Rákospalota (literally: ''Castle
ponRákos
rook
Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to:
Games
*Rook (chess), a piece in chess
*Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game
Military
* Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft
* USS ...
', german: Palota) is a neighbourhood in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
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 ...
. With
Pest-újhely and
Új-palota it comprises
District XV.
History
In the early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
there were about six villages in the northern part of the
Rákos plain
Rakos may refer to:
;People
* Daniel Rákos (born 1987), Czech ice hockey player
;Places
* Rákoš, Košice-okolie District, Slovakia
* Rákoš, Revúca District, Slovakia
;Other uses
* 4108 Rakos, a minor planet
See also
*
{{disambigua ...
. About 1200 A.D. a church was built on the little hill next to the Szilas brook - the ancestor of the present
Catholic
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 ...
chapel. The first name of the village was Nyír (Birch) but later it became known as Palota (Palace) after the castle of the landowner. The little community had very hard times in the 16th-17th centuries when
Buda
Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
was under
Turkish occupation, but it survived thanks to the residents' strong
Calvinist religion. After the liberation of
Buda
Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
in 1696, by the Habsburgs, Rákospalota became one of the most prosperous villages in the region.
Market gardening
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...
and
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
flourished, and two baroque churches were built: one for the Calvinist community (it was demolished at the beginning of the 20th century) and a little Catholic chapel in 1735 on the foundation of the ancient village church.
In 1846 the first railway line of
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 ...
(Pest-Vác) reached Rákospalota, and the
Forest of Palota
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
became a popular beauty spot with restaurants and places of entertainment. Next to the station a new suburb grew with nice villas for the rich citizens of Pest. In the second part of the 19th century Palota was already out of fashion and later the forest was cut down, but in this neighbourhood there are still some derelict, beautiful old homes.
From the 1890s the spread of
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
reached the village and the council sold out the ploughland for new suburbs. The residents of Újfalu (New Village), Benkő-telep, Kovácsi-telep and Kertváros (Garden Town) were lower-middle-class people and workers from Budapest. These new settlements have a regular grid layout and pleasant houses with gardens. The old peasant village became known as Öregfalu (Old Village). A sumptuous
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
cathedral,
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 ...
Church, Moorish Synagoge, a new big Calvinist church and a Town Hall marked the wealth of the town but there were serious social tensions between the new and the old residents. Between August and November 1919, a Romanian garrison stationed here, after the Hungarian Bolshevik army was crushed by the Romanian Royal army in the
War of 1918-1919. The peasant farmers of Öregfalu kept their rich folk traditions, religion and sense of identity until the 1950s. Rákospalota became a town in 1923 and part of Great-Budapest in 1950.
Neighbourhoods
One of the most interesting and special parts of the district is MÁV-telep. The
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
was built by the
Hungarian State Railways
Hungarian State Railways ( hu, Magyar Államvasutak, MÁV) is the Hungarian national railway company, with divisions "MÁV START Zrt." (passenger transport), "MÁV-Gépészet Zrt." (maintenance), "MÁV-Trakció Zrt." and "MÁV Cargo Zrt" (freig ...
(MÁV) in the early 1900s for railwaymen. The big
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
blocks of flats were planned in uniform style. Two churches and a market hall served the spiritual and physical needs of the close, tight-knit community. Unfortunately the new M3 freeway cut into two pieces the "telep" (settlement) in the 1980s, but the leafy gardens, narrow streets and nice buildings breathe a special ambience.
Landmarks
Most of the district around Rákospalota is pleasant, leafy suburb. The Fő utca (Main Street) with the tramway has a typical market-town appearance from the turn-of-the-century. In Juhos utca (Sheep Street) and Attila utca there are still some old peasant houses. The Register of National Monuments consists of four buildings from Rákospalota: Old Catholic Chapel (1735), Old Museum (Classic Revival, 19th century), Liva-malom (mill on the Szilas brook, 18th to 19th centuries) and Girl's College (early 20th century).
The district is home to sports club Rákospalotai EAC
Sport
*
Rákospalotai EAC
Rákospalotai EAC is a Hungarian football club based in the Rákospalota quarter in the north-east of Budapest. REAC were promoted to the Nemzeti Bajnokság I., the first division in Hungarian football, after the 2005/06 season, but the team ...
*
Testvériség SE
Testvériség Sport Egyesület is a Hungarian football club from the town of Rákospalota, Budapest, Hungary.
History
Testvériség Sport Egyesület debuted in the 1946–47 season of the Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to:
* Hungary, a ...
See also
*
Újpalota
Újpalota is a panel housing estate in the 15th district of Budapest, Hungary.
History
In 1969 a new panel housing estate was founded on the northeastern border of Budapest, in a wheat field and a former cemetery, near the Szilas-patak (Sz ...
*
Pestújhely
Pestújhely (literally: ''New Settlement by Pest'', german: Neustädtl) is one of the northern suburbs of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. It belongs to District XV.
History
Until the second half of the 19th century, this area belonged to t ...
*
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakospalota
15th District of Budapest
Former municipalities of Hungary
Neighbourhoods of Budapest