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World heritage represents all those things that mankind treasures, although it may also imply particular local cultures that have universal significance and deserve international respect and attention.
Today the World Heritage catalogue lists more than 500 sites of which about four-fifths are cultural treasures and the other fifth comprises the wonders of nature.
Hollókõ
This small Palóc village is the world's fist village to be listed as a UNESCO World heritage site in 1987. The protected territory of the world heritage site covers 55 historic buildings and a 141 hectare (350 acre) protected area. The buildings of the old village were all restored at the start of this century, after the last big outbreak of fire in 1909, but they preserved the traditional three-part sectioning that had taken shape over the centuries.
Pannonhalma
The impressive and prominent building of the Pannonhalma Abbey stands on a hill like a mighty seal stamped on some immense, imaginary document, confirming that a people, who had come from far away, had at last found their new home in the heart of Europe. The sons of Saint Benedict, the Benedictines, founded the first monastic school in the country here. In the course of the 11th century the first church and monastery were built, the former to be re-built in the 12th century. The current church and crypt were only completed in the early 13th century, surviving the devastating Mongol invasions without damage.
Aggtelek
The caves are physically separated at the Hungarian-Slovak border, but geographically they form one interconnected structure. The two countries jointly requested the caves to be added to the World Heritage List, which happened on the 6th of December 1995. The Aggtelek and Slovak calcium carbonate cave group is one of the most significant and unified representative temperate-zone medium-mountainous calcification areas from a geological, paleontological, zoological, archeological and historical point of view. It is an underground natural science museum of true importance.
The 25 km (15 mile) long Baradla-Domica cave system, the longest in the region, is adorned with stalagtites and stalagmites, with streams running through.
(Aggtelek National Park)
Budapest
Budapest, the panorama of the two banks visible from Margareth Island to Gellért Hill and the Buda Castle district was put on the list in December 1987. It is rae that a major city can at the same time create a feeling of spaciousness, as do the Danube banks, of intimacy, as does the city centre, and of historic atmosphere, as in the Castle district. The palace complex is still the most important cultural centre in the capital.
Budapest, the panorama of the two banks visible from Margaret Island to Gellért Hill and the Buda Castle district was put on the list in December 1987. It is rare that a major city can at the same time create a feeling of spaciousness, as do the Danube banks, of intimacy, as does the city centre, and of historic atmosphere, as in the Castle district. The Palace complex is still the most important cultural centre in the capital.
This district, radiating a historic flair, houses many cultural institutions, including the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum, the National Széchenyi Library and the Ludwig Museum. The Castle district also offers amazing sights below ground as well. The cave system of the hill is a unique natural phenomenon. The other major sights are the Matthias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion. From the main streets leading to the Danube you can see across the river the huge impressive building of the Parliament and the Vigadó (Concert Hall) where Ferenc Liszt once performed.
Hortobágy
The Hortobágy National Park was put on the World Heritage List in December 1999. The national park comprises the puszta (plain) of Hortobágy and a considerable part of the Nagykunság. It is one of Europe's largest protected grasslands where the Hungarian grey cattle, the stud, flocks of twisted horn Racka sheep and buffalo herds graze in the open. Besides the extensive pastures there are also large fish ponds and 40 percent of the area is marshland.
The visitors' centres introduce you to the wildlife, folklore, the past and present of the national park. The seemingly barren, scorched puszta is home to many birds. For waders and other waterfowl fish ponds are also an ideal habitat and food supply. The nine-vault bridge spans the Hortobágy river at the boundary of Hortobágy village. Near the bridge is the Pastoral Museum with displays showing where the shepherds of Hortobágy lived, how they dressed, how they cooked and what sort of decorative everyday items they crafted.
The fifth biggest city in Hungary, founded by the Romans in the 2nd century, under the name Sophianae flourished as the capital of the province in the 4th century. The early Christian pile in the city (the early Christian mausoleum from the 4th century and the Romanesque Cathedral founded by King Saint Stephen, founder of Hungary in 1009 – crypt from the 11th and undercroft of the church from the 12th century) is a unique sight of the town and the country as well. It became part of the World Heritage in 30th November 2000.