Railways of Lillafüred
- Anna Cave, St. Stephen’s Cave, Szeleta Cave
- Lake Hámori
- Lillafüred Waterfall
- Trout Farm
- Metallurgy Museum and Massa Museum
- Cave Bath
- Chapel on Cliffs
According to the archeological findings, the region has been inhabited since ancient times, this is Hungary’s oldest populated area. The 70 000 years old Paleolithic findings show that it is one of Europe’s oldest populated area as well. Its first known inhabitants were the Celtic Cotini but the arriving settlers of the Hungarian conquest have already found a population of mixed ethnicity. There already was a hill fort where the Castle of Diósgyőr stands today.
The city was named after the Miskóc clan, it is first mentioned as this by Anonymus in the Gesta Hungarorum around 1173. The Miskóc clan lost the territory in 1321, and the king gave it to the Széchy family.
It was elevated to the rank of city by King Louis the Great and made it into a market town in 1365, at the same time as renovating the Castle of Diósgyőr. The city was the property of the king until 1848. The settlement grew rapidly, at the end of the 15th century it had a population of 2000 but this progress slowed down during the Ottoman Occupation. In 1544 the Ottomans burned the city and forced it to surrender, Miskolc was taxed by the Ottomans until the liberation in 1687 although the the Castle of Diósgyőr was already liberated in 1674. The city in this period become an important center for wine growing and by the end of the 17th century 13 guilds were operating here.
During the War of Independence, Prince Rákóczi put his headquarters here in 1704.
After 1909 Miskolc, thanks to its outstanding growth, became a regional center.