{"id":11286,"date":"2023-05-30T15:32:58","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T13:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/?post_type=portfolio&#038;p=11286"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:57:09","slug":"hortobagy-national-park-has-its-50th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/news\/hortobagy-national-park-has-its-50th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Hortob\u00e1gy National Park has it&#8217;s 50th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hortob\u00e1gy is the largest and first established national park in eastern Hungary, an iconic representative of the \u201cplain life\u201d. It covers an area of about 800 km<sup>2<\/sup> with a vast area of plains and wetlands. Hence, Hortob\u00e1gy became the country\u2019s largest contiguous conservation area.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Grasslands and sustainability<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hortob\u00e1gy became part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites on November 30, 1999. The park gives home to a wide variety of flora and fauna because it had many flooded areas with wetlands until the 19<sup>th<\/sup> century. Then, water regulation systems were established to control over flooding of the Tisza River and former wetlands had converted into grasslands. In the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century, sustainable land use practices were introduced to preserve the diversity of species, including the grey cattle, racka sheep and buffalo. These special species are very rare in the country so don\u2019t miss to see them if you visit the national park. Today, Hortob\u00e1gy National Park has become the largest continuous grassland in Europe.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11294 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock-153400610.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock-153400610.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock-153400610-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock-153400610-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock-153400610-391x260.jpg 391w, https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock-153400610-705x472.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Plain life and the Nine-Holed Bridge<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Another \u201cmust-see\u201d attraction of the park is the Nine-Holed Bridge which is one of the most iconic buildings of the Hortob\u00e1gy region and serves as an entry point of the National Park. According to local stories, the nine holes of the bridge is connected to one of the most famous Hungarian rogues (\u201cBety\u00e1r\u201d), called S\u00e1ndor R\u00f3zsa, who escaped from prison. During his runaway, he was helped by 9 women, who laid down between the two banks of the river so he could cross the river and get escaped. If you visit the bridge, don\u2019t forget to look around in the Shepherd Museum where you can try the shepherd\u2019s traditional food, the famous slambuc.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11300 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock_508080283.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock_508080283.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock_508080283-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock_508080283-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/shutterstock_508080283-705x396.jpg 705w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Visiting Hortob\u00e1gy Bird Hospital<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you have the time to visit the park, don\u2019t miss the Hortob\u00e1gy Bird Hospital which is one of the oldest hospitals in Hungary established especially for injured and protected wild birds. Around the hospital, you can visit the bird park, where you can observe permanently injured birds such as buzzards, owls, and eagles. Don\u2019t forget to check out the famous Hungarian crane too, which can be found on the coat of arms of Hortob\u00e1gy.<\/p>\n<p>This year Hortob\u00e1gy celebrates its 50th anniversary with various events and activities, including exhibitions, concerts, and guided tours of the park. If you want to escape from the city and would like to discover Hungary\u2019s natural wonders, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hnp.hu\/en\/szervezeti-egyseg\/tourism\/1642\/hnpd-50\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website of the National Park<\/a> and follow their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HortobagyiNemzetiParkIgazgatosag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a> for up-to-date information.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><u>Links and sources:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hnp.hu\/en\/szervezeti-egyseg\/tourism\/1642\/hnpd-50\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HNP.hu\u00a0<\/a>;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hortobagyinfo.hu\/en\/bird-hospital-and-bird-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hortobagyinfo.hu ;\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/ttps\/\/dailynewshungary.com\/5-interesting-things-hortobagy-national-park\/\">dailynewshungary.com<\/a>\u00a0;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/en\/list\/474\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">whc.unesco.org<\/a>\u00a0;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dehir.hu\/hajdu-bihar\/ismerik-a-hortobagyi-kilenclyuku-hid-legendajat-videoval\/2018\/10\/15\/#:~:text=A%20legenda%20szerint%20R%C3%B3zsa%20S%C3%A1ndor,egyik%20oldal%C3%A1r%C3%B3l%2C%20a%20m%C3%A1sikra%20menek%C3%BClni.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dehir.hu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you want to get away from the city and discover Hungary\u2019s natural wonders, don\u2019t miss Hortob\u00e1gy National Park that celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023 and waiting for you with various events! Read more about the national park below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[23],"class_list":["post-11286","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-actual"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/11286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11286"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/11286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17192,"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/11286\/revisions\/17192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11286"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diasporascholarship.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=11286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}