Modrý Kameň (lit. "Blue Stone"; german: Blauenstein; hu, Kékkő) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Veľký Krtíš District Veľký Krtíš District (''okres Veľký Krtíš'') is a district in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. Until 1918, the district was split between the county of Kingdom of Hungary of Hont and Nógrád. Municipalities *Balog nad I ...

of the

Banská Bystrica Region The Banská Bystrica Region ( sk, Banskobystrický kraj, ; hu, Besztercebányai kerület, ) is one of the eight regions of Slovakia. It is the largest region by area, and has a lower population density than any other region. The Banská Bystric ...

of southern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Geography

It is located in the

Krupina Plain Krupina (german: Karpfen, hu, Korpona) is a town in southern central Slovakia. It is part of the Banská Bystrica Region and has approximately 8,000 inhabitants. Etymology The name is probably derived from Slavic root ''krup''. Proto-Slavic: '' ...

(Slovak: ''Krupinská planina'') on the

Krtíš Krtíš is a river in southern central Slovakia. It flows through Zvolen and Veľký Krtíš districts, through the towns of Modrý Kameň and Veľký Krtíš. It enters the Ipeľ The Ipeľ ( Slovak; ) or Ipoly ( Hungarian) (German: ''Eipel' ...

and ''Riečka'' rivers. It is around 5 km from Veľký Krtíš and 50 km from

Zvolen Zvolen (; hu, Zólyom; german: Altsohl) is a town in central Slovakia, situated on the confluence of Hron and Slatina rivers, close to Banská Bystrica. It is surrounded by Poľana mountain from the East, by Kremnické vrchy from the West an ...

. With a population of around 1,600 it is the second smallest town in Slovakia.

History

The name of the town was first mentioned as ''Keykkw'' (Hungarian: ''Kékkő'') in 1290. The name of the settlement means "Blue rock". Ruins of the castle Modrý Kameň stand on a rock pinnacle above the town. The castle was built in the second half of the 13th century by the ancestors of the

Balassa Balassa is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bálint Balassa (1554–1594), Hungarian poet ** Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award, Hungarian literary award * Béla Balassa (1928–1991), Hungarian economist ** Balass ...

noble family. They had to recapture the castle from sons of Casimir of the Hunt-Poznan clan by a siege in 1290. The castle was captured by Ottoman troops in 1576, because its guard fled when they heard the approaching Ottomans. The castle was given up and subsequently destroyed by Ottoman troops in 1593. It was restored between 1609 and 1612 by Sigismund Balassa. The castle was ravaged many times during the 17th century, so it became ruined and abandoned. The Balassa family built a new Baroque mansion house on the side of castle hill in the early 18th century; stones of the former castle were used in the mansion building operations. The last member of the Balassa noble family died in 1899. After the demise of the Balassa family, the Almásy noble family became the proprietors of castle Modrý Kameň. They sold the demesne to the

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n state in 1923. In 1910 the settlement had 1347 mostly Slovak inhabitants, though a significant Hungarian minority lived in Modrý Kameň (then Kékkő) too. Modrý Kameň belonged to Nógrád (Novohrad) county until the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The settlement was the center of district Modrý Kameň (Slovakian okres Modrý Kameň, Hungarian Kékkői járás) between 1912 and 1960. Electric network was built in 1943. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, an illegal antifascist communist organization operated in the settlement. During the

Slovak National Uprising The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...

, Modrý Kameň was the center of the national revolutionary committee of the district, and partisan groups operated on the outskirts. Modrý Kameň was pronounced a town in 1969.

Demographics

According to the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, the town had 1,434 inhabitants. 92.82% of inhabitants were

Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...

, 2.79%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, 2.02%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

and 0.35%

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...

. The religious make-up was 79.22%

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, 8.44% people with no religious affiliation and 7.60%

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

Sights

*Roman Catholic church was built in 1879 *Baroque chapel of St Anna was built in 1759 *Modrý kameň Castle Museum (Marionette and toy museum, Valentine Balassi poet’s life and work, Ethnographic exhibition of the region, A look at the history of dental technology and stomatology)

Twin towns

Modrý Kameň is twinned with: * Bercel, Hungary *

Opatów Opatów (; yi, אַפּטאַ, אַפּט) is a town in southeastern Poland, within Opatów County in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Province). Historically, it was part of a greater region called Lesser Poland. In 2012 the populatio ...

, Poland

Gallery

File:Kekkocivertanlegi.jpg, Aerial photo of the castle File:Modrý Kameň - pohľad z hradu.jpg, View from the castle to the city

References

External links

* *
Castle Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modry Kamen Cities and towns in Slovakia Villages and municipalities in Veľký Krtíš District Castles in Slovakia