Approaching Levél
Levél is located beside the road number one, not too far from
motorway M1. To get Levél from M1, you can use the motorway exit of
Mosonmagyaróvár or Hegyeshalom. You can park your car here:
N47° 53.652 E017° 11.915.
You can go by train as well, since the village is on the
Budapest-Hegyeshalom railway line. And you can take the bus in
Mosonmagyaróvár to get Levél, too.
History of Levél
Levél (Kaltenstein in German) is halfway between Mosonmagyaróvár
and Hegyeshalom. It has a population of 1800, approximately. The
tradition says that the name of Levél comes from the name of
Petcheneg (Besenyo) archers: "Lőver", "Lever", "Level". After
the Turkish invasion in 1529 the village became empty. In 1570
Maximillian II resettled the german-speaker chatolic Württenberg
Saxons to the area. The population of Levél reached one and a half
thousand by the beginning of the 1900s. In the World War II the
village was raided by German and Russian soldiers. After the war
most of German population was deported, to their place settlers
came from several parts of Hungary, from Transylvania and from
Uplands (as a part of Hungarian - Czehoslovakian population
exchange). In the '60s and '70s Levél began to develop again which
speeded up after the communism had ended in 1989.
The Caches
1. The first point of the walk leads you into Levél EXPO.
It was built short time before the end of communism in Hungary. The
purpose was to have a place where the Hungarian (socialist)
companies can show their products for possible western customers.
Less than five months a complete village-part was built, consisting
more streets. After the end of communism, most of the socialist
companies were closed, so the Levél EXPO lost its function.
For many the most remarkable thing was in Levél, the VW Beetle
on the top of a cubic building of the EXPO near the road number
one. It was seen by many people, because the shopping tourism to
Austria increased after the end of communism and the traffic became
really heavy on the road number one.
The given coordinates leads to the pyramid of memory called
"Heideboden". Let X be the number of branches of that pyramid. The
coordinates of the next location are:
N47° 53.(X*50+279)' E17° 11.(X*100+155)'.
2. The next stop is the centre of Levél, Square Újhelyi.
The coordinates lead you to a park named after Lajos Gulyás
(martyr, reformed pastor). Here you can find a memorial about the
Hungarian revolution in 1956. Let X be the number right under the
number 1956 on that memorial. The coordinates of the next location
are:
N47° 53.(10*X+70)' E017° 11.(986-4*X)'.
Next to Square Újhelyi there is the Village Hall of Levél. On
its wall you can see the bust of Újhelyi Imre, academic teacher. He
was who acclimatized the cattle breed of Simmenthal and so he
increased the international reputation of Levél.
Also worth seeing the German closed building-technik used in the
Fő (Main) street of Levél.
3. The third stop of our walk is the monument built for
the 600th anniversary of Levél. On the top of it you can see the
crest of Levél. Let X be the number on the upper part of the
monument. The coordinates of the last location are:
N47° 53.(292+2*(X/10))' E017° 11.(781-(X/10))'
4. At the end of the walk find the box hidden close to
the fishing lake of Levél. Finally take a rest on a bench near the
lake.
