Gyöngyös
Town
Saint Bartholomew Church
Flag Coat of arms
Gyöngyös Location in Hungary
Coordinates: 47°47′07″N 19°55′32″E / 47.78528°N 19.92556°E / 47.78528; 19.92556
Country	Hungary
County	Heves
District	Gyöngyös
First mentioned	1299
Government
• Mayor	György Hiesz (MSZP)
Area
• Total	54.69 km2 (21.12 sq mi)
Population  (2022)
• Total	27,957
• Density	510/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	3200, 3221, 3232, 3233
Area code	37
Website	www.gyongyos.hu

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 located 8.4 km from the M3 motorway and 80.8 km far from Budapest. Gyöngyös is terminus of the (Nr. 85) Vámosgyörk–Gyöngyös railway line and the main road 3 lead across the town. Gyöngyös have a train station and a stop on the standard gauge railway line and two narrow gauge railways also start from here to the mountains for tourist purposes.

History

It is the home of numerous food production plants, including milk production and sausage factories. It is also the home of many vineyards on the slopes of the Sárhegy. The Art-Nouveau and Baroque buildings around the main square were reconstructed after a disastrous fire started in the local hospital in 1917,^[1] destroying a number of buildings housing important Jewish institutions and leaving in all around 8,000 homeless.^[2] The meaning of the town's name is "Made of Pearls"; Croats from Hungary call this city Đunđuš (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [ˈdʑûndʑuʃ]). The 16/17th-century historian Miklós Istvánffy wrote that the name of the town comes from the Hungarian word for mistletoe (fagyöngy literally "wood-pearl"), which is abundant in the local woods. Gyöngyös was home to a large Jewish community before World War II. In 1942, anti-Jewish laws were adopted in the province, affecting the Jews of the town.^[3] Following the occupation of Hungary by the German army in March 1944, 1800 Jews were locked in a ghetto. Some were saved by Hungarian Righteous Among the Nations personnel but most of them were deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered.^[4] There are many monuments and places of interest in the town, such as the Orczy mansion, home of the Mátra Museum, Saint Bartholomew's Church (Saint Bartholomew Church, Gyöngyös, Hungary) in the center of town, and its Treasury.^{[citation needed]}

Demographics

According the 2022 census, 88.3% of the population were of Hungarian ethnicity, 2.9% were Gypsies, 0.7% were Ukrainians, and 10.9% were did not wish to answer. The religious distribution was as follows: 34.7% Roman Catholic, 3.4% Calvinist, 14.2% non-denominational, and 43.9% did not wish to answer. The Gypsies and the Ruthenians have a local nationality government. 844 people live in Mátrafüred, 80 live in Mátraháza and 14 live in Kékestető other inner areas, furthermore 56 people live in 6 other outskirts. Mátrafüred (3232), Mátraháza (3233) and Kékestető (3221) have an postal code.^[5]

Population by years:^[6]

Politics

Mayors since 1990:

• 1990–1994: György Keresztes (KDNP)^[7]
• 1994–2002: Gyula Szabó (MSZP, after 1998 supported by the SZDSZ too)^[8][9]
• 2002–2010: György Hiesz (MSZP, until 2006 supported by the SZDSZ too)^[10][11]
• 2010–2014: László Faragó (Fidesz–KDNP)^[12]
• 2014–: György Hiesz (MSZP-DK,until 2019 supported by the Együtt, after 2019 supported by the Momentum too)^[13][14]

Notable people

• Pál Vay (1735–1800), field marshal
• János Hám [de] (1781–1857), Bishop of Szatmár
• Pál Bugát [hu] (1793–1865), doctor and linguistican
• Sándor Vachott [hu] (1818–1861), poet, brother of Imre Vahot
• Pál Almásy (1818–1882), politican
• Imre Vahot [hu] (1820–1879), writer, brother of Sándor Vachott
• József Zalár [hu] (1825–1914), poet, politican
• Károly Kamermayer (1829–1897), politican, educated in Gyöngyös
• Rudolf von Brudermann (1851–1941), general
• Soma Visontai (1854–1925), politican
• Gedeon Richter (1872–1944), pharmacist, grown up in Gyöngyös
• Béla Kerékjártó (1898–1946), mathematican
• Attila Szekrényessy (1913–1995), figure skater
• György Bálint (1919–2020), horticulturist
• István Tamási [ru] (1924–1995), horticulturist
• Balázs Balázs-Piri [ru] (1937–2014), grafican, caricaturist
• Margit Gréczi (1941–), painter
• László Polgár (1946–), chess teacher, psychologist, his three daughters are Zsuzsanna, Zsófia and Judit chess masters and grandmasters.
• Ferenc Debreczeni [hu] (1948–), musician
• Tamás Király (1952–2013), fashion designer
• Pál Molnár (1952–), journalist
• Gábor Fodor (1962–), politican, minister
• Gábor Kálomista [hu] (1964–), film producer
• József Balázs (1965–), politican
• Ferenc Bozók [hu] (1973–), poet
• Gabriella Csépe (1973–), swimmer
• Zsófia Lakatos [hu] (1975–), economist
• Gábor Vona (1978–), politican
• András Zelena [hu] (1984–), psychologist
• Péter Kiss [de] (1986–2013), mountaineer
• Zsófia Kovács (1988–), triathlete

Twin towns – sister cities

Gyöngyös is twinned with:^[15]

• Lendava, Slovenia (2019)
• Luohe, China (2019)
• Manisa, Turkey (2012)
• Pieksämäki, Finland (2000)
• Ringsted, Denmark (1973)
• Sanok, Poland (2016)
• Shusha, Azerbaijan (2013)
• Štip, North Macedonia (2002)
• Târgu Secuiesc, Romania (1995)
• Zeltweg, Austria (1993)

Gallery

• 
  Aerial photograph of the water tower, built in 1927.
• 
  Orczy palace of Orczy family
• 
  Gyöngyös 1938