Travel, encounter and experience German heritage alongside the Danube
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Palkonya (German: Palkan Croatian: Palkinja) is situated 30km south-southeast of Pécs. It first appears in a record in 1296 and once belonged to the estate of Bóly owned by the counts of Batthyány.

At the end of the 17th century, Serbians were settled here. From 1711 to 1713, a second wave of Serbian settlement was initiated. There are no archival records on when the first German colonists arrived. A conscription from the year 1748 mentions 24 houses in which Germans lives and one house in which a Magyar family resided. This means that the Serbian families had already moved to other villages at that time.

The neo-classical round church was built by the Batthyány family in 1816 and is the formative element of the village. Its lean tower and the hemispherical dome are reminiscent of a mosque when seen from afar. This does not hold true. Before the church was built, a chapel erected by the village resident Ferdinand Jobs in 1769 stood in its place.

It is worth mentioning that the small German community had its own school building from the 1780s onwards.

The uniform appearance of the village is due to the fact that many houses remained after World War II. Unlike other villages, who tore most old houses down to replace them by new buildings, the modern detached houses are located at the outskirts of the village. In the 1990s, the local administration made great efforts to raise the awareness – especially with the population without German origins – of the cultural worth of the old architecture. Thus, most buildings were modernised without destroying the facades or the buildings’ integrity.

Palkonya is the northernmost settlement in the viticultural area of Villány-Siklós. Its wine cellar district was placed under monument protection and is located along the country lane which leads towards the brook valley. The scenic district is popular with photographers – both amateur and professional. 

Palkonya’s wine cellar district which is under monument protection.


Palkonya church, 1944.

Worth knowing

Day of the open cellar
www.palkonya.hu

Palkonya is famous for its “Day of the open cellar”, which is held yearly on Whit Monday. Its diverse cultural programm and the local wines attract tourists from near and afar.


Ördögkatlan Festival
www.ordogkatlan.hu
Since 2008, five villages, Palkonya among them, hold the Ördögkatlan (“Devil’s Cauldron”) Festival. Each year in August, tens of thousands of visitors come to the area for one joyful week to experience culture, gastronomy and handicrafts.