Along the Körös rivers on the path of the Wenckheims

Itinerary

• From the railway station, head towards the overpass along Vasút Street, then turn left reaching Csabai Road (main road 47) and follow the bicycle path towards the town center.
• From the roundabout, exit towards the Main Road, then turn right at the second option (Szent István Street). After passing Kálmán Bath, turn left and proceed along Báthory Street towards Vésztő Road; turn right at the end of the street.
• After crossing the Kettős-Körös bridge, turn right onto the embankment.
• From the embankment, after the first pumping station, turn left; the dirt road leads out to the road towards Vésztő.
• In Bélmegyer, to reach the Fáspuszta detour, turn left from the main road (Berényi Street) onto Bem Street.
• After leaving Bélmegyer, at the next intersection, turn left (towards Vésztő).
• In Vésztő, the route runs along the town’s main street (Békési Road, then Kossuth Lajos Street).
• In the center, turn left towards Szeghalom (Wesselényi Street).
• After 3 km, take a detour to the Vésztő-Mágor Historical Site.
• At the outskirts of Szeghalom, turn left to reach main road 47, then follow the bicycle path along the road. After the railway crossing, turn left at the first option (Bartók Béla Street); from the end of the street, follow the dirt road beside the sewage treatment plant to the embankment (about 200 meters). Turn right on the embankment and do not leave it until reaching Körösladány.
• Upon reaching Körösladány, leave the embankment at the first opportunity and ride along Vásártér Street to the main road (Simai Road), then turn left here (if you want to visit the Wenckheim Mausoleum, cross the main road and continue straight on Hunyadi Street).
• Through Körösladány, a bicycle path runs along main road 47, ending after the Sebes-Körös bridge at the border of Újladány. Cross the main road here and continue the ride along the river embankment.
• Upon reaching Köröstarcsa, turn right, cross the Kettős-Körös bridge, and then follow the bicycle path along main road 47 back to Mezőberény.

Detailed description of the route

Starting from Mezőberény, you immediately encounter a castle in the town center (Wenckheim-Fejérváry Castle). The heritage of the Wenckheim family can be encountered throughout Békés County, and this route is no exception. The Wenckheim family established themselves in the county in the first half of the 18th century through marriage: Count József Ágost Wenckheim I married a Harruckern daughter at a time when virtually the entire county was under this family’s ownership. (The story of the originally Austrian János György Harruckern’s settlement is also interesting: as recognition for his service to the king, he requested land with two options specified in the petition. One was the thermal mill in Buda, the other included Békés, Csaba, Gerla, Gyarmat, Gyula, Körös-Ladány, Öcsöd, Szeghalom, Vésztő, and the estates of these settlements). The Mezőberény castle currently houses the Orlai Petrics Soma Cultural Center Museum Collection, a place exhibiting the memories of traditional peasant culture.

We depart from Mezőberény toward Vésztő, the first possible stop being the embankment of the Kettős-Körös, where a memorial column testifies to that Sándor Petőfi crossed the river using the ferry here on his way to Bem’s army. After crossing the bridge, we turn right on the embankment, following its bends to an old pumping station. The impressive structure is the Hosszúfok pumping station, established in the late 19th century to protect the right bank of the Körös from inland water. Featuring the era’s most advanced technology, the pump was steam engine-driven, and together with the boiler, it was declared protected in 2012 and is theoretically still operational. After the inauguration of the neighboring new pumping station, the Bodoki Károly Water Management Museum opened its doors in the historic building housing the old machinery in 1974.

Game country, wooded plain

We reach Bélmegyer again on an asphalt road. As the local history info board in the village center states, centuries ago this was "game country"—likely still true today, as a small group of roe deer was spotted peacefully wandering on the road leading to Fáspuszta. There are two reasons to visit the mentioned prairie: one is a Wenckheim castle, the other the eponymous Fáspuszta. The former was built according to the plans of Miklós Ybl in a romantic-eclectic style, renovated around 2010, but it is privately owned and not open to visitors; one can only glance at the building partly hidden behind trees from the fence, accompanied by the wary gazes of two quite out-of-place emus.

Fáspuszta is part of the Körös-Maros National Park, classified as a partly strictly protected area. The region was forested even during the Hungarian conquest, and today it is one of the last intact alkali oak forests of Hungary. According to the national park’s website, "Fáspuszta, with lonely, centuries-old pedunculate oaks and old wild pear trees standing on the alkali pasture, evokes the sight of the ancient forest-steppe." There used to be a narrow-gauge railway here, a branch of the Alföld First Agricultural Railway (AEGV). During its heyday between 1894 and 1971, its 152-kilometer-long network stretched from Orosháza to Szabadkígyós, Békéscsaba, Békés, and Vésztő. The former station building can still be seen in Bélmegyer today.

After passing through Vésztő, turn left toward Szeghalom, whose main attraction is the nearby Vésztő-Mágor Historical Site. In the former floodplain of the Sebes-Körös, in a nature reserve, there are two mounds standing side by side, 9-10 meters high, whose archaeological excavation revealed numerous Neolithic, Copper Age, Bronze Age, and Árpád-era finds, which are exhibited in the Wenckheim wine cellar built between 1810 and 1812. This was once the site of the Árpád-era monastery of the Csolt clan, built by the Benedictines in the 10th-12th centuries, featuring a three-aisled basilica, monastic cells, and an inner courtyard. Memories of a more recent past include Pákásztanya, and a nature trail introduces the local wildlife.

Land of barons and laborers

A low-traffic road leads further towards Szeghalom, where the most exciting spot is the Berettyó bridge at the town’s boundary. The name refers to a river bordered by marshes—the watercourse itself originates in Romania’s Réz Mountains and meanders 167 kilometers before joining the Sebes-Körös near the bridge.

Szeghalom boasts two castles—although given the size of the buildings, the term mansion might be more fitting (this also applies to other nearby castles). The Wenckheim-D’Orsay castle houses the Nagy Miklós City Library and Sárrét Public Museum Collection, where visitors can learn about Sárrét. Before river regulation, the Nagy-Sárrét was a realm of waters, dominated by marshes and reeds. The inhabitants lived accordingly with animal husbandry, fishing, and reed harvesting. With the taming of the Körös, Berettyó, and Hortobágy rivers, life changed: semi-wild animal husbandry gave way to stable-bound practices, drained marshes became fertile lands suitable for growing more grains, and the drainage and booming railway constructions required hundreds of workers, commemorated by the Laborer Monument on Fáy András Street.

The Kárász Castle, now functioning as a dormitory, was built in the 1830s by Miklós Kárász, husband of Wenckheim Henrietta. The building’s former glory (originally decorated with a dry porch with four Tuscan columns, extended by Miklós Ybl’s plans with a cross wing and a music pavilion) is mostly lost, understandably so, as it was looted and burned in 1944, served as a district internment camp in 1945, and has been a girls’ dormitory since 1954.

We leave Szeghalom towards the embankment, where our next stop is the Körösladány dam on the Sebes-Körös, operating since 1977. Its main task is to distribute the water diverted from the Tisza into the Körös valley according to needs and make water delivery to usage areas more economical. A few more kilometers of cycling remain to the eponymous town, where we can also follow the footsteps of the Wenckheims.

In the town center stands the Wenckheim-Merán Castle, built in 1806 and currently serving as a primary school, surrounded by several 18th-century manor buildings, including probably the one that hosted a guesthouse and a beer house in the mid-19th century based on historical sources. Near the cemetery is the Wenckheim family chapel. The crypt, containing 19 coffins including that of Béla Wenckheim, who was interior minister, minister in charge of the king’s person, and briefly prime minister, can be considered a miniature replica of the Roman Pantheon and is decorated inside with busts and wall reliefs.

Crossing the Sebes-Körös near Újladány and crossing main road 47, the ride continues along the river’s left-bank embankment. As is usually the case on embankments, you can cycle in complete peace to Köröstarcsa, first following the Sebes- then the Kettős-Körös defenses. Köröstarcsa and Mezőberény are connected by a high-quality bike path running parallel to the main road. As the final highlight, you can relax from the tour’s exertions in the four pools (swimming, medicinal, children’s pool, and paddling pool) of the family-friendly Kálmán Bath, open from late spring to early autumn.