Debreczen is one of the largest and most interesting towns of the Hungarian plain. It is a typically Hungarian town, with almost 100,000 inhabitants, who ally great dignity and self-reliance to their intelligence and good sense. Debreczen, which formerly presented an agricultural and rustic character, is becoming more and more like a large city; it has splendid public buildings, a large Reformed College, which is shortly to be made into a University, and a large Reformed Church, where, in 1849, Louis Kossuth declared the deposition of the Habsburgs.

Another large town of the Alfold, is Nagyvarad, on the banks of the rapid Koros, capital of the County of Bihar, and one of the most rapidly developing towns of Hungary; it is the seat of a Roman Catholic and of a Greek Catholic Bishop, as also of a Court of Appeal; some splendid buildings, a fine theatre, a museum containing a valuable picture-gallery, and several beautiful Churches, are worthy of a visit. A fortress occupies the site where stood formerly the Cathedral of St. Ladislaus, the resting-place of several Hungarian Kings, until it was destroyed by the Turks. Nagyvarad is also one of the busiest commercial towns of Hungary.

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Adapted from Illustrated Description of Hungary and its Capital