Várpalota (; German: Burgschloß) is a town in Western

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 ...

, in the Transdanubian county of

Veszprém Veszprém (; german: Weißbrunn, sl, Belomost) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county (comitatus or 'megye') of ...

. It was a

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

town during the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

era, but the mines have been closed. Most of the citizens work in the nearby cities,

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

History

The town's origins are linked to the

Roman 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 letter ...

and Avar periods, as testified verified by burial mounds, tombstones and Roman artifacts in the outskirts of the town, some of which can be found in the lapidary of Thury Castle. In the Middle Ages it was a flourishing market town. In the 20th century it became a center for coal mining. Bátorkő in winter

Main sights

*The Thury castle, located in the heart of the town. It was commanded, among the others, by

György Thury György () is a Hungarian version of the name ''George''. Some notable people with this given name: * György Alexits, as a Hungarian mathematician * György Almásy, Hungarian asiologist, traveler, zoologist and ethnographer, father of László ...

. It is currently home to the Museum of

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, and the collection of the memories of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

. Concerts and theatre performances are held there every summer. *The old Catholic church, home to Romanesque and early-

Gothic 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 ...

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

s in a particularly good condition. One of the World War I memorials erected in those days and destroyed in the tempests of the history can be found here. *Jó Szerencsét (Good Luck) Community Centre, which houses four large-sized

Gobelin Gobelin was the name of a family of dyers, who in all probability came originally from Reims, France, and who in the middle of the 15th century established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre. The first ...

works of Noémi Ferenczy. The one-man exhibition of Frigyes Matzon, one of the significant representatives of

constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...

can be visited in the nearby Nagy Gyula Gallery, which was converted from a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

. *Baroque Reformed church with its irregularly arched western façade. It was built on the walls of the formerly Hussar Castle. It houses the memorial plaque of Mária Molnár. *Zichy Castle. The library-room with its wooden cover and its

s recalling mythological ages, is a regular place of cultural events. It also includes the Zichy-Chapel and the altar carved from sandstone in the Catholic cemetery. Among the graves are the memorial of militiaman

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence belonging to the earl's family. *Memorials of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence in 1848–49, of the World War heroes and victims, of the heroes of

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

in 1956.

Twin towns – sister cities

Várpalota is twinned with: * Borgo San Lorenzo, Italy *

Czeladź Czeladź (; yi, טשעלאַדזש, Chelodz) is a town in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (part of historic Lesser Poland), in southern Poland, near Katowice and Sosnowiec. Located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Brynica river (tributary of the Vistul ...

, Poland * Grottazzolina, Italy *

Gazipaşa Gazipaşa () is a town and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey, 180 km east of the city of Antalya. Gazipaşa is a quiet rural district famous for its bananas, oranges and international airport of Gazi ...

, Turkey *

Kremnica Kremnica (; german: Kremnitz, hu, Körmöcbánya) is a town in central Slovakia. It has around 5,300 inhabitants. The well-preserved medieval town built above important gold mines is the site of the oldest still-working mint in the world. Name ...

, Slovakia * Petroşani, Romania *

Sant'Elpidio a Mare Sant'Elpidio a Mare is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Fermo, in the Marche region of Italy. Geography Sant'Elpidio a Mare is located on a ridge of Marche Apennine, elevation above sea level, between the lower river valleys of the ri ...

, Italy * Wolfsberg, Austria

References

External links

Várpalota Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varpalota Populated places in Veszprém County Socialist planned cities Planned cities in Hungary