Zirc Attractions

Zirc, 56km (35mi.) south of Gyor in the wide Cuha valley, which traverses the Bakony Forest, was first documented in 1139. The Cistercian abbey, which dominates the town and served important economic and cultural functions in the Middle Ages, was founded by King Béla III in 1182 and occupied by monks from Clairvaux (hence the Latin name Nova Claravallis). During the Turkish period it was completely devastated and not reinhabited until the beginning of the 18th C by German settlers.