Location

The village lays 7 km southwest of Szombathely

Szombathely

Szombathely is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria...

. Other neighbouring settlements are Ják

Ják

-The most complete Romanesque Church in Hungary:Ják is the parochial church of a village at the western boundary of Hungary. Originally the church has been built for a St. Benedictian Monastery. The village church was a rotunda in front of the facade of the main doorway of the Ják church.Both...

, Horvátlövő

Horvátlövo

Horvátlövő is a village in Vas county, Hungary....

, Vaskeresztes

Vaskeresztes

- External links :*...

, Felsőcsatár

Felsocsatár

-Location:The nearest villages are Narda, Vaskeresztes, Torony, Dozmat and Nárai in Hungary, and Burg in Burgenland, Austria....

, Torony

Torony

- External links :*...

 and Sé

Sé

Sé may refer to:*sé, the word 'he', or the number six in the Irish language.*Sé , a district of São Paulo, Brazil*Sé, Hungary, a village in Hungary*One of several parishes in Portugal:...

.

History

In the area of the village evidences of Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

 settlements, namely celt

Celt

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic tumuli have been found. In the roman age this area pertained the outskirts of Sabaria, with villas and plantations of the citizens of the colonia. Ruins of these along with crocks and roman coins have been found in the 19th century on one of the hills of the village.

Modern days' village was first mentioned in 1238 under the name terra Narey, and in 1257 as villa Naree. Later it was noted as Nara (1434), Nare (1447) and Naray (1468). In 1447 there was already a church consercated to Saint Thomas

Thomas the Apostle

Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...

 standing in the village. Ancient landlords of the village was the Náray family, whose members held high offices since the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. In 1549 besides them there were two more noble families in the village: the Sárfys and the Bassos. In 1583 the village was destroyed by fire along with the whole archives of the Náray family. After the Turkish havoc, the population was resettled mainly with Croat people. In 1598 the village had 13 cottars living in it, it's landowners were the Anyos, Kerekes, Bolday, Náray and Sárffy families. In 1627 the village had 22 one-lotted nobles, of which 17 belonged to the Náray family. A tax conscription in 1707 found 17 nobles and 3 widows of nobles in Nárai. A 1744 conscription mentions 25 villain

Villain

A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...

s and 33 cottars, while in 1774 there were 56 villains and 29 cottars living in the village. In 1746 the nobles of the village received a charter of affirmation of their rights from palatine János Pálffy

Johann Bernhard Stephan, Graf Pálffy ab Erdöd

Johann Bernhard Stephan, Graf Pálffy ab Erdöd was a Hungarian noble, Imperial Field marshal and Palatine of Hungary....

. In 1780 the village had 545 inhabitants.

According to András Vályi: "NÁRAJ. Nasrein. Mixed village in Vas county. Landlords are Skerlecz and other nobles, inhabitants are catholic, lays 1 mile from Szombathely, border is good, has several goods; it's ploughlands are also good, producing surplus for trade."

The chapel of the cemetery, built in 1826, is the only scheduled monument of the village. In 1832 26 house-owning cottars and 6 without own house. Several craftsmen (smith, taylor, weaver, butcher) were working in the village.

Elek Fényes wrote: "Náraj, hungarian village, in Vas county, one hour from Szombathely: 634 cath., 8 jew inhab. Cath. paroch. church. Field fertile march. L[and].l[ords] Lipics, Eörsy, Szabó, Pálffy etc."

The first cadastral map of the village was made in 1857.

In the monography of Vas county (1898): "Nárai old patritian village, with 152 houses an 867 r. cath. and luth., hungarian inhabitants. Post and telegraph in Szombathely. In its borders signs of roman buildings, pots and coins have been found. The Nárays took there noble name from here. Ancient nest of the Szabó family of Nárai."

At the end of the 19th century, many náraians emigrated to America because of the bad living conditions. 45 of the inhabintants were killed in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, a monument for them was set up on June 19, 1939. In the 2nd world war, 31 villagers were killed. Hostilities spared the village, it were rather the violence of the "liberating" soviet soldiers and a plane crashed in the outskirts of the village that left marks in the memories. Collective farm was funded in 1960. Community centre was opened on November 7, 1962.

Nárai is part of the suburbia of Szombathely. Because of suburbanisation, the population of the village is growing.