Gyöngyös (Hungarian pronunciation:[ˈɟøɲɟøʃ]) is a town in
Heves county in
Hungary, 80 km (50 mi) east of
Budapest. Situated at the foot of the
Sár-hegy and
Mátra mountains, 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]
Name
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.
History
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]
Sights to visit
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.
Sandor Kenyeres (born 1949), property developer, scientific philanthropist, and cultural visionary
Gedeon Richter (1872–1944), pharmacist, business magnate, philanthropist, founder of
Gedeon Richter plc, pioneer of the Hungarian pharmaceutical industry
László Polgár (born 1946), educational psychologist and developer of educational method to develop "stars" (whom he calls "geniuses"). He and his wife Klára used his method to develop daughters Zsuzsa
Susan Polgár, Zsófi
Sofia Polgár and
Judit Polgár into the world's leading chess players, Olympic champions. His paternal grandfather in
yöngyös was a great Talmudic scholar.