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Cathedral Precincts

In the northwest corner of the once fortified Old Town of Pecs lie the cathedral precincts with a number of important buildings and historical monuments. Below the cathedral square and in the courtyards of the houses at Apáca utca (formerly Geisler Eta utca) 8 and 14 will be found some graves dating from the 3rd and 4th C AD and numbering among the most important surviving examples of Early Christian culture in Hungary.

Dom tér (Cathedral Square) was laid out in the 19th C. It climbs up to the Cathedral in several steps and its beautiful trees, path-ways and park benches make it a popular rendezvous with both locals and tourists. On the highest point of the square towers the massive Neo-Romanesque Cathedral.

Mosque of Yakovali Hassan Pasha

It is just a short walk to the southwestern corner of the town center and to this Mosque, with its twelve-sided 23m (75ft) high minaret. Thanks to the excellent way in which it has been preserved it ranks among the major buildings of the Turkish period. The edifice is rectangular in plan with a massive square prayer-hall surmounted by a flat roof with an octagonal drum-dome. The outer walls are pierced by narrow pointed windows which provide some relief to the otherwise plain natural stone exterior. Apart from the restrained ornamentation and stalactite decoration the interior, too, is quite plain. The wall facing Mecca contains the obligatory mihrab, or prayer-niche. The little museum in the mosque is very informative.

Szenchenyi ter

The medieval market place, the irregular shape and sloping situation of which make it particularly interesting and attractive, is today the bustling center of Pécs. It is named after the Hungarian statesman and reforming politician István Széchenyi (1791-1860).

Idris Baba Turban stone

In the garden of a children's hospital in the west of Pécs stands another Turkisk edifice, a small Mohammedan turban-stone chapel with an ogival doorway (Idrisz Baba türbéje), dating from 1591. It is in memory of Idris Baba ("Baba", roughly translated, means "father", and is an honorary title bestowed on older men) who is venerated as a saint because of his wisdom.

Synagogue

In 1869 the Jewish community built their synagogue in the southern part of the town center. It holds up to 1000 people, and is open to visitors except when services are being conducted.

March - September

July - August -> 28(°C) - Summer
January - February -> 0(°C) - Spring

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