Százhalombatta

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Coordinates: 47°18′02″N 18°54′49″E / 47.30042, 18.91362
Százhalombatta
Százhalombatta Location of Százhalombatta
Country	Hungary
County	Pest
Area
- Total	28.06 km² (10.8 sq mi)
Population (2004)
- Total	17,365
- Density	618.85/km² (1,602.8/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	2440
Area code(s)	23

Százhalombatta (Croatian: Bata) is a town in Pest county, Hungary. The name of this town in Hungarian literally means "One hundred tumuli" referring to the tumulus field at the edge of the town.

[edit] History

Recognizing the geographical situation and the fascinating beauty of the region, groups of people have already settled in this area four thousand years ago in the Neolithic Age. On the plateau stretching over the River Danube in the Old Town, the population of the Bronze Age built an earthwork, the defence of which was ensured by the river in the northeast, by the deep valley in the south and by a rampart in the west. The earthwork was inhabited for almost six hundred years, the layers of the settlements deposited on one another amount to a depth of up to six meters. This is the so called tell settlement.

Aerialphotography: Százhalombatta St. István church by Imre Makovecz

In the 7th-6th centuries BC it is the eastern branch of the Hallstatt culture that appeared in the region. The burial place of the significant persons of the culture's population is the tumulus graveyard with its 120 mounds. The six-hectare territory presently functions as an archeological park. It is in this prehistoric open-air museum, unique in entire Europe, that the 2,700-year-old tumulus was excavated, reconstructed and inaugurated in April 1998 by the President of Hungary, Árpád Göncz. In the tumulus, the remains of a crypt can be viewed accompanied by a spectacular multimedia presentation. With the help of sound and light effects, visitors can get acquainted with the funeral rite and beliefs of the era.