Miskolc has been an inhabitated area since ancient times. The first known inhabitants were the Celtic gotins. The conquering Hungarians found a mixed population in the area. On the place of the Diosgyor castle, there was a fortress made of earth in ancient times.

The name of the town derives from a clan called Miskoc. The town was mentioned first in 1170 by Anonymus in his Gesta Hungarorum. The Miskoc clan was a relative of the Bors clan, which is regarded as the name-giver of the region. The Bors clan lost the region, when they fought against Charles of Anjou. The king donated the land to the Szecsy family, who procured the rights of arbitration and marketholding.

It was Louis the Great, who declared Miskolc to a market-town, the castle of Diosgyor was renovated at the same time and a fast development took place as a consequence of the changes. The population was about 2000 at the end of the 15th century. When the Turks had conquered the region in the 16 century the development became slower and slower. The town had to pay taxes for the Turks till 1687. The region became a wine-growing area.

The leader of the war of independence (1703-1711) Ferenc Rakoczi deployed his headquarters to Miskolc. As a result of the important role of the town, the enemy set the whole town on fire on September 25, 1706. After the war, a cholera epidemic raised its head and about 50% of the population died. In 1724 the town was chosen as the place of the county town.

Several buildings in Miskolc, such as the new county hall, theatre, synagogue, schools and churches, date back to the 18th and 19th century. In the 19th century there was another cholera epidemic and in 1878 a huge flood took place. The First World War saved the town because the fronts were far away from the city.

After the Peace Treaty of Versailles Miskolc became a countytown of three counties (Borsod, Gomor and Kishont). Hungary had lost nearly 2/3 of its territory after the Peace Treaty of Versailles. Sevaral refugees arrived at Miskolc from the lost parts of the country. This huge amount of workforce provided the basics of the development. The preparation of the Second World War transformed Miskolc into a center of the hungarian heavy industry. The population suffered a lot in the last year of the war when the red army occupied the town in June 1944.

The Technological University of Heavy Industry was founded in 1949 and due to the developments, the town became the second largest city of Hungary. In the 1980s the population was more than 200 000.

The system-change brought decadence into the city. The heavy industry went bancrupt. The population sank and Debrecen became the second largest city of Hungary. The city’s image is changing, the local goverment concentrates on tourism and culture and it seems that they are on the right track.

Miskolc was awarded in 2008 with the prise of „City of the Hungarian Culture” .