The picturesque little town of Sümeg, dominated by the castle on the hill, is about 20km (12mi.) north of western Lake Balaton in the southern part of the Little Plain, in a basin bordered by the Keszthely Mountains and the western foothills of the Bakony Forest. It is best known for the frescos by Franz
Anton Maulbertsch in the parish church, the first and most important work of this painter in Hungary.
History
Flints on the Mogyorós-domb provide evidence of a settlement here 6000 years ago; the foundations of an early Christian basilica date from the Roman period. A castle was built in the second half of the 13th C and in 1301 Sümeg was officially documented. When Veszprém was taken by the Turks in 1552 the diocesan seat moved from there to Sümeg for 200 years creating in the small town the atmosphere of a royal residence which can still be noticed today; particularly attractive are the groups of houses in Kossuth utca, on Szent István tér and Udvarbíró tér.
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