Balatonszepezd is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Veszprém county Veszprém (, ; ) is an administrative county (''vármegye'') in Hungary. Veszprém is also the name of the capital city of Veszprém county. Veszprém county Veszprém county lies in western Hungary. It covers the Bakony hills and the norther ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, on the northern shore of the

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the larges ...

History

Balatonszepezd was first settled in the 13th century as a

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

. It was first the domain of royal stewards, then of local

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

s, and later on the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Veszprém Veszprém (; , , , ) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county of the same name. Etymology The city's name derives ...

and the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Somogyvár Abbey The Somogyvár Abbey (Szent Egyed Abbey) was a Benedictine monastery established at Somogyvár in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1091. It was dedicated to Saint Giles. A Formulary Book of Somogyvár, legal formulary book was compiled there in the secon ...

. The old

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church was built during this period. As a result of the Turkish invasion, it was almost completely destroyed; after the war, it was repopulated primarily by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

s. The village continued to grow and by the 18th century it was home to another two churches of

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

and

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

denomination, respectively. By the 19th century, the village was already a popular holiday destination, but mostly for artists and writers from the relatively nearby towns of

Révfülöp Révfülöp is a town in Veszprém county, Hungary, located on the northern shore of the Balaton. Révfülöp is well known as the starting point for an annual long-distance swimming race across the Balaton to Balatonboglár. Etymology ''Fülöp ...

and

Balatonboglár Balatonboglár is a resort town situated on the south shore of Lake Balaton in Somogy County, Hungary. It is the official centre of the Balatonboglár wine region, and is often called the "town of grapes and wine." Between 1979 and 1991 Balatonbo ...

. However, the efforts of Pál Nagy and Vince Viriusz, coupled with the village's connection to the national railroad system during the early 20th century, soon brought visitors and tourists from all over the country and from abroad. Two distinct new neighborhoods, Szepezdfürdõ and Viriusztelep, developed on either side of the old village center with the influx of vacationers and their lake houses. At the same time, the permanent local population decreased due to

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

. Today, the smallish village continues to serve as a holiday spot. The main sources of work are

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

. Notable historic sites within the village are the buildings on the main street, Árpád street, and the vicinity, which are built in the

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

and

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

styles, and the three old churches.

References

* *

External links

Street map (Hungarian)

References

Populated places in Veszprém County {{Veszprem-geo-stub