Birthplace of famous people

Like a well-fed giant dog, the settlement stretches out at the foot of the Vrancea Mountains. The lower half has always been inhabited by Hungarians, the upper half by Romanians. Those from the lower part teased those from the upper side that it was good for them because the forest was near, and the Romanians replied that the Hungarians were lucky because they had the fields closer. 

Zagon gave famous Hungarians to the world. Everyone knows the quote by heart about the innovator of Hungarian literary prose, the adjutant of Prince Rákóczi, the great exile, Kelemen Mikes: he loved Tekirdağ so much that he could not forget Zagon. After the confiscation of the family’s estates, the 17th-century castle was acquired by the baronial family of Szentkereszty, and it took its present form in 1903, as a result of the innovative and transformative impetus of Zsigmond Szentkereszty. 

Today, there is a museum in the building – the former granary has been converted into a guest house – where, in addition to Kelemen Mikes, historian Vilmos Csutak – the legendary headmaster of the Székely Mikó College in Sfântu Gheorghe –, actress Manyi Kiss, and Géza Domokos, founder and head of the Kriterion Publishing House and founding president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), also “have” a special memorial room. And maybe one day Kati Szabó, the four-time Olympic champion gymnast, will also join the line-up. 

Zagon: birthplace of famous people.

Samu Csinta