Gyöngyöspata 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 Danka creek, under the

Mátra The Mátra () is a mountain range in northern Hungary, between the towns Gyöngyös and Eger. The country's highest peak, Kékestető (1014 m), belongs to this mountain range. Formation Pre-volcanic formations The formation of the Mátra ...

mountain ranges. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 2338 (see Demographics). The village located 9.1 km from (Nr. 81)

Hatvan–Fiľakovo railway Hatvan– Fiľakovo railway is a non-electrified railway connecting Hatvan, Hungary with Fiľakovo, Slovakia. Once a major connecting railway, the line currently sees only local Regionalbahn service and local goods traffic. It is double tracke ...

line, 10.5 km from the main road 21 and 19.7 km from the M3 motorway. The closest train station with public transport in

Szurdokpüspöki Szurdokpüspöki is a village in Nógrád County, Hungary, beside of the Zagyva river, under the Mátra mountain ranges. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 1756 (see Demographics). The village located beside of the (Nr. 81) Hatvan–Fiľa ...

History

The settlement is located in an area inhabited since the 7th century. According to Anonymus, it gets its name from Chief Pata, who is the ancestor of the later King Sámuel and the Aba clan. Pata had a castle built from burned

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

on the hill above the settlement. Next to the castle, St. Peter's church was built in 1010, which became the seat of the

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

. The settlement is mentioned for the first time in 1234 in a deed that has survived to this day. In 1241, the

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

destroyed the church. The church of

Nativity of Mary The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, Marymas or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus. The modern Biblical canon does not record Mary's birth. The ...

built in the present-day center of the settlement around 1305. Until the 14th century, Gyöngyöspata was the second most populous settlement in Heves county, which 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 rura ...

. In the 1440s, the area came under the rule of Jan Jiskra, who entrusted the defense of the castle to

Hussites upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century upright=1.2, The Lands of the Bohemian Crown during the Hussite Wars. The movement began during the Prag ...

mercenaries. King Matthias I occupied and destroyed the castle on June 8, 1460. The king granted Gyöngyöspata a tax exemption, a copy of the donation letter is kept in the church, together with the

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...

made to commemorate the king's victory. The church was rebuilt in the

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

in the 15th century. After the Ottoman rule between 1554 and 1685, the church was decorated with an 8 m high carved

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

altar, on which the descendants of

Jesse Jesse may refer to: People * Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible * Jesse (given name), including a list of people * Jesse (surname), a list of people Music * ''Jesse'' (album), a 2003 album by Jesse Powell * "Jesse" (s ...

can be seen in gilded painted statues on the

gilded Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...

branches of a

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

tree. In the center of the tree is an altar picture of Mary's birth. ''Patai

Graduale The gradual ( or ) is a certain chant or hymn in liturgical Christian worship. It is practiced in the Catholic Mass, Lutheran Divine Service, Anglican service and other traditions. It gets its name from the Latin (meaning "step") because it ...

'', which contains the notes of the cantor of Pata, is also exhibited in the church. In 1871, the settlement lost its status as a market town. However, the

winemaking Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its Ethanol fermentation, fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over ...

still determines the economy of the settlement. The memory of traditional dress is preserved in the

Palóc The Palóc are a subgroup of Hungarians in Northern Hungary and southern Slovakia. While the Palóc have retained distinctive traditions, including a very divergent dialect of Hungarian, the Palóc are also ethnic Hungarians by general consensu ...

folk museum A folk museum is a museum that deals with folk culture and heritage. Such museums cover local life in rural communities. A folk museum typically displays historical objects that were used as part of the people's everyday lives. Examples of such ...

. The notable native of the town is the writer (1882–1953). Gyöngyöspata was granted town status on July 15, 2013.

Demographics

According the 2022 census, 92.0% of the population were of Hungarian ethnicity, 4.9% were

Gypsies {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , ...

, 0.6% were

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, 0.5% were

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

and 8.0% were did not wish to answer. The religious distribution was as follows: 47.1%

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 ...

, 2.5%

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 ...

, 12.1% non-denominational, and 36.0% did not wish to answer. The

have a local nationality government. 9 people live in 3 farms. Population by years:

Politics

''Mayors since 1990'': * 1990–2006: Károly Molnár (independent) * 2006–2010: József Molnár † (independent) * 2010–2011: László Tábi (independent) * 2011–2014: János Oszkár Juhász (

Jobbik The Jobbik – Movement for a Better Hungary (, ), commonly known as Jobbik (), and previously known as Conservatives () between 2023 and 2024, is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Hungary, political party in Hungary. Ori ...

) * 2014–: Mrs. László Hevér (

Fidesz–KDNP Fidesz–KDNP Party Alliance (), formerly also known as the Alliance of Hungarian Solidarity (), is a right-wing national conservative political alliance of two political parties in Hungary, the Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz) and ...

) In 2011, far-right

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

groups invaded the settlement and kept the

living there in fear for months. According to their claim, due to the increase in the number of crimes, they have to perform voluntary police duties. The incident led to the resignation of the mayor. Later the police eventually arrested several extremists. In the following years, 63 Gypsy students received compensation due to school segregation revealed.

References

Populated places in Heves County {{Heves-geo-stub