Mátraverebély is a village in Nógrád County,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, beside of the

Zagyva The Zagyva is a river in Hungary. Its length is 179 km, and drains an area of about 5,677 km2. The source is near Salgótarján in Nógrád county. It flows through the towns of Bátonyterenye, Pásztó, Hatvan and Jászberény and flows ...

river, between the

Cserhát Cserhát () is a mountain range in Hungary, part of the North Hungarian Mountains, divided between Pest and Nógrád counties. Its highest point is the Naszály with an elevation of 654 metres above sea level. Cserhát stretches from Cserhá ...

and Mátra mountain ranges. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 1752 (see Demographics). The main road 21 go across the village, which located beside of the (Nr. 81) Hatvan–Fiľakovo railway line and 38.4 km away from the M3 motorway. The village have an own railway stop with public transport.

History

The name of the settlement come from the Slavic word ''vrábel'' (sparrow). The first documented mention of the village was in the papal tithe list of 1337 under the name ''Verebély'', where the church, which was built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style, is already mentioned. The church was expanded to three naves in the

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

after 1380, when the settlement was given the status of a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

. Stories about the healing power of Szentkút (''holy well'') have been known since the 12th century. Szentkút is one of the oldest and most visited shrines of Mary in Hungary. Péter Verebi, the ruler of the settlement, managed to obtain the right to hold a national fair from

King Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia (''jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1 ...

in 1400, and an indulgence license from Pope Boniface IX. Péter Verebi was buried in the northern aisle of the church in 1403. Due to the Ottoman devastation, the village is depopulated and the church is damaged, which is restored in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style after the resettlement. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

was made in

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. The village was owned by the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

between 1733 and 1756, and then bought by the family. A granary built in Baroque style by the new owner can still be seen today. The construction of the two-tower baroque

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

in Szentkút was completed in 1763, financed by the and Almásy families. The main altar, the pulpit and the statues are

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

, the side altar is in the Copf style. The statue of Mary on the high altar, on the other hand, is in the Baroque style. Franciscan monks settled near the church in 1772, who built

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on Pilgrimage, a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the a ...

accommodation, a calvary, and a chapel. In addition to the Franciscans, the

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

s appeared who dug caves into the mountainside. Today's

Calvary Chapel Calvary Chapel is an association of evangelical churches, maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. Beginning in 1965 in Southern California, this fellowship of churc ...

was built in 1933.

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

raised the church to the rank of

basilica minor In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular b ...

and granted the privilege of full indulgence for every day of the year. The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

classified it as a ''national place of worship'', renovated it and in 2015 created an open-air mass place. Mátraverebély is a stamping place of the

National Blue Trail The National Blue Trail (in Hungarian: Országos Kéktúra, Kéktúra or simply OKT) is a national trail in Hungary incorporated into the European Long Distance Walking Route E4. The route starts atop the Irottkő Mountain (884 m) on the Austrian ...

Demographics

According the 2022 census, 89.0% of the population were of Hungarian ethnicity, 12.3% were Gypsies and 11.0% were did not wish to answer. The religious distribution was as follows: 41.3%

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, 1.7%

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, 0.9%

Lutheran 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 th ...

, 16.1% non-denominational, and 39.0% did not wish to answer. 1503 people live in the central inner area and three other inner area exist: ''Kányástelep, Kányáspuszta and Szentkút'' with 210, 34 and 11 inhabitants and 2.6, 2.9 and 5.6 km away from the village. On the only farm also live 8 persons. Population by years:

Politics

''Mayors since 1990'': * 1990–1998: Sándor Oláh (independent) * 1998–1999: Mrs. József Bakonyi ( MP) * 2000–2010: Attila Nagy (

MSZP The Hungarian Socialist Party ( hu, Magyar Szocialista Párt), commonly known by its acronym MSZP, is a centre-left social-democratic and pro-European political party in Hungary. It was founded on 7 October, 1989 as a post-communist evolution a ...

) * 2010–2014: Mária Seres ( CM) * 2014–: Attila Nagy (independent)

Gallery

Szent István bazilika 2014, Mátraverebély-Szentkúti szobor, FotoThalerTamas.jpg,

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

statue of Grace Mátraverebély, római katolikus templom 2022 11.jpg,

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

church in Mátraverebély MatraverebelySzentkutFotoThalerTamas13.jpg,

Saint Ladislaus Ladislaus I ( hu, László, hr, Ladislav, sk, Ladislav, pl, Władysław; 1040 – 29 July 1095), also known as Saint Ladislas, was King of Hungary from 1077 and King of Croatia from 1091. He was the second son of King Béla I of Hungary and ...

fresco in Szentkút

References

Populated places in Nógrád County {{Nograd-geo-stub