Mátraverebély is a village 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 ( ...

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 the

Zagyva The Zagyva is a river in Hungary. This 179 km long river drains a basin of 5,677 km2. The source is near Salgótarján in Nógrád county. It flows through the towns of Bátonyterenye, Pásztó, Hatvan and Jászberény and flows into t ...

river, between the

Cserhát Cserhát () is a mountain range in Hungary, part of the North Hungarian Mountains, divided between Pest and Nógrád counties. Its highest point is the Karancs with an elevation of 729 metres above sea level. Cserhát stretches from Cserh ...

and

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 1752 (see Demographics). The main road 21 goes across the village, which located beside of the (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 and 38.4 km away from the M3 motorway. The village has its own railway stop with public transport.

History

The name of the settlement come from the

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

word ''vrábel'' (sparrow). The first documented mention of the village was in the papal tithe list of 1337 under the name ''Verebély'', where the church, which was built in the 12th century in the

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

, is already mentioned. The church was expanded to three naves 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 ...

after 1380, when the settlement 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 ...

. Stories about the healing power of Szentkút (''holy well'') have been known since the 12th century. Szentkút is one of the oldest and most visited shrines of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

in Hungary. Péter Verebi, the ruler of the settlement, managed to obtain the right to hold a national fair from

King Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1437. He was elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) in 1410, and was also King of Bohemia from 1419, as well as prince-elect ...

in 1400, and an

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

license from

Pope Boniface IX Pope Boniface IX (; ; c. 1350 – 1 October 1404, born Pietro Tomacelli) was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death, in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope during the Western Schism.Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of t ...

. Péter Verebi was buried in the northern aisle of the church in 1403. Due to the Ottoman devastation, the village is depopulated and the church is damaged, which is restored in

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 ...

style after the resettlement. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

was made in

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. The village was owned by the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

between 1733 and 1756, and then bought by the family. A

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

built in Baroque style by the new owner can still be seen today. The construction of the two-tower baroque

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

in Szentkút was completed in 1763, financed by the and Almásy families. The main altar, the pulpit and the statues are

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

, the side altar is in the Copf style. The statue of

on the high altar, on the other hand, is in the Baroque style. Franciscan monks settled near the church in 1772, who built

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

accommodation, a calvary, and a chapel. In addition to the Franciscans, the

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

s appeared who dug caves into the mountainside. Today's

Calvary Chapel Calvary Chapel is an international association of charismatic evangelical churches, with origins in Pentecostalism. It maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. Beg ...

was built in 1933.

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

raised the church to the rank of

basilica minor Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural ...

and granted the privilege of full indulgence for every day of the year. The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

classified it as a ''national place of worship'', renovated it and in 2015 created an open-air mass place. Mátraverebély is a stamping place of 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) ...

Demographics

According the 2022 census, 89.0% of the population were of Hungarian ethnicity, 12.3% 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 11.0% were did not wish to answer. The religious distribution was as follows: 41.3%

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 ...

, 1.7%

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 ...

, 0.9%

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

, 16.1% non-denominational, and 39.0% did not wish to answer. 1503 people live in the central inner area and three other inner area exist: ''Kányástelep, Kányáspuszta and Szentkút'' with 210, 34 and 11 inhabitants and 2.6, 2.9 and 5.6 km away from the village. On the only farm also live 8 persons. Population by years:

Politics

''Mayors since 1990'': * 1990–1998: Sándor Oláh (independent) * 1998–1999: Mrs. József Bakonyi ( MP) * 2000–2010: Attila Nagy ( MSZP) * 2010–2014: Mária Seres ( CM) * 2014–: Attila Nagy (independent)

Gallery

Szent István bazilika 2014, Mátraverebély-Szentkúti szobor, FotoThalerTamas.jpg,

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

statue of Grace Mátraverebély, római katolikus templom 2022 11.jpg,

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...

church in Mátraverebély MatraverebelySzentkutFotoThalerTamas13.jpg, Saint Ladislaus fresco in Szentkút

References

Populated places in Nógrád County {{Nograd-geo-stub