Welcome to the Kiskun Memorial, the site once settled by Szank, a Cuman chieftain.
The Cumans (Kunokin Hungarian),an eastern nomadic people, arrived in Hungary in the mid-13th century, and this park is dedicated to their memory. During the bloody years of the westward advances of the Mongols, from which the Cumans sought refuge, they found a new home here. Over the centuries they assimilated into the wider Hungarian population, whilst maintaining certain elements of their own culture. Numerous placenames, words, objects and traditions, which are now integral parts of Hungarian heritage, constitute the Cumans’ living legacy. As their names suggest, the regions called Kiskunság (Little Cumania), where we are now, and Nagykunság (Greater Cumania), further to the east, beyond the river Tisza, are the main areas settled by the Cumans in Hungary. However, the Kiskunság, lying between Danube and Tisza rivers, is not just a landscape, but a place rich in history and culture.
Thanks to the work of historians, linguists, ethnographers and archaeologists, you should gain here some insight into the exciting and adventurous lives of the Cumans, once a powerful people on the eastern steppes. The goal of the Kiskun Memorial is to explore 800 years of history with you, to show you what the concept of “Cuman Identity” means, and to explain why it is still alive in the 21st century.