Kalocsa

Kalocsa stands on slightly raised ground above the flood-prone plain east of the Danube. It was the seat of one of Hungary's early archbishoprics, with a cathedral, an archiepiscopal castle and a town belonging to the church. Its archbishops held wide estates and exercised authority over a large part of southern Hungary.

Archbishop Pál Tomori died commanding Hungarian forces at Mohács in 1526. Ottoman troops entered Kalocsa in 1529 and established lasting control in 1543. Church institutions withdrew, some inhabitants fled north or into the marshes, and the former town declined. In 1602 raiding troops burned the settlement and its castle. After Ottoman rule ended, the archbishopric was reorganized and its estate rebuilt; a new archiepiscopal palace eventually rose on the site of the old fortress.