Ráckeve

Ráckeve (Serbian: Српски Ковин) is a town on Csepel Island in the county of Pest County, Hungary. Its residents are Magyars, with minority of Serbs.

The Serbian Kovin Monastery, the oldest in Hungary and one of two in the Diocese of Buda of the Serbian Orthodox Church, was built in 1487 in the centre of Ráckeve. Also in central Ráckeve is the Savoy Castle of Prince Eugene of Savoy, built in the baroque style in 1702–50.

History

After the Árpád dynasty was established, the region of today's Ráckeve belonged to the Hungarian king.

In the Middle Ages, there was a settlement here called Ábrahámtelke, and also a monastery built in the 12th century, mentioned in official document in 1212 the first time.

In the 15th century many Serb refugees came from the South, fleeing the invasions of the Ottoman Turks. In this time, the settlement was called Kiskeue, that is to say "Kiskeve" in modern Hungarian. Kiskeve means "Little Keve" in English, and the Serbs in the town called it Mali Kovin = "Lesser Kovin", or Gornji Kovin ("Upper Kovin") in contrast with the name of other Kovin (Donji Kovin / "Lower Kovin") in the South, where the Serbs had fled from.