Situated on the west bank of Lake Balaton the holiday center of Keszthely, with its population of 22,500, is the largest town on the lake, rich in tradition and offering a sandy beach, hotels and ample leisure facilities. György Festetics built Europe's first agricultural college here (now the University of Agriculture),
which helped to confirm Keszthely's importance as a cultural and educational center. Keszthely was the birthplace of Károly Goldmark, the composer of the opera "The Queen of Sheba".
History
Neolithic man settled in this region, to be followed later by Celts, Romans, Lombards, Avars and Magyars. Benefiting from its position at the intersection of important trade routes, Kesthely became a thriving market town in the Middle Ages and a provincial town from 1421. It found itself unable to avoid being taken by the Turks and later by Habsburg troops, after lending its support to the Rákóczi uprising. After 1739 Kesthely came into the ownership of the Festetics family, who possessed large estates in the surrounding countryside and made the town the center of their cultural activities. The great landowner György Count Festetics (1755-1819), a patron of the arts and sciences, founded the Helikon literary circle and the Helikon Festivals, and laid the foundation-stone of the Helikon Library. His most important contribution to the country's cultural development, however, was the founding of the Georgikon (1797), the first agricultural college in Europe (now the University of Agriculture). Since the mid-19th C, Kesthely has become a fully-fledged holiday resort.
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