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The Subotica region occupies a heartland position in the great plain and is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, Alps and the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula. In fact, the city lies slightly to the north from the Bela Crkva – Stara Pazova – Sremska Mitrovica line designating 45° of the North Temperate Zone. There are traffic – related factors in the background of Subotica' s beneficial position, especially in view of the fact that the city is located on the presently most important spatial and strategic direction: Corridor X.
The region's climate is typical for the great plain, with very hot summers and severe winters and small annual guantity of sediments. Northerly cold and westerly wet winds are the most frequent of the various winds that blow in the region, thus the vegetation is typical of a steppe, but it was replaced, in the course of times, with cultivated crops.
HISTORY
The name «Subotica» appears i.e. in 1391, in written sources as «Zabadka». There are scarce relevant data about the city from that period, except for the one that the town was from 1526 under the jurisdiction of the Szeged sandzak. The progress of Subotica is landmarked by the following dates: 1749, when it was awarded the status of a trading town under the name St. Mary, 1779, when the town was declared a free royal town under the name Mariatheresiapolis and 1869, when the Szeged – Subotica railroad was built. In the period after this latter date, Subotica experienced a renaissance in cultural and economic progress. The town started to build connection with the rest of Europe thus the railroad brought along new people: salesmen, bankers and others who sublimated the new cultural needs of the times.
CITY HALL
The silhouettes of the City Hall dominate the centre of the city. The majestic building, built in Hungarian style art nouveau ( 1908 – 1910 ), was erected on the place of the original baroque style town hall. Presently, this building accommodates the municipal administration, the museum, historical archives but also boutiques and banks in its basement.
THEATRE
Long also, in 1854, one of the first theatres on the territory of the Hungarian Monarchy was built in Subotica. It is the work of János Scultety, the first educated architect from Subotica, and the six Corinthian columns on the main facade and its calm, classicists lines make it easily recoqnisable.
CHURCHES
Prior to the construction of the theatre building, there were three sacral buildings in the town as markings of the urban framework. The Franciscan Church, built on the remains of the ancient castrum, got its recent image in 1901 and represents a monumental building in the style of neo – romanticism. Heading westward, we encounter the Roman Catholic Cathedral built in 1779. This baroque church was built according to the type designs from Kalocsa, the centre og Bishopric at the time. Eastwards from the Franciscan Church is the St. Ascension of the Lord Orthodox Church built in 1730, which, despite the number of adaptations and changes, kept its traditional baroque character.
NEO-BAROQUE
The architect, who designed imposing neo-baroque buildings at the beginning of the 20th century, was Ferenc Raichle, and among these buildings are the City Library, easily recognisable by the two Atlas supporting the baroque balcony, and the Grammar School for which prominence is given by soft baroque forms and an emphasised cupola.
ART NOUVEAU
The beginning of the 20th century, when the buildings in art nouveau style were built, is marked by intensive construction in Subotica. Two Budapest born architects, Marcell Komor and Desző Jakab left a permanent impression on the architecture of the city. Among the buildings embellishing the city, the Synagogue, built in 1901 in surely one, which draws the attention. The architectural solution of the building is modern and it is decorated by multicoloured stained glass windows representing stylised petals of carnation, rose, lily and peacock feather. Under no. 4 on the Promenade there is another picturesquely decorated building designed also by the two architects. In the protected city center, some hundred feet from the Town Hall, there is one of the most beautiful art nouveau style buildings, the Raichle Mansion, a unique combination of architecture, costly materials and jovial forms of crafts. Today it hosts an art gallery. The image of Subtonic is made full by two magnificent fountains, the blue on and the green one, made from Zsolnay tiles..
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