Keszthely-The major city of Balaton
Keszthely is a Hungarian city of 20,895 inhabitants located on the western shore of Lake Balaton. It's the largest city by the lake and one of the more important cultural, educational and economic hubs in the region. Due to its favorable location and accessibility by both road and rail, Keszthely and the surrounding area is a preferred holiday destination.
Though settled since at least Roman times, the first historical evidence of the town Keszthely dates from a 1247 document. Since 1421, Keszthely has been a market town.
The Faculty for Agriculture of University of Pannonia is located in Keszthely. George Fejer, Hungarian author and librarian at the University of Pest, was born in Keszthely in 1766.
The Festetics Palace is a Baroque palace located in the town of Keszthely, Zala county, Hungary. Its construction, started by Kristóf Festetics in 1745, lasted more than a century, during which the palace, built at first on the foundations of a ruined castle, was tripled in size, in two subsequent building campaigns, most recently in the 1880s, to designs by Viktor Rumpelmayer, living in Vienna. When Rumpelmayer died in 1885, the work was carried to completion by architects Gusztáv Haas and Miksa Paschkisch. The result is one of the three largest country houses in Hungary.
The counts Festetics were progressive landowners: Kristóf Festetics founded a hospital, Pál Festetics established a school in the town, and in 1797, Count György Festetics opened an Agricultural University, the Georgikon, Europe's first agricultural college, which is still in operation as a faculty of the University of Pannonia.