Esztergom

Esztergom (German Gran), city in northern Hungary, in Komárom-Esztergom County, located on the Danube River, near Budapest. The principal products of the city are heavy machinery, bricks, ironware, cloth, and wine. Agriculture is the chief occupation in the surrounding region. Esztergom was once the capital of Hungary, and is the site of the first Christian church in the country. It is also the birthplace of Stephen I, king of Hungary, who was crowned in the city in 1000 or 1001. Esztergom had long been a commercial and cultural center when it was destroyed by the Mongols in 1241. Later in the 13th century, the town was rebuilt and fortified. Esztergom was occupied twice in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Ottomans. The town is the seat of the Roman Catholic primate of Hungary and contains the country's largest cathedral (begun in the 1820s), with a dome fashioned after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Within the cathedral is a cross presented to Stephen I by Pope Sylvester II. Among the other ecclesiastical buildings in Esztergom is the former palace of the primate, now the Christian Museum, built in the Renaissance architectural style. Esztergom's medicinal hot springs have made it a popular resort town. Population (1994 estimate) 32,500.