Hortobágy

This article is about the village. For the national park, see Hortobágy National Park.

Hortobágy
Coat of arms
Hortobágy Location of Hortobágy in Hungary
Coordinates: 47°35′01″N 21°09′07″E
Country	Hungary
Region	Northern Great Plain
County	Hajdú-Bihar
Area [2]
• Total	284.6 km^2 (109.9 sq mi)
Population  (2017)[3]
• Total	1,410[1]
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	4071
Area code	+36 74
Website	https://hortobagy.hu/

The Ökumenikus Pusztatemplom in the village

The Nine-arched Bridge over the Hortobágy river

Hortobágy is a village in Hajdú-Bihar County in eastern Hungary. It lies on the banks of the Hortobágy [hu] river, which is crossed at Hortobágy by the Nine-arched Bridge, one of the principal man-made monuments of the Hortobágy National Park. The park consists mainly of the remaining areas of Hungarian puszta.[4]

2016 explosive incident

On 1 July 2016, 4 demolition experts of the Hungarian Defence Force were killed and another seriously injured while attempting to detonate a 250 kilogram Russian-made fragmentation bomb manufactured shortly after WW2. The incident took place at a firing range within the Hortobágy National Park. The firing range covers 4,000 hectares (about 9,800 acres) and has been used for practice by the Hungarian armed forces for decades. It was reported that the detonator had already been removed when the explosion occurred.[5] The remote and sparsely populated area was used as a shooting range by the Hungarian Army for decades following World War II.[6] The soldiers will be honored with the Hazáért Érdemjel medal.[7]

References

1. Hortobágy, KSH
2. Hortobágy at the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (Hungarian).
3. Hortobágy at the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (Hungarian). 2017
4. Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed January 2022.
5. Holding, APA Information Agency, APA. "Four demolition experts dead after explosion at Hungarian bombing range". Archived from the original on 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
6. hermesauto (2016-07-01). "Four Hungarian explosives experts killed in blast". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
7. "Four soldiers killed in blast at Hungarian firing range". www.hungarianambiance.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-27. Retrieved 2017-07-09.