The northern part of the Island

The most significant ancient monument on the island is the ruin of a thirteenth-century convent of Dominican nuns near the open-air theatre. The convent was founded by King Béla IV, who built up the country again after the Mongol invasion (1241-42) and is therefore sometimes called the second founder of the State. His daughter Margaret came to live in the convent in 1251 at the age of eleven. She was later canonised and the island now bears her name. A marble plaque in the nave of the church ruins indicates the spot where she was buried. A few steps to the north of the convent ruins we see the chapel of the medieval Premonstratensian monastery. In its tower hangs the oldest bell in Hungary. It was made in the fifteenth century and discovered intact not many years ago among the roots of a tree torn out by a storm. Around the chapel, along the promenade, we find statues of the most eminent a representatives of Hungarian literature and arts. Walk- ing to the north we reach the Grand Hotel. At the north- ern end of the island the exotic plants and the artificial waterfall of a charming rock garden delight the tired sightseer. Next to the garden, the Hotel Thermal (Gyula Kéry), completed in 1978, offers diagnostics and other facilities for medical treatment. (To be approached by car only from Árpád Bridge through the car park around the Grand Hotel.)