Hercegszántó

Hercegszántó is situated in the vicinity of the Serbian frontier, at a distance of 30 km southwards of Baja. By car it is accessible by long-distance road 51. The name of the village is first mentioned in a deed as „Zanthow” during the reign of King Saint Steven, who bestowed the village upon the nuns of Veszprémvölgy. During the Turkish occupation the population of the settlement left or died. Due to the marshy flood plain, it was repopulated slowly only, with the majority of the settlers coming from Serbia. The prefix „Herceg”in the name of the village shows that in the beginning of the 15^th century it was property of the Herceg family from Szekcső. The suffix „szántó” comes according to the local Serbian from the word „sante” (ice-float) as according to the tradition the village was established in the winter and the settlers came on the Danube, on the ice that was just breaking up.

The Vodica-Máriakert shrine is at a distance of 800 km from the village. Officially, the shire was acknowledged the Primate of Kalocsa of that time, and it was also he who consecrated the chapel. The world’s highest Saint Mary statue with a height of 10,.53m, erected by a Baja commoner out of gratitude is standing next to the chapel. Another sight of the village is the Karapancsa Hunting Seat, built by Archduke Albrecht in neo-baroque style The hunting seat in the middle of the wilderness, is a 1^st class hotel now. In the small palace a museum was opened with pieces presenting the forestry, game husbandry, agriculture and folk traditions of the region. It is worth to visit the Roman Catholic and the Serbian Orthodox churches standing in the centre of the village. Those who seek active recreation may angle, hunt, go for boar rides, or for various hiking tours.

Sources: http://hercegszanto.hu/, http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercegsz%C3%A1nt%C3%B3, http://www.bucsujaras.hu/hercegszanto/index.html, http://www.gemenczrt.hu/index.php?apps=content&c_id=45