Heroes of Eger

1552 was an important date in the history of the town.

It was the year that a handful of Eger warriors won over a huge Turkish army. Who were our heroes? Gergely Bornemissza, who contributed to the success also with his brave deeds and inventions, the women of Eger, who ran onto the walls with stones, hot water and hot tar to pour on the Turks, the brave and uncompromising captain István Dobó. Numerous unknown heroes, border-castle warriors, simple peasants, craftsmen, predecessors of present citizens thanks to whom Eger became symbol of braveness and patriotism. Here live now the descenders of those heroes who preserved the treasures of the town having offered home to several nationalities, the Baroque buildings, the cellars, the castle, the Serbian church, the Turkish bath, the northernmost minaret of Europe, the works of Italian stone-carvers and works of Dutch painters and a feeling forging people living here together to be a citizen of Eger. The idea of the defenders of the fortress which became immortal in the novel of Géza Gárdonyi: Stars of Eger is valid even today: „The strength of the walls is not in the stones but in the spirit of the defenders."

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