Gyöngyöstarján is a village 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 Tarján 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 2219 (see Demographics). The village located 7.1 km from (Nr. 85) Vámosgyörk–Gyöngyös railway line, 7.5 km from the main road 3 and 15.0 km from the

M3 motorway M3 motorway may refer to: * M3 motorway or Riverside Expressway, part of the Pacific Motorway in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia * M3 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England * M3 motorway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary * M3 motorway in ...

. The closest train station with public transport in

Gyöngyös Gyöngyös is a town in Heves County, Hungary, 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 ...

History

The settlement was also inhabited in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, but its first written record dates back to 1275, when two settlements: Kistarján (Tharian Minor) and Nagyatarján (Tharian Maior) were formed by the sons of György Tarjáni. North of the settlement was still a castle at that time, in the place of which only stone ramparts remain today. From 1334 it was the property of

Thomas Szécsényi Thomas (I) Szécsényi (; died 1354) was a Hungarian powerful baron and soldier, who rose to prominence during King Charles I's war against the oligarchs. He belonged to the so-called "new aristocracy", who supported the king's efforts to restor ...

, then in 1461, when the family died out, it was inherited by Albert Losonci and János Guthi Országh. The certificates mention it as 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 1570, but this title was later dropped by the settlement. The reference to the conversion of St. Hubertus first appeared on Gyöngyöstarján's 1571 seal, which can also be seen on today's coat of arms. At that time, 11 families lived in the settlement, but the village burned down in 1596. The village school began its operation with 170 students in 1660. Gyöngyöstarján became the property of Sámuel Haller after the Ottoman rule. In the 18th century, the Haller family built a baroque-style church and parish, as well as a 542-meter-long

wine cellar A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control s ...

. Wine production is still decisive in the life of the settlement. In the 19th century, the village belonged to the Forgách,

Esterházy The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, durin ...

and families, at which time a

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

mine, a brick factory, a

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 ...

and sand mine, a

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

were established, and

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

s along the streams. György Borhy built a hunting lodge north of the village in 1926, which is now an event center. Between 1961 and 1975, the settlement had its own

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

, at which time the size of the wine production area was increased. In the 1970s, a community center, a kindergarten, a doctor's office, and a home for the elderly were built. In the 1980s, the school and the post office were built and the creeks were regulated. A bottling plant was established in 1984, which was destroyed in a fire after 1990. In the 1990s, department stores, a pharmacy and a sports field were built.

Demographics

According the 2022 census, 91.9% of the population were of Hungarian ethnicity and 8.0% were did not wish to answer. The religious distribution was as follows: 47.8%

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 ...

, 2.7%

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 ...

, 0.7%

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

8.7% non-denominational, and 37.1% did not wish to answer. 15 people live in a resting place 3.0 km far away the centre of the village. Population by years:

Politics

''Mayors since 1990'': * 1990–2006: Péter Szamosvölgyi (independent) * 2006–2019: Károly Mihály Nagy (independent) * 2019–: Viktor Kiss (independent)

References

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