Sárospatak lies on the southern edge of the Zemplin range of hills, in the center of the historic area of Tokaj-Hegyalja. The main sight of this small town is the famous Renaissance castle above the Bodrog river, which has played an important part in Hungarian history. Since the founding of the Reformed
College in the 16th C Calvinist teaching has flourished.
History
The area around Sárospatak was already populated at the time of the Magyar acquisition. Up until the end of the 14th C the town belonged to the crown, then it was the property of _the Pálóczi family and from 1526 Prince Péter Perényi. During the Thirties and Forties of the 16th C he extended the castle, built a town wall and founded a school which was to become the Re-formed College.
In 1616 the Rákóczi, a Transylvanian royal house, inherited Sáros-patak as the dowry of Susanna Lórántffy, and be- came masters of the castle and town. The castle, which was extended in Renaissance style, became their favorite residence.
In the 17th and 18th C resistance against the rule of the Habsburgs was continually flaring up in Sárospatak. Among those who met in the castle were supporters of the Wesselényi conspiracy. Ferenc II Rákóczi, the instigator of the Hungarian struggle for independence (known as the Kuruzzen uprising), made the town his headquarters and in 1708 made the castle into the state parliament. He fled abroad from here in 1710, a year before the end of the uprising.
Sárospatak went to the Habsburgs who installed various noble families as lords of the castle.
The town of Sárospatak is a popular tourist destination and an important cultural centre.
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