Hollókő () is a village in northern

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 ...

, located in

Nógrád County Nógrád (, ; ) is a counties of Hungary, county () of Hungary. It sits on the northern edge of Hungary and borders Slovakia. Description Nógrád county lies in northern Hungary. It shares borders with Slovakia and the Hungarian counties Pest ( ...

. The village, which was constructed in the 13th century and developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, is a well-preserved ethnographic village of 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 ...

people, with traditional wooden architecture and layout of buildings, farms, and orchards. Because of its exceptional preservation and testimony to rural life before the arrival of modern farming practices, the village was inscribed as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1987. Its name means "Raven-stone" in Hungarian.

Location

The village is located in

Nógrád county Nógrád (, ; ) is a counties of Hungary, county () of Hungary. It sits on the northern edge of Hungary and borders Slovakia. Description Nógrád county lies in northern Hungary. It shares borders with Slovakia and the Hungarian counties Pest ( ...

, approximately 91.1 kilometres northeast 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 ...

, the capital of

. It lies in a valley of Cserhát Mountains, surrounded by low peaks. The natural environment is protected.

History

In the middle of the 13th century, in the aftermath of the

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

, construction of Hollókő castle first began as a means to protect the area against future attacks. At this time, the area around Hollókő was held by the Kacsics noble clan. The castle was first mentioned in records in 1310. The original village (now in ruins) was built just below the castle walls. The Ottomans captured the castle in 1552 and for the next 150 years, control alternated between Ottoman and Hungarian forces. At the end of the Ottoman era (1683) the castle and the village were finally abandoned and the present village grew up below. Many of the existing houses were first built around this time. In 1782, present-day Hollókő was still a one-street village, but during the 18th and 19th centuries, the village expanded, and by 1885, there was no more available land to cultivate and expand. The houses, which contain wood in their structure, have had to be rebuilt many times throughout the years due to periodic fires, the last being in 1909. In 1987, the village, castle ruins, and surrounding area were inscribed as a

Layout and Architecture

As a protected village, Hollókő retains many of the architectural traditions of the Palóc people. The village blends into traditional strip farming, interspersed by orchards, vineyards, meadows and woods. According to the Palóc custom, the oldest houses were built on either side of the main street, and subsequent generations built their houses behind them. The barns are located away from the village at the edge of the surrounding fields. The wooden buildings are

half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

, with whitewashed plaster walls and porches covered by overhanging roofs on the street side.

Sights

* The protected part of the village –

Lajos Kossuth Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, r ...

and

Sándor Petőfi Sándor Petőfi ( []; né Petrovics; ; ; 1 January 1823 – most likely 31 July 1849) was a Hungarian poet and Classical Liberalism, liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary's national poet, and was one of the key figures of the Hungari ...

streets, 67 houses * Village Museum * Post Museum * Doll Museum * Craft Printing Museum * Hungarian Folk Dance House * Basket Shop * Arts & Tea House * Paloc PlayHouse * Borpatika * The House Of The Weavers * St. Martin Roman Catholic church * Hollókő castle * School Master's House (Oskolamester háza)

Picture gallery

File:Hollókő - Castle.jpg, Hollókő castle File:Holloko1.jpg, Hollókő village File:Castle of Holloko with Panorama.JPG, The castle of Hollókő File:CivertanHolloko (2).jpg, Aerial view of the castle

References

External links

Old Village of Hollókő and its Surroundings
UNESCO Collection on Google Arts and Culture
Aerial photography: Hollókő

Best Things to do in Holloko, Hungary - Asiana Circus

History, pictures and google map of Hollókő Castle
Populated places in Nógrád County World Heritage Sites in Hungary Tourist attractions in Nógrád County {{Nograd-geo-stub