Gyöngyös is a town in

Heves County Heves county (, ) lies in northern Hungary, between the right bank of the river Tisza and the Mátra and Bükk mountains. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Pest (county), Pest, Nógrád (county), Nógrád, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

, beside of the Gyöngyös creek, under the Mátra mountain ranges. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 27,957 (see Demographics). The town is located 8.4 km from the M3 motorway and 80.8 km from

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. Gyöngyös is terminus of the (Nr. 85) Vámosgyörk–Gyöngyös railway line and the main road 3 lead across the town. Gyöngyös have a train station and a stop on the standard-gauge railway line and two

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...

s also start from here to the mountains for tourist purposes.

History

The settlement got its name from the stream that crosses the town, which may refer to the

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...

that often occurs on the waterfront, or to the ''

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

y'' water. According to one theory, one of Árpád's daughters was Gyöngyös, who was buried here. From the 11th to the 14th century, the area belonged to the Aba family. It is mentioned for the first time in documents in 1261 as ''Gyngus''. King Charles I donated the town and its countryside to Thomas Szécsényi in 1327, and raised it to the rank of

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 rura ...

in 1334. The city is located at the junction of

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over land or water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a singl ...

s, on the border of the lowlands and the uplands, so trade and industry also played an important role in addition to

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

. The first church in the town is the Romanesque St. Bartholomew's Church, which was rebuilt in the Gothic style in the 15th century. The

Franciscans The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest conte ...

arrived in Gyöngyös in the 14th century, and their church was also built in the Gothic style. After the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century, the town became . The

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

established a gymnasium in 1634 with the permission of the Bey of Hatvan. Due to the increase in the number of Balkan merchants settling in the 17th century, the proportion of Orthodox people increased. Duke Francis Rákóczi negotiated about peace with Pál Széchényi, Archbishop of Kalocsa in Gyöngyös in 1704, summarizing his demands in 25 points. The general of the insurgents, János Bottyán, was buried in the Franciscan church in 1709.
The Baroque style became dominant in the 18th century: the St. Bartholomew Church, the Franciscan Church and Monastery were rebuilt, the St. Urban Church, the Orthodox St. Nicholas Church and, the St. John of Nepomuk Chapel with its triangular layout on the banks of the Gyöngyös creek were built in 1736. The building of the Jesuit gymnasium was built next to the church of St. Bartholomew in 1751-52, which was taken over by the

in 1773. The castle of the was rebuilt in classicist style by Lőrinc Orczy in 1824, and the new building of the state gymnasium was built opposite it in 1899, and a

music school A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

operates in the old one. Financial institutions became important in addition to handicrafts and grape production in the 19th century. The economic role of the

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

was strengthened, and they built several

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

s. At the same time, the phylloxera epidemic dealt a significant blow to grape production.
Gyöngyös was destroyed by fire on May 21, 1917. 580 houses burned down, 40% of the population became homeless. Two days later, King Charles IV and Queen Zita visited the city. Due to changes in the country's border after 1920, the Mátra's tourist importance increased. The mayor of the town at the time, Árpád Puky, primarily supported the development of Mátrafüred, so in 1926 the town built a

line to Mátrafüred for tourist purposes, which was classified as a resort in 1935. On the Pipis hill created a grass airport (

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

: LHGY) for

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...

in 1931, what is the highest airport (350 m) in Hungary. A new synagogue built up in 1930, but in the summer of 1944, the town's Jewish population of 2,000 was deported and most of them murdered. After 1945, several housing estates and a 20-story residential tower were built, and the town's population doubled. The narrow-gauge railway also started passenger transport in the direction of Gyöngyössolymos. The Mátra Museum was opened in the former castle of the , with a

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

and

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

exhibition. An other exhibition was opened in the former house of the from the treasury of the St. Bartholomew church, which also includes 43 pieces of

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

's work from the 15th and 16th centuries. The Gyöngyösi KK handball team founded in 1975. The local campus of Agricultural University was built after 1980. The

industrial park An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

established in 2000 provides the largest number of jobs nowadays. It is home to many food factory, including dairy and sausage factories.

Demographics

According the 2022 census, 88.3% of the population were of Hungarian ethnicity, 2.9% were Gypsies, 0.7% were

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

, and 10.9% were did not wish to answer. The religious distribution was as follows: 34.7%

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 3.4%

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

, 14.2% non-denominational, and 43.9% did not wish to answer. The Gypsies and the

Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...

have a local nationality government. 844 people live in '' Mátrafüred'', 80 live in '' Mátraháza'' and 14 live in '' Kékestető'' other inner areas, furthermore 56 people live in 6 other outskirts. Mátrafüred (3232), Mátraháza (3233) and Kékestető (3221) have a postal code. Population by years:

Politics

''Mayors since 1990'': * 1990–1994: György Keresztes ( KDNP) * 1994–2002: Gyula Szabó ( MSZP, after 1998 supported by the SZDSZ too) * 2002–2010: György Hiesz ( MSZP, until 2006 supported by the SZDSZ too) * 2010–2014: László Faragó ( Fidesz–KDNP) * 2014–2024: György Hiesz ( MSZP- DK,until 2019 supported by the Együtt, after 2019 supported by the

Momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. ...

too) * 2024–: Péter Szókovács ( Fidesz–KDNP)

Notable people

* Pál Vay (1735–1800),

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

* (1781–1857), Bishop of Szatmár * (1793–1865), doctor and linguistican * (1818–1861), poet, brother of Imre Vahot * Pál Almásy (1818–1882), politician * (1820–1879), writer, brother of Sándor Vachott * (1825–1914), poet, politician * Károly Kamermayer (1829–1897), politician, educated in Gyöngyös * Rudolf von Brudermann (1851–1941),

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

* Soma Visontai (1854–1925), politician * Gedeon Richter (1872–1944), pharmacist, grown up in Gyöngyös * Béla Kerékjártó (1898–1946), mathematician * Attila Szekrényessy (1913–1995), figure skater * György Bálint (1919–2020), horticulturist * (1924–1995), horticulturist * (1937–2014), grafican, caricaturist * Margit Gréczi (1941–), painter * László Polgár (1946–), chess teacher, psychologist
His three daughters are Zsuzsanna, Zsófia and Judit chess masters and grandmasters. * (1948–), musician * Tamás Király (1952–2013), fashion designer * Pál Molnár (1952–), journalist * Gábor Fodor (1962–), politician, minister * (1964–), film producer * József Balázs (1965–), politician * (1973–), poet * Gabriella Csépe (1973–), swimmer * (1975–), economist * Gábor Vona (1978–), politician * (1984–), psychologist * (1986–2013), mountaineer * Zsófia Kovács (1988–), triathlete

Twin towns – sister cities

Gyöngyös is twinned with: * Lendava, Slovenia (2019) * Luohe, China (2019) * Manisa, Turkey (2012) * Pieksämäki, Finland (2000) * Ringsted, Denmark (1973) * Sanok, Poland (2016) *

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

, Azerbaijan (2013) *

Štip Štip ( ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities. As of the 2021 census, the city of Štip had ...

, North Macedonia (2002) * Târgu Secuiesc, Romania (1995) * Zeltweg, Austria (1993)

Gallery

File:Gyöngyös, toronyház.jpg, Reisdental tower File:Gyongyos - Berze Gimnazium2.jpg, State gymnasium File:Gyöngyös, ferences templom 2024 01.jpg, Church of the Franciscans File:GyongyosZsinagogaFotoThalerTamas.jpg, Synagogue (closed) File:Gyöngyös, Szent Orbán-templom 2022 01.jpg, St. Urban Church

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyoengyoes Populated places in Heves County