Hungary - Royal Seats in Esztergom, Visegrád with the former Royal Wood in the Pilis Mountain

At the picturesque Danube Bend, the volcanic Visegrád Mountains form one unit with the Börzsöny Mountains, located across the river, and are accompanied by the Pilis Mountains, which have the tallest peaks in the lime and dolomite Transdanubian Mountain Range. The fault line between the two mountain ranges lies along a line connecting Pomáz, Pilisszentkereszt and Pilisszentlélek. Both mountain ranges are covered by forests of the same type. Medieval sources refer to this entire area under the name Pilis. The Pilis area is located "in the middle of" (medium regni) the former Kingdom of Hungary. It more or less coincides with Pilis County of the fromer kingdom and the part of the current Duna-Ipoly National Park that is located south of the Danube. The most important cities of medieval Hungary are located at the "perimeter" of the area: Esztergom, the earliest royal seat (up until 1249) and archsee; Visegrád, which was a royal seat from 1323 to the 1410s; Buda, the capital of the country from the 15th century on; and, somewhat further, Székesfehérvár, the city of Saint Stephen and the coronation city and burial place of Hungarian kings. The Pilis area is a historic landscape of extraordinary importance, even by European standards. Modified, but not changed in its essence, in the course of the centuries, is a uniquely preserved example of the typical use of a complex of crown lands and forests established in the Middle Ages.