Balassagyarmat
Encyclopedia
Balassagyarmat is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in northern Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. It was the seat of the Nógrád comitatus
Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)
A county is the name of a type of administrative units in the Kingdom of Hungary and in Hungary from the 10th century until the present day....

.

History

The town's coat-of-arms bears the Latin inscription "Civitas Fortissima" (the bravest city), because in January 1919 Czechoslovak troops crossed the demarcation line delineated in December 1918 in preparation for the Treaty of Trianon
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...

, illegally occupying towns south of the line, including Balassagyarmat. The local population managed to push back the Czechoslovak troops in a serious military encounter in which many of the civilian participants lost their lives.

The heroics of the town's people against the illegal and unprovoked invasion has been immortalised in the Kárpátia(hu) song "Civitas Fortissima"

Geography

The town lies on the left bank of the Ipoly
Ipel
Ipeľ or Ipoly is a 232 km long river in Slovakia and Hungary, tributary to the river Danube. Its source is in central Slovakia in the Slovenské rudohorie Mountains...

 river, which marks the state border with Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

.

Demographics

In 2001 Balassagyarmat had 18,474 inhabitants. The population were homogeneous with Hungarian majority (Magyars 98%, Roma 2%), 100% of the total population speak Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

 as their mother tongue.

Famous people

  • Balassi (Balassa
    Balassa
    Balassa is a Hungarian surname and may refer to:* Bálint Balassa, Hungarian poet * Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award, Hungarian literary award* Béla Balassa, Hungarian economist who gave his name to the Balassa-Samuelson effect...

    )
    family (means "from Balassa")
    • János Balassi
      • Bálint Balassi (aka Balassa)
        Bálint Balassi
        Bálint Balassi baron of Kékkő and Gyarmat, , was a multilingual Hungarian Renaissance lyric poet, who wrote mostly in Hungarian...

         (1554, Zólyom - 1594), "Baron of Kékkő and (Balassa-)Gyarmat"
  • Josef Dobrovský
    Josef Dobrovský
    Josef Dobrovský was a Bohemian philologist and historian, one of the most important figures of the Czech national revival.- Life & Work :...

     (1753–1829), a Czech philologist and historian
  • Márk Rózsavölgyi
    Márk Rózsavölgyi
    Márk Rózsavölgyi Rosenthal, 1789 Balassagyarmat – 23 January 1848, Pest) was a Hungarian composer and violinist. He has been called "the father of csárdás".- Life and music :...

     (1789–1848)
  • Rabbi Maier Zipser
    Maier Zipser
    Maier Zipser, Hungarian rabbi; born at Balassagyarmat, 14 August 1815; died at Rechnitz, 10 December 1869. He studied in various yeshibot, among his teachers being Wolf Boskowitz and Maier Eisenstadt; and he acquired a secular education partly through the assistance of Löw Schwab and partly through...

     (1815–1869, Rechnitz
    Rechnitz
    Rechnitz is a municipality in Burgenland in the Oberwart district in Austria with a population of 3,133.- Geography :The municipality is located in southern Burgenland, on the border with Hungary, near Bozsok and Szombathely...

    )
  • Károly Bérczy (1821–1867)
  • Iván Nagy
    Ivan Nagy
    Ivan Nagy may refer to:* Ivan Böszörményi-Nagy , Hungarian-American psychiatrist* Ivan Nagy , Hungarian-American film director...

     (1824–1898), genealogist, heraldic, historian (hu)
  • János Zádori
    János Zádori
    János Zádori was a Hungarian Ecclesiastical writer.- Life :He was born in Katloez, county of Neutra in Hungary....

     (1831, Kátlovce
    Kátlovce
    Kátlovce is a village and municipality of Trnava District in the Trnava region of Slovakia.-External links:*http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html...

     - 1887), a Hungarian Ecclesiastical writer, livd here
  • Albert Kenessey
    Albert Kenessey
    Dr. Albert Kenessey . Noted Surgeon-in-Chief and Director of the City Hospital of Balassagyarmat in Hungary, which now bears his name; Honorary Freeman of the city of Balassagyarmat; recipient of the Gold Medal of the Order of Labour of the Hungarian State.-Early life and education:Dr...

     (1889–1973)
  • Lőrinc Szabó (de Gáborján)
    Lorinc Szabó
    Lőrinc Szabó de Gáborján was a Hungarian poet and literary translator.-Biography:He was born in Miskolc as the son of an engine driver, Lőrinc Szabó sr., and Ilona Panyiczky. The family moved to Balassagyarmat when he was 3 years old. He attended school in Balassagyarmat and Debrecen. He studied...

     (1900, Miskolc - 1957), a poet and literary translator, lived here
  • Lajos Ligeti (1902–1987), orientalist (hu)
  • Ilona Tokay (1907–1988)
  • Ernő Zórád (1911–2004) (hu)
  • Károly Jobbágy (1921–1998) (hu)
  • Iván Markó (born 1947), dancer (hu)
  • Zoltán Szlezák
    Zoltán Szlezák
    Zoltán Szlezák is a retired Hungarian football player who has spent most of his career playing for Újpest FC. He was considered a fan's favourite in Újpest...

     (born 1967), football player
  • Orsolya Szatmári (born 1975) (hu)
  • Sigmund Streisinger (born 1880-1942) (hu) - Famous glazer; moved to the United States in the early 1900s

See also

  • Slovenské Ďarmoty
    Slovenské Darmoty
    Slovenské Ďarmoty is a village and municipality in the Veľký Krtíš District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia.-External links:*http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html...

  • Salesians in Hungary
    Salesians in Hungary
    - Short History of the Province :The Hungarian Salesian Province, named after Saint Stephan, is the smallest Salesian province, although the Salesian Order is the third largest order in the world....

  • Balassa
    Balassa
    Balassa is a Hungarian surname and may refer to:* Bálint Balassa, Hungarian poet * Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award, Hungarian literary award* Béla Balassa, Hungarian economist who gave his name to the Balassa-Samuelson effect...

  • Balassagyarmati Fegyház és Börtön (hu)
  • Balassagyarmati evangélikus templom (hu)
  • Palóc Múzeum (hu)
  • Balassagyarmat tömegközlekedése (hu)
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