Mátraháza is a resort area within the town of

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 ...

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 ...

, situated in 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. Mátraháza has its own postal code, 3233, and is located 14.4 km from the center of Gyöngyös. The highest peak in Hungary,

Kékes Kékes is Hungary's highest mountain, at above sea level in the Mátra mountain range. It is Hungary's third most popular tourist attraction, after Lake Balaton and the Danube, and has a number of skiing pistes. The Kékestető TV Tower s ...

, is 3.7 km from Mátraháza. As of the 2022 census, the population of Mátraháza is 80.

History

As the first step in the development of the resort, the Mátra Association created a marked

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

in the Kalló Valley in 1888, at the end of which Pál Klimó established a forest rest area. In 1907, the construction of the road connecting

with

Parád Parád is a large village in Heves County, Hungary, in the Mátra mountain range, the bottom of the northern side of the Kékes peak, beside of the Parádi-Tarna creek. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 1862 (see Demographics). The vill ...

was completed, and the workers' house was acquired by the Mátra Association, led by , and converted into a

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

. Between 1927 and 1930, the Mátra Association built the Kékesalja Hostel. The lung

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

and the road leading to

were completed in 1932, and a ski slope was created from Kékes to the Kékesalja Hostel. The

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

resort was built in 1933. The Patrona Hungariae chapel was built in 1942, and its wooden

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

door was created in 1999 by the sculptor István Hegedűs. The Kékesalja Hostel became a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

resort in 1949 and was renamed the Sports Hotel. In 1958, the Vörösmarty Hostel was built, named after the poet

Mihály Vörösmarty Mihály Vörösmarty (archaically English: Michael Vorosmarthy 1 December 180019 November 1855) was a Hungarians, Hungarian poet and dramatist who lived and worked in the Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Kingdom of Hungary. Biography He was ...

, the first known tourist of

, who wrote a travel report in 1829 about his hike. The Hanák Kolos Hostel was demolished in 1960 and replaced by a

sports field A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in Australian, American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For mo ...

and a

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

. A

ski jumping hill A ski jumping hill is a sports venue used for ski jumping. They vary in size from temporary handmade snow structures to permanent competition venues. At the top is an in-run where the jumper runs down to generate sufficient speed, before reaching ...

was also created in 1960, with a jump record of 83.5 meters, but the facility became unusable by 1980. After 1990, the Sports Hotel closed, then reopened as Hotel Pagoda, but later closed again. The Vörösmarty Hostel and the bus station are stamping places for the

National Blue Trail The National Blue Trail (in Hungarian: ''Országos Kéktúra'', short: ''OKT'') is a national trail in Hungary, for most of its length part of the European Long Distance Walking Route E4. The route starts atop the Írott-kő Mountain (884 m) ...

References

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

History

See also

References