Nagybajom: Nature, Culture and History

Nagybajom combines walking trails, nature and local history. When planning your stay, you can focus on the themes that interest you most: landscapes and walks offer a different experience from arts and crafts, the church and the museum.

Walking Trails and Nature in Nagybajom

The wooden sculptures on the walking trail near the center make it a destination for a leisurely evening stroll, an ice cream, a jog or a dog walk. The trail thus offers different ways to spend time outdoors. For planning purposes, it is a different kind of walk from the Homokpuszta Nature Trail, which explores nature topics at several stops.

The Homokpuszta Nature Trail is a 1.5-kilometer walk with six stops. Visitors can learn about the nature of Belső-Somogy along the way. Its length and stops give the trail a clear framework; the focus is not only on the route itself, but also on the nature it takes you through.

At the end of the Homokpuszta Nature Trail, you can learn more about the daily work of traditional pastoral grazing on a puszta managed by the Duna-Dráva National Park Directorate, but only on a guided tour with a qualified guide. The tour also covers the practice’s importance for nature conservation and the increasingly vanishing world of the Somogy pusztas. Check with the operator before visiting to arrange a tour.

Built in 1801, the Igmándy Mansion is around 700 meters from the town center. Its grounds cover seven hectares: two hectares are landscaped, while the rest is wooded. The grounds are home to century-old trees, and at least 15 different bird species can be heard there. The figures and the grounds’ varied landscaping give an idea of the estate, while the trees and birdsong lend it a strong connection to nature.

Nature conservation is also part of the townscape: a large part of Nagybajom’s territory lies within the Boronka-melléki Landscape Protection Area of Duna-Dráva National Park. Together with the nature trail and the wooded part of the mansion grounds, this brings a nature theme to several of the places described here.

Arts and Crafts, the Church and Local History

The Bajomi Kézműves arts and crafts workshop, which produces local goods, is housed in a building next to the gallery. The gallery and workshop are both part of local cultural life; the workshop brings together traditional crafts and the production of local products.

The Baroque Jézus Szíve Church was blown up by German soldiers during the Second World War and rebuilt between 1946 and 1950. During renovations in 1999–2000, it received decorative windows and a concert organ with 14 stops. The church’s history therefore includes both its reconstruction after its destruction and its later embellishment.

The exhibition at the Sárközy-István Local History Museum covers the history of Nagybajom. It also commemorates Sárközi István, the building’s former owner, who was passionate about literature, as well as the poets Csokonai Vitéz Mihály and Pálóczi Horváth Ádám. Both were among the house’s well-known guests. The exhibition thus focuses on the town’s history, a former owner of the building and its literary guests.

Another historical layer dates back to the Second World War: from December 1944 to March 1945, the front ran along the Margit Line; fighting also raged in Nagybajom and its surroundings. According to individual surveys, several thousand Soviet soldiers are buried in the cemetery behind the Soviet memorial. The dates of the front and the explicitly qualified figure for those buried there are distinct aspects of the town’s wartime history.

Regional Context: South Balaton

In the wider South Balaton travel region, the Zselici Landscape Protection Area was given the title International Dark Sky Park in 2009 because of its low light pollution. Zselici Csillagpark was built in the heart of the protected area. The dark-sky park theme is therefore also part of the regional context when planning your trip.

Discover more destinations: Zselickisfalud, Hencse, Kaposszerdahely, Kaposfő, Kaposújlak, Kaposmérő, Bárdudvarnok, Szenna.

For the broader travel overview: Kadarkúti.