Tatabánya

Tatabánya is a City of County Rank with 72.000 inhabitants and the capital of Komárom-Esztergom County. It is located next to the M1 motorway and the Budapest-Vienna international railway line, therefore it is a railway and road junction. It has been inhabited since the Stone Age. In the Szelim cave above the Újváros district on the Kő-hegy (Stone Mountain) archeologists have found signs of human life from the second half of the Ice Age. According to the legend the Hungarian settlers defeated the Moravian army on the plain of Bánhida.
The story of the area in the following centuries was driven by the events of Hungarian history. In the time of Maria Theresa (mid 1700’s), new life and colour was brought by the Germans populated in Alsógalla and Felsőgalla and Slovaks settling in Bánhida. The real boom of the area commenced in the late 19th century driven by brown coal mining and the industrialization that followed. The three villages and Tatabánya mining colony united in 1947, elevating to town status and developed into a big industrial town in the following decades.
The local government handled the social and economic difficulties arising from the 1989 transition by conscious town policy, planned economic development and the active contribution of resident citizens. As a result the economy of the city revived: several new factories were built and more than 6.000 new workplaces were created. Today Tatabánya is considered to be one of the most dynamically developing cities of the country.