Rétság is a small

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Nógrád Nógrád (; ) is a village in Nógrád County, 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 ...

county, in

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 ...

Location

Rétság is located north of the capital

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

on the E77 European main road, halfway between

Vác Vác (; ; ; ) is a thousand-year old city in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The archaic spelling of the name is ''Vácz''. Location Vác is located north of Budapest on the eastern bank of the Danube river, below t ...

and

Balassagyarmat Balassagyarmat (Hungarian: ; formerly ''Balassa-Gyarmath''; ; or ) is a town in northern Hungary. It was the seat of the Nógrád County, Nógrád Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus. Balassagyarmat is the capital city of Palóc country as ...

. The town is located at the border of

Cserhát Cserhát () is a mountain range in Hungary, part of the North Hungarian Mountains, divided between Pest and Nógrád counties. Its highest point is the Karancs with an elevation of 729 metres above sea level. Cserhát stretches from Cserh ...

and

Börzsöny Börzsöny (; or ''Novohradské hory'', New City Mountains) is a mountain range in Northern Hungary. Its tallest peak is the Csóványos with . It is the westernmost member of the North Hungarian Mountains, which belongs to the Inner Weste ...

hills. Its location determines the function of the town.

History

The settlement was the property of the Losonczy family in 1393, when its name was Réthy Saag. The Ottoman conquest started in the middle of the 16th century (when castle Nógrád was captured by the Ottoman army) and lasted till the middle of the 17th century. During the Ottoman rule, Rétság became near totally desolated.
Big landowners was in Rétság: Mehmed Daud 1562–1563, Ottoman from liva of Hussein pasha 1566–1567, Bosna Hassan 1583–1584, Gábor Lónyai 1656, Paul Sréter and his family 1770, widow count Mrs. Béla Benyovszky, Sándor Rosenbach, Frigyes Herzfeld in 1910. The St. Andrew Roman Catholic church was built in 1726. The railway connection and the railway station was built in 1908. Presidential Council of

Hungarian People's Republic The Hungarian People's Republic (HPR) was a landlocked country in Central Europe from its formation on 20 August 1949 until the establishment of the current Hungary, Republic of Hungary on 23 October 1989. It was a professed Communist_state# ...

pronounced Rétság to be town in 1989. Pusztaszántó belongs to Rétság was first mentioned in 1299 and was independent village in 1460. It was desolated during the Ottoman conquest, after it was settled again and the population was larger than in Rétság in the 19th century. Now it has only few inhabitants, but the industrial park of the town is here.

Sights

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

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 built in 1726. #Kovács mansion built in neoclassical style in the beginning of the 19th century in Pusztaszántó. #Characteristic buildings of the former armoured trooper caserne can be seen from a great distance. The local regiment took place in battles of the Eastern Front of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, occupation of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1968 and was disbanded in 1997 #Grass airfield for microlighters

Famous people

Szabolcs Fényes (1912 Nagyvárad-1986 Budapest), abroad known as Peter Fényes, Hungarian operetta and musical composer and director of the Budapester Operetta Theatre in the 1940s and the 1950s lived in Rétság between 1927 and 1931 and here composed his first celebrated operetta Maya in 1931, which would be played in twelve European countries later.

Sights in neighbourhood

Bánk Bánk is a village and municipality in the comitat of Nógrád, 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 nor ...

: Lake (beach, fishing place, water-stage), every summer nationality festival #

Nőtincs Nőtincs (, ), a pictorial locality looking back on a thousand-year old history, is in Nógrád county, Hungary. The village is located north of Budapest near the European route E77, halfway between Vác and Balassagyarmat. Nőtincs is located on ...

: Lake (fishing place) #

Diósjenő Diósjenő is a village in Nógrád county, Hungary. It is located about 60 kilometers north of Budapest, in the western part of the county, at the foot of Börzsöny and is surrounded by hills. History The village was first mentioned in 1282. ...

: Lake (fishing place), open-air bath #

Tereske Tereske is a village in Rétság District of Nógrád county, Hungary. Etymology The name is of Slavic origin - ''Trška'', see also e.g. Trška Gora ("a vineyard hill") in Slovenia. 1205-1235 ''Abbas de losco Triskay (Triskai) mosanerio''. T ...

: Romanesque-style church built in the 13th century #

: Spectacular ruins of castle Nógrád, which was the centre of Nógrád county between 11th and 13th centuries and gave the name to the county # Rétság Harckocsi Emlékmű: Former military barracks that were built to house armored units in the Honvéd and later the

Hungarian People's Army The Hungarian People's Army (, MN) or the HPA was the military of the Hungarian People's Republic and the armed branch of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party from 1951 to 1990. It only saw combat in a foreign country once during its existence ...

. The buildings are vacant, but there is a VT-55 armored engineering vehicle on display as a monument.

External links

* in Hungarian
Town mapAbout the airfield in Hungarian language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Retsag Populated places in Nógrád County