This visualization reconstructs the movements of the Christian and Ottoman forces during the 1526 campaign. Based on Ottoman campaign diaries, documents preserved in the National Archives of Hungary and Hungarian-related material held in international collections, the visualization connects dated historical events with their geographical locations.
An interactive map and a vertical timeline work together to reconstruct the armies’ progress towards Mohács. Users can step through events chronologically, filter the timeline by Hungarian, Ottoman and contemporary news sources, or let the sequence of events play out automatically. Archival documents and images appear alongside individual events and can be explored in detail. On the map, animated particles represent the movements of the two armies, with their relative quantities reflecting the scale of the respective forces. Users can experience the gradual convergence of the two armies towards the battlefield both in time and geographical space.
The second visualization presents the Hungarian border fortress system that defended Central Europe against Ottoman expansion between the 16th and early 18th centuries.
The visual material is based primarily on Giulio Turco’s architectural surveys produced between 1568 and 1572, complemented by historical engravings and documents from Austrian collections and reconstruction drawings by Hungarian artist Frigyes Kőnig (1955–). Together, these sources allow users to explore both surviving fortresses and sites that later disappeared after losing their military purpose. The map default overview mode shows how castles changed hands between Christian and Ottoman forces from 1529 to 1709. The timeline can be played automatically or explored manually using a slider.
Users can browse through the map and select individual fortresses to explore the related images entering a more detailed terrain-based view. Here, historical images, plans and reconstructions are combined with an infographic timeline showing the changes of ownership as well as events such as destruction, fire, abandonment and rebuilding. Fortresses can also be accessed through an alphabetical search, allowing the interface to function both as an exploratory visualization and as a historical reference tool.
The third visualization focuses on individuals connected to the Battle of Mohács.
Based on extensive biographical research led by historians at the Institute of History of the ELTE Research Centre for the Humanities, the visualization makes the detailed biographical records explorable in an intuitive way. It reveals where participants came from, where they kept estates, the positions they held, how they were connected to one another, their role in the battle and, where known, their eventual fate.
Users can explore this material through three complementary perspectives: a geographical map, a network of personal and professional relationships, and a participation view. Selecting a person in any of these views opens a detailed profile combining biography, family relations, positions, dates and places, connecting them back to the underlying biographical research.
The map view positions individuals geographically according to their associated estates and significant locations. The network view reveals social, professional and family relationships between participants. Connections can be filtered by type, while selecting an individual highlights their immediate network and allows users to browse it across multiple degrees of separation.
A third, participation view reorganises the same dataset according to the individuals’ involvement in the battle and their eventual fate, providing yet another perspective on the people represented in the research.
Across all three views, shared filters and search functions allow users to approach the same interconnected dataset from different directions.
Concept and Project Coordination: Melinda Sipos, Gáspár Hajdu
Web Development: Sámuel Setényi, Gáspár Hajdu
Visual Identity, UI/UX: Szabolcs Vatány