Rákóczi Museum

The Rákóczi Museum is one of Tekirdağ's most distinctive attractions — a small but beautifully kept Ottoman house where the Hungarian prince Ferenc Rákóczi II lived out the final years of his exile. Rákóczi had led the great Hungarian uprising against Habsburg rule, and when it failed he took refuge with the Ottomans, eventually settling in Tekirdağ in 1720.

The museum contains period furniture, personal effects, documents, and exhibits on Rákóczi's life and the Hungarian independence movement. It sits near the waterfront and is maintained partly as a symbol of Hungarian-Turkish friendship — Hungary has periodically funded restoration work. The juxtaposition of Hungarian national history in an Aegean Turkish provincial town is genuinely surprising and makes this one of the more memorable small museums in the Thrace region.

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A story
Ferenc Rákóczi II led the Hungarian uprising against Habsburg rule from 1703 to 1711 — the largest rebellion in 18th-century Europe. When the revolt failed, he went into exile, eventually ending up in Tekirdağ at the invitation of the Ottoman sultan. He spent his last twelve years here, dying in 1735. Hungary considers him a national hero; his remains were returned to Hungary in 1906, but the house where he lived and died remains in Tekirdağ, preserved as a museum.