The unexpected interestingness of Komárom- Komarno

The twin towns of Komárom and Komarno. It used to be united, located in one side of the Danube or another since Celtic times. Then it was cut into two, Komárom belonging to Hungary nowadays, Komarno to Slovakia. It has always been an important center, very well defendable, swampy and containing 2 rivers (the Vág enters the Danube here). One Roman emperor died here (I suspect Marcus Aurelius), and a Hungarian king was born (Ladislaus V in 1440, quite accidentally, his mother went into labour while travelling).
I visited two important historical locations, one fortress in the Hungarian side, one in the Slovakian. Here is what is so unexpectedly cool about them:

Fort Monostor

This is relatively new as a fortress, on the souternh side, built in the 19th century.One of its purpose was to defend the Danube. Have a look at the plans of this vaguely circular building complex, with a huge inner courtyard. They've piled soil at the top of it, which was remarked by an old lady visiting, as the first building she saw where the grass was growing on the roof ("sose láttam még házat aminek a tetején nőtt a gyöp...").

This is the part facing the Danube. This is the strongest part of the fort, walls can be as thick as 5 m. You can see the soil on to of the buildings, it served the protection of the place.

These corridors housed the army, officers separately of course. There is a bilding for the horses as well, since there we a buch of those as well... Sometimes it's used for film making.

This room displays how army life must have been like during the Monarchy. Like this, only more crowded...

The next display reminds us that from 1945-1990 the place was occupied by the Soviet army. People say it was such a forbiden location, that when the supply was brought by train directly to the fort, the Hungarian train driver had to hop off, a Soviet hopped on, drove the train in, and the Hungarian one had to wait outside while they dealt with the supplies and gave back the train.

Observe the collection of the Museum of Bread. It is filled with machines used to make bread-like object. The building it is housed was originally the bakery of the fort, but the bread was legendarily bad...

The Old Fortress and New Fortress of Komarno

It was part of a fort system dreamt up during times of the Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The old fortress is the oldest one in the area, there was some sort of defense there from the 10th century. It's been reshaped a few times, withstood the tatar invasion in the 13th century, King Matthias built a reneissance palace in the 15th century and often was in residence, Ferdinand I built the first proper fortifications that largely remained unchanged. If you look at the picture, the old part is the pointy bit at the meeting point of the Danube and Vág, that looks like a turtle. During the Turkish troubles they've decided too strengthen it, thus building the new part of the fort, the outer half circle. In the 18th century its condition deteriorated, so they've abandoned it till it was needed again for the Napoleonic wars. This fort was never taken by the enemy, "nec arte nec marte", as it is written on the walls, neither with force, nor with tricks.

It was used by the Soviet Red Army, kept very much a secret, then purchased by the city of Komarno in 2003, and have ambitios plans to renovate, using EU funds for example, make a really good museum put of it, and rent some parts for offices. At the moment it can be visited, but only with a guide.

This is a very new statue of Béni Egressy, in front of the new fortress. He used to serve in the town, and is a famous musician, composer.

This is the Leopold Gate.The main gate to the fortress. The one the huge metal key opens :)

This is the part where the soldiers lived. Many many rooms, only filled with the bare walls nowadays... Appearently the Red Army took anything they could, even the toilet seats (they were mostly destroyed though...). According to the story, the Country handed in the receit for the objects they took. Then then handed in the receit to the city for  "services rendered in the protection of the city"...

This is the Ferdinand Gate, gate to the old part of the fortress.

That is the inner court of the old fortress. There used to be a whole self-sufficient town here with church, restaurant, market etc. It has been cleaned (by the Soviet army if I remember well...) and thrown into the Danube, so there is no trace of it left, not a stone, nothing.

Look at the red walls. Courtesy of the Soviet Red Army. You might want to avoid touching it though, they appearently used the red mud that made headlines a few years back flooding some villages, damaging property and the health of people. It's slightly toxic you know... They've painted red every wall they could, and once for a  visit from Moscow, even the grass!

There is a conscious effort to wash it off,  part the wall is in fact scrubbed off by sand, it cost about 10000 euros. They would need another million to do the whole thing. The following things are inside:

The kazamatas. The Soviet army used to dump their rubbish in it, then wall off the section they've filled. One explanation I've heard for it is that they did not want observers to find out how many of them are here... The other is general lazyness. After they've left, more than 900 tons of rubbish, furniture, used oil, general waste stuff was fould here.

This is at the very end of the old fortress, where they used to execute soldiers who deserted or were guilty of something. The wall has been renovated, but not too long ago, people still remember seeing the bullet holes.

Soviet additions, these tubs, to keep pickled cucumbers and cabbage...

 

This is the first public swimming pool of the town, from the 1950s. Appearently  many kids in town learnt to swim here. A lady who worked here as an accountant said, it was difficult to get in, she could only use the place with military escort... Later it was used to train diver soldiers, and at one time to store pickled cabbage...the smell of the thing, you can only imagine!

 It's in the middle of the fortress and it used to be a park, but then things escalated...

This is at the center of the two fortresses and used to be the HQ. On the 1st floor was the office of György Klapka, the famous general of the 1848-49 revolution. During the Soviet army days it was used to house the biggest depo in Eastern Europe. All sorty of gunpowder and bullet materials were secretly store on the premises.

And here is a pictures of the town on the Slovakian side. Historic buildings etc. Next time I'll check those out as well.