Ipolydamásd - Budapest határ

The village of less than 500 inhabitants today is extremely rich in archaeological sites. It was first mentioned in official documents in the 13th century. The exact date of the construction of Damásdi Castle is not known, but fragments of 12th century vessels have been found among the ruins. The first major wave of construction took place at the end of the reign of Károly (Charles) I King of Hungary, who visited the site at least ten times between 1339 and 1342. During these years it was referred to in charters as a royal hunting ground. His son, King Nagy Lajos (Louis) I of Hungary, visited Damásd less frequently, issuing a total of two charters between 1345 and 1376. The castle was most probably built to provide comfort for the monarchs who frequently crossed the Danube on their way from Visegrád, the royal capital at the time, and occupied Damásd. After King Luxemburgi Zsigmond (Sigismund of Luxembourg) moved the royal seat to Buda between 1405 and 1408, making Visegrád a provincial royal residence, and the role of Damásd reduced. Esztergom fell in the war against the Turks in 1543, followed a year later by Vác. From then on, the Turks ruled the castle and nearby villages. In 1581, the Turks built a palisade on the site of the former castle, which was attacked several times in the following years. In 1594 the castle was still inhabited by Turks, but in 1595 Chief General Miklós Pálffy asked for the castle to be supplied with soldiers. In 1626, the Turks occupied the castle again under the leadership of Pasha Murteza of Buda. At the end of this year, Gábor Bethlen and Ferdinand II reached an agreement in Nicolsburg, whereby some points of the peace agreement were amended to stipulate that Damásd must be returned to the Turks. In the following year, the "Peace of Szőny" was concluded with the Turks, who nevertheless continued to raid and pillage the castles. In July 1641, the Turks struck again in the absence of the castle captain László Bercsényi, and occupied the castle, which was illegal under the Treaty of Szőny. Under the terms of the agreement, they had to withdraw again. This time the castle was set on fire and burnt to the ground, except for the walls. The military role of the castle was thus ended. After the Turks left, there was talk of rebuilding the castle, but this never materialised and the stones were slowly scattered. After 1641, the castle was never rebuilt.

There was a settlement on the site of Vác as early as the 8th century, the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. According to a legend from 1074, the area was covered by a forest in which a hermit named Vác lived, hence the name of the town. The Triumphal Arc is the only such building in Hungary. It was built in 1764 in honour of Maria Theresa. The gate is said to have taken two weeks to build, while other sources say it took five months. It bears the portraits of Maria Theresa, Francis I, Emperor of Austria, Archdukes Ferdinand and Miksa, Joseph II and Lipót II. Legend has it that when Maria Theresa arrived here by boat on the Danube from the national assembly in Bratislava, she was met by the saluting cannon fire of soldiers dressed in Hungarian regalia. When the Queen heard that the Triumphal Arc had been completed in such a short time, she did not dare to cross it, but got out of the coach and went around it on foot. A couple of weeks later, when she left Vác, she saw that the Triumphal Arc was still standing, so she passed under it calmly. Two other legendary stories are linked to the gate. The first is that a year after the gate was erected, on the day Emperor Francis died in Innsbruck, an image of him in the walls of the Vác Stone Gate was struck by the thunderbolt. On the same day, Bishop Antal Migazzi of Vác, who ordered the construction of the Triumphal Arc, was celebrating a mass in St Stephen's Church in Vienna, and during the mass the great crucifix of the altar fell on his head.

Although construction of the Baroque and Rococo church began in 1699, it was not completed until 1755. Its name derives from the fact that it belonged to the Dominican Order, the so-called "White Friars". Its greatest attraction is the accidental discovery of a bricked-up door and the forgotten hatch behind it during the 1990s renovation. The passage leads to a crypt under the church tower. 262 coffins were discovered in the catacombs of the church building. In addition, archaeologists have found 18th century mummies and beautifully painted coffins. In the painted coffins, they found 18th century mummies, naturally mummified and dressed in funerary clothes. The find is unique, as the carcasses are very well preserved. An exhibition entitled Memento Mori is on display in the basement of the house at 19 March 15 Square.

Several finds from the Stone Age - hammers, potsherds and stone axes - have been excavated from the soil of Sződliget. The village of 4500 inhabitants today is named after the head of the Sződ clan, whose name refers to the blondness of the village. There is also a black spot in the history of Hungarian literature connected with the place. In 1944, Miklós Radnóti, Hungarian poet of Jewish origin, received his call-up order and went to Vác, from where they marched to Sződliget on foot. From there he wrote five letters and five postcards to his wife. He was then taken by train from Vác to Bor, from where they marched towards Hungary. He wrote his poems in this notebook during these times. Radnóti stayed in Sződliget from 20-27 May 1944, when he received his third call-up for labour service. He also wrote letters from Sződliget to his wife, Fanni Gyarmati. After reaching Sződliget, the march walked back to Vác, from where they were taken by train to Bor in Serbia. On 17 September 1944, they set off on foot in a forced march towards Hungary, during which time he wrote the poems in the notebook, which were discovered long after the poet's death. By late October and early November, Radnóti’s health had worsened, and on 4 November the soldiers killed him and several of his companions near the town of Győr. As word of the execution spread among the locals, the mass grave was excavated in June 1946. It was then, after 20 months of decay, that a notebook containing ten poems, known since then as the Bor Notebook, was found in the ground among the poet's belongings. The bronze statue by Ferenc Bíró depicts this Bor Notebook as it is open, with the poem Gyökér ("Root") on the pages. On the right side we can see the poem with the poet's handwriting, while on the left side it is in a printed form.

The area of Göd, now a town of nearly 20,000 inhabitants, was already inhabited in the Stone Age. Several architectural monuments have been preserved in the settlement, including the Tost-Wigner Villa. The building was built in an eclectic style. It was originally used as a holiday home, first as the mansion of Gyula Tost, Minister of Public Education. It was later bought by the family of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Jenő Wigner. Today it serves as the building of the Piarist Vocational School. In the garden there are ornamental plants and an old black pine tree. Since 2006 we can also see a memorial statue of the Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian physicist Jenő Wigner. The reason is that the physicist's father, leather manufacturer Antal Wigner, bought the building in 1917, so one of the most famous Hungarian theoretical physicists spent many summers here as a child. However, the property was taken from the family under the Jewish laws of 1944. Jenő Wigner then moved to the United States. In 1949-1950, the Szabadságharcos Szövetség (Freedom Fighters' Association) moved to the villa; its organizations, under the direction of the Hungarian Communist Party, carried out political education work. In 1952 the building became state property, and since 2008 it has been occupied by the Piarist Vocational School. Today, the vocational school provides Christian and vocational education for young people who could not enrol in high-schools.

There was a settlement on the site of Vác as early as the 8th century, the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. According to a legend from 1074, the area was covered by a forest in which a hermit named Vác lived, hence the name of the town. The Triumphal Arc is the only such building in Hungary. It was built in 1764 in honour of Maria Theresa. The gate is said to have taken two weeks to build, while other sources say it took five months. It bears the portraits of Maria Theresa, Francis I, Emperor of Austria, Archdukes Ferdinand and Miksa, Joseph II and Lipót II. Legend has it that when Maria Theresa arrived here by boat on the Danube from the national assembly in Bratislava, she was met by the saluting cannon fire of soldiers dressed in Hungarian regalia. When the Queen heard that the Triumphal Arc had been completed in such a short time, she did not dare to cross it, but got out of the coach and went around it on foot. A couple of weeks later, when she left Vác, she saw that the Triumphal Arc was still standing, so she passed under it calmly. Two other legendary stories are linked to the gate. The first is that a year after the gate was erected, on the day Emperor Francis died in Innsbruck, an image of him in the walls of the Vác Stone Gate was struck by the thunderbolt. On the same day, Bishop Antal Migazzi of Vác, who ordered the construction of the Triumphal Arc, was celebrating a mass in St Stephen's Church in Vienna, and during the mass the great crucifix of the altar fell on his head.

The town of 44 000 inhabitants is the second most populous town in Pest County. It has protected areas for nature conservation and bird protection. It is also famous for its horse sport, which dates back to 1889. One of the most famous of its cultural buildings is the Church of St. Michael, which is a ’church in the church’. It was built by the former landowner of Dunakeszi, Count Antal Grassalkovich, royal chamberlain, and consecrated on 29 September 1756, St. Michael's Day. By the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the church building was too small for the Hungarian-speaking local Catholic community. As a result, in 1935, after nearly two centuries, the parish priest asked architect Gyula Oszvaldik to draw up plans for a new church. However, the "Old Church", which had been outgrown by local believers, was not demolished, but enlarged, retaining the original small church, which is now the left-side aisle of the present church. The new church was completed in 1936-1937 in neo-baroque style. The patron saint of the church is the archangel St. Michael, the angel of loyalty and protection of the faith, who led Lucifer to hell as punishment for his rebellion against the Lord.

Now a glider and sport airport, the runway has an adventurous past and has been captured on film. The area is an important nature reserve and home to the largest population of European ground squirrels in the country. Before the World War II, the present site of the airport was part of the horse racecourse, but in late 1944, some of the stables were demolished and the Germans settled in part of the airport. The Russian troops occupied the area following the Germans’ withdrawal. After the Russian military occupation of Dunakeszi at the end of 1944, the Soviet army developed and enlarged the airfield, from which planes were launched to bomb Budapest. Later, the pilots of Malév Hungarian Airlines were trained here, but in addition to flight training exercises, it also served as the venue for many cultural events in the 1950s and 1960s. After that, the airport included a flying school, a repair and maintenance workshop, and a production site for legendary gliders. From 1957, the director was Ernő Rubik, who was to become world famous for his magic cube; he developed and tested his Gébics model aircraft at the Dunakeszi airfield. After a few years, the machines were also used for agricultural purposes, and then gliding and sport flying took over.