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While Rakoczi ter, with its supermarkets and banks, is the de facto centre of the lower town , its most attractive feature is the Kis-Duna setany , a riverside walk lined with weeping willows and villas, popular with promenaders. Inland, civic pride is manifest in the brightly painted public buildings on Szechenyi ter , including a town hall with Rococo windows that once belonged to Prince Rakoczi's general, Janos Bottyan, whose statue stands nearby. The old part of town extends as far south as the City Parish Church , built on the site of a medieval monastery where Bela IV and Queen Maria Lascaris were buried. To the right of its gateway is a plaque showing the level of the flood of 1832. The taming of the river is one of the themes of the Museum of the Danube at Kolcsey utca 2 (March-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-5.30pm; 100Ft). Count Szechenyi was the prime mover of the plan to curb flooding and improve navigation on the Danube, using the labour of thousands of Hungarian navvies and technology imported from England - including the steam-dredger Vidra , a model of which can be seen. There is also an exhibition on the controversial Danube barrages at Nagymaros and Gabcikovo - until recently a bone of contention between Hungary and Slovakia. To end with an overview of the lower town, walk up Imhaz utca past a flamboyant, Moorish-style edifice that was once Esztergom's synagogue and is now a science club, or Technika Haza . Shortly afterwards you'll find a flight of steps leading to Szent Tamas-hegy (St Thomas's Hill), a rocky  © 2003 by Rough Guides Ltd. as trustee for its Authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd. Buy the book here!
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outcrop named after the English martyr Thomas a Becket. A chapel was built here in his honour by Margaret Capet, whose English father-in-law, Henry II, prompted Thomas's assassination by raging "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" Even after her husband died and Margaret married Bela III of Hungary, her conscience would not let her forget the saint. The existing chapel (postdating the Turkish occupation) is fronted by a trio of lifesize statues representing Golgotha.
Your Tips For Lower town and Szent Tamas-hegy
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