Mátraballa 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 ...

, 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 range, beside of the Balla creek. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 668 (see Demographics). The village located 18.8 km from the main road 21 and 40.8 km from the M25 expressway. The (Nr. 84) Kisterenye–Kál-Kápolna railway line going across the village. Although the settlement has its own railway station, public transport on the railway line ceased on . The closest train station with public transport is in

Bátonyterenye Bátonyterenye is a town in Nógrád County, Hungary, under the Mátra mountain range, beside of the Zagyva river. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 11,296 (see Demographics). The town located beside of the (Nr. 81) Hatvan–Fiľakovo ra ...

18.9 km away.

History

The first documented mention of the settlement was in the form of ''Ballya'', in 1447 it was already known as ''Barla''. Due to the destruction by the

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

, it became depopulated in the 16th century. The owner of the village was , then , and then the crown. King Maximilian pledged it in 1575 to the chief captain of Eger, Baron Christoph von Ungnad. His widow donated it to her second husband, Count Sigismund Forgách, and then in 1603 Baron Sigismund Rákóczi bought it. After several changes of ownership, the other part of the village was sold by Count Ferenc Wesselényi to György Semsey in 1654, who obtained a royal donation for it. The settlement's church was built of stone in 1696. Count Antal Grassalkovich acquired the right of ownership over the village from 1730. The built the

clergy house A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

in 1806, which still stands today as a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. became the new owner of the village in 1847. The settlement also created a

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 ...

, which preserves the objects of daily use in the village. The writer spent his childhood in the settlement and later wrote several works about the everyday life of

people. The monument to the Millennium Deer, by Róbert Király, was built in 2000 on a 30-ton stone.

Demographics

According the 2022 census, 93.0% of the population were

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, 0.6% 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 , ...

and 7.0% did not wish to answer. The religious distribution was as follows: 58.9%

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 ...

, 3.6%

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 ...

, 8.9% non-denominational, and 25.9% did not wish to answer. 670 people lived in the village and only 1 person on a farm. Population by years:

Politics

''Mayors since 1990'': * 1990–1994: János Bíró (independent) * 1994–2014: János László Forgó (independent) * 2014–2019: Róbert Dudás (

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 ...

) * 2019–2024: Henriett Gyuricza, Mrs. Pádár (independent) * 2024–: Péter Mayer ( MEMO)

References

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