The story of this place
In 1552 the Ottoman Empire, sweeping through Hungary, laid siege to the hilltop castle of Eger with an army estimated at 35,000-40,000 men. Inside were barely 2,000 defenders under captain István Dobó. For 39 days they held, and when the walls were breached the women of Eger fought alongside the men, pouring boiling pitch and hurling stones. Astonishingly, the Ottomans withdrew — a rare Hungarian victory that became a national legend, immortalised in Géza Gárdonyi's novel 'Eclipse of the Crescent Moon', read by every Hungarian schoolchild. (Eger fell to a later siege in 1596.) The restored castle, its casemates and the tomb of Dobó, still crowns the baroque town famed for its 'Bull's Blood' red wine.