Törökbálint is a town in Pest 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 ...

. Törökbálint received town status on 1 July 2007. The city also has a German name, ''Großturwall'', which originates from the times of the

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

n immigration after the Ottoman times of Hungary.

Geographic position

Törökbálint is c. westwards from

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 ...

, between

Diósd Diósd (german: Orasch) is a small town located between the larger cities of Budapest and Érd in the Budapest metropolitan area, Pest County, Hungary. Though many residents commute to work to the capital city Budapest, the largest employers in ...

and

Budakeszi Budakeszi (german: Wudigess or ) is a town in Pest County, in the Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is located beyond the János Hill at the western city limits of Budapest, about west of the Zero Kilometre Stone in the city centre. A popul ...

, which were also Swabian settlements. Törökbálint can be directly approached from the motorways M0, M1 and M7.

History

Early history

Until the 1st century, the Avaric peoples were the inhabitants of Hungary, which the Romans chased away. Both nations left their footprint over the entirety of Hungary, and in Törökbálint as well, though the region was uninhabited until the 6th century, well after the

Roman invasion The Roman conquest of Britain refers to the conquest of the island of Britain by occupying Roman forces. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by 87 when the Stane ...

Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

arrived around this time. After the Magyar settlement in the 9th century, the main leader of the Hungarians,

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or ''kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' gy ...

, gave the lands around the present Törökbálint to prince Kond, whose son, Csörsz built the first castle in the area. Its name was Torbágy (''Turobag''), which is probably the ancient form of the present German name of the settlement. Only in the early modern age, c. the 16th century, was the village renamed to Török-Bálint, with a Hungarian landlord and poet,

Bálint Török Bálint Török de Enying (25 September 1502 in Szigetvár – 1551 in Istanbul) was a Hungarian aristocrat, Ban of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade), and between 1527–1542 the Lord of Csesznek Csesznek (; german: Zeßnegg, hr, Česneg, sk, Čes ...

(in Hungarian form Török Bálint) giving the name to it.

16th to 19th centuries

In the 16th century, the lands around Törökbálint were given to the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, who built a number of buildings in

Baroque style 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 ...

. They possessed the lands until 1773. By this time, the area was hardly inhabited, which was partly the result of the

Turkish wars A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...

two hundred years before. In the 18th century, the first

Danube Swabians The Danube Swabians (german: Donauschwaben ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in various countries of central-eastern Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in grea ...

began to arrive. The latter became the major population group in the area in a few decades. After the order of the Jesuits was dissolved,

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...

, the ''Kaiserin'' of Austria and Queen of Hungary gave the lands to Josef Majláth, her chamber counselor. The first transportation contact with the capital,

was established in 1884 with the opening of a railway.

Recent history

In 1900, the township obtained a new name. Instead of Török-Bálint, the name Törökbálint became official. The next important step in the development of the settlement was the opening of the suburban railway, in 1912, which was, however, closed after

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 ...

. After

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 ...

, the Danube Swabians, who had been living there for hundreds of years, were expelled from Hungary. Nowadays, Törökbálint is part of the suburban Budapest. More and more people move to the township, which has a very calm and peaceful atmosphere. Tükörhegy (mirror hill or ''Spiegelberg'' in German), an area in the outskirts of Törökbálint, a former

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

, has been, for instance, almost fully built in. In the outskirts of Törökbálint,

multinational companies A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

, like Cora and

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...

give work for many inhabitants of the settlement.

Twin towns – sister cities

Törökbálint is twinned with: *

Bük Bük is a town in Vas County, Hungary, close to the Austrian border. Nowadays it has a reputation for being a popular holiday destination in Hungary and one of the major spa and wellness spots in Central Europe. Location The town is situated 2 ...

, Hungary *

Odorheiu Secuiesc Odorheiu Secuiesc (; hu, Székelyudvarhely, ; german: Odorhellen) is the second largest municipality in Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania. In its short form, it is also known as ''Odorhei'' in Romanian and ''Udvarhely'' in Hungarian. The Hun ...

, Romania * Soroksár (Budapest), Hungary *

Süßen Süßen (or Süssen) is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Fils 8 km east of Göppingen, near Stuttgart. History Süßen was first mentioned with the name of ''Siezun'' ...

, Germany * Veľké Trakany, Slovakia

Main sights

* Walla castle * Lung sanatorium, which was the former castle of the

* Calvary-row * The Roman Catholic Church, which was first mentioned in 1422 * The historic building of the Ignác Zimándy School * The Calvinistic Church, which was built 1994 in partnership with the German town of Süßen * Village Museum

Notable residents

Imre Menyhay Imre (Emmerich) Menyhay (12 May 1931, in Budafok – 23 October 2018) was a Hungarian- Austrian economist, pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this proce ...

, Hungarian-

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

economist *

György Pásztor György Pásztor (: 2 March 192322 August 2022) was a Hungarian ice hockey player and sports administrator. He won four Hungarian championships as a player, and was a member of the Hungary men's national ice hockey team, Hungary men's national ...

, Ice hockey player,

Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit ( hu, Magyar Érdemrend) is the fourth highest State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the O ...

* Zoltán Takács, Hungarian musician

References

External links

Street map (Hungarian)

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torokbalint Populated places in Pest County