HODMEZOVASARHELY

town, Csongrd megye (county), southeastern Hungary. Located in the broad, flat plain of the canalized Maros-Krs (rivers) about 4 miles (6 km) east of the Tisza River, it was a flourishing market town during the 14th and 15th centuries but was twice totally destroyed by the Ottoman Turks. Rebuilt after 1700, the town was long a centre of activism in social and agrarian reform. Architectural monuments include the town hall, the Calvinist Old Church (1723) and the Calvinist New Church (179199), and a Baroque Greek Orthodox church dating from the 18th century. The town's traditional industries are based on the processing of produce from the surrounding plain, including grain and fibre (especially flax) processing, dairying, meat processing, and the production of leather footwear; pottery and ceramic works preserve a regional tradition. Modern industries, many established after 1949, include the manufacture of bricks, ferro-concrete, and textiles and light engineering. The Jnos Tornyai museum, named after a 19th-century local painter, preserves collections of archaeological, historical, and folk-art materials. Pop. (1987 est.) 54,000.