Idea # 266 – Visit the picturesque village of Holloko
The old village of Hollókö is a palocze colonysituated in the county of Nógrád in the North of Hungary, in approximately 100 kilometres in the Northeast of Budapest. The old village, which was voluntarily protected, is a testimony living on the rural life such as it was before the agricultural revolution of the XXth century. The whole rural architecture which extends over 145 hectares is made of 55 houses with residential usage, by farms and by a church. The castle is attested from 1310.
This castle played a decisive role in the feudal wars paloczes and hussites, and was of use as protection to the village ruins of which were discovered not far from its bulwarks. Partially destroyed at the beginning of the XVIIIth century, there is one of the castles the best the preserved by the North of Hungary. At the end of the Ottoman occupation, in 1683, the castle and the village were finally abandoned, and the current village becomes established below. It developed gradually in the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries. As it was the custom in this region, the first generation of its inhabitants settled down on both sides of the central street. In this village-street, the following generations built their house behind small domestic lots, by enlarging so gradually the constructed zone.
Barns were built away from the village, at the end of fields, following the traditions “ Palóc ” (Hungarian: palóc). For the anecdote, this ethnic group, probably of Slovak origin, had the peculiarity to separate well the marriage and the feelings. The typical traditional architectural forms and materials that Paloczes use, create a harmony with the landscapes surroundings and the natural environment characterized by fields in strips, orchards, vineyards, prairies and wood, which brought to a classification of the village on the list of the world patrimony of UNESCO.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Holloko, Hungary
Larger Map
