Ajka

Ajka
Aerial view
Coat of arms
Ajka Location of Ajka
Coordinates: 47°06′02″N 17°33′08″E / 47.10062°N 17.55223°E / 47.10062; 17.55223Coordinates: 47°06′02″N 17°33′08″E / 47.10062°N 17.55223°E / 47.10062; 17.55223
Country	Hungary
County	Veszprém
Area
• Total	95.05 km2 (36.70 sq mi)
Population (2004)
• Total	31,334
• Density	329.65/km2 (853.8/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	8400
Area code(s)	88

Ajka (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɒjkɒ]) is a city in Hungary with about 35,000 inhabitants. It is situated in the hills of Bakony.

History

Around 1000 BCE the area was inhabited by Celts. By the 2nd century CE the territory was conquered by the Romans. The Hungarians occupied the area in the early 10th century.

The village Ajka was named after the Ajka clan, which, in turn, got its name after its ancestor, a knight named Heiko who was a member of the retinue of Gisela, Princess of Bavaria, wife of King St. Stephen in the early 11th century. The village itself was first mentioned in 1214 when it was already about a hundred years old.

The village developed slowly during the next few centuries. Real prosperity came only in the second half of the 19th century when coal resources were found nearby. In the 1930s vast bauxite resources were found too. In 1937 the world's first krypton factory was built near Ajka.

During the industrialization wave of the Socialist Communist era Ajka was a natural choice to build a new industrial town. The new town – like several other industrial cities and towns – came into existence with the unification of several villages. Today's Ajka was created on January 1, 1960 by the unification of four villages (Ajka, Bódé, Tósok and Tósokberénd). In the following decades four additional villages (Csékút, Bakonygyepes, Padragkút and Ajkarendek) were annexed to the town. At the time of the unification Ajka had 15.375 residents. Lot of workers came to Ajka to find a new job and home there. Most of the population is working class.

The political changes of 1989/90 affected the industry of the area, but Ajka quickly recovered and is now a prospering town.

Main sights

• Roman Catholic Church of Tósokberénd (late baroque, 1807–1808)
• Roman Catholic Church of Ajka (late baroque, 1788)
• Reformed Church of Ajka (late baroque, 1783)
• Evangelical Church of Ajka (late baroque, 1786–89)
• House of the Steward (manor house, 18-19th centuries)
• Museum of Mining (industrial heritage site)
• Glass Factory

Environmental problems

The country is still renovating and replacing its aging infrastructure. Most renovation was completed by the Millennium^{[citation needed]}, but some still need improvement or removal.

Hungary declared a state of emergency on October the 5th, 2010, after a flood of toxic sludge escaped from an aging alumina factory in Ajka killing 10 people, injuring 120 and flooding some 400 homes as it hit the nearby towns Kolontár and Devecser near the Ajkai Timföldgyár plant. The discharge was estimated at 6-700,000 cubic meters, of red and toxic industrial sludge that affected some 40 square kilometers.^[1][2]

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Ajka is twinned to these towns:

• Cristuru Secuiesc, Romania
• Rovaniemi, Finland
• Unna, Germany^[3]
• Weiz, Austria

External links

• Official site (Hungarian)
• Aerialphotgraphs of Ajka
• Extinct volcano locality

References

Notes