Zánka is a village in

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 ...

Etymology

''Zan'' is an ancient Hungarian personal name, and the original name of the settlement. The

diminutive suffix A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle som ...

''-ka'' was added later.

History

Zánka has been inhabited since

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times. Its settlement was most likely due to good agricultural conditions. In the 12th century, the first version of what is today the

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 ...

church was built in the old village; both the village and its church are mentioned in the chronicles between 1333 and 1335. A charter from 1519 mentions that the church's patron was Saint Stephen, King of Hungary. During the

Ottoman Wars A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...

, the village lost a majority of its population, which had been primarily

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. When it was repopulated, most of the new inhabitants were Calvinist, resulting in the destroyed church's subsequent reconstruction and use by that denomination, though this later changed; in 1786 both Calvinist and Lutheranian religion used the same church. During the 20th century, the permanent population of the village started to decline 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. ...

. However, the physical town began to grow due to a surge in vacationers. Whereas the old village was located on a hill overlooking the Balaton, and not touching the shore itself, with the construction of vacation homes the village began to stretch down towards the lake-front. A vacationing center for youths was built during the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

a few kilometers from the town, mostly used for light indoctrination. In the 21st century, this fell into private hands with the rise of the capitalist regime. Around the same time, a

church in the modern architectural style was built in the village.

The Old Church

The constructional history of the

Árpád dynasty The Árpád dynasty consisted of the members of the royal House of Árpád (), also known as Árpáds (, ). They were the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Hungary in the 9th and 10th centuries and of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 130 ...

age church was revealed during the renovation and archaeological excavations between 1984 and 1985. On the basis of the construction and structure the architects estimated the foundation at the 12th century. This is the oldest church of the Balaton region. Its eastern apsis exhibits strong similarities with the construction of apses of the churches of Dejte and Hidegség, where the quadrilateral outer building hides the central inner space. This type of rotunda was widely distributed in Eastern Europe and Middle East. On this strong basement of the eastern apsis the later tower was built both in Zánka and at Hidegség. This apsis type can be found in the Pontian region and in

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. Ancient Coptic churches were also built in such style which survived in the architectural art of the Eastern Roman Empire (

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

). This style also can be found in the western European region (for example

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

, Saint Michele church). Also a rare character of the church is the robust western tower. The similar types are known from the medieval German architecture, especially in the

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

Mark.

References

* M. Kozák É. (1993): Zánka, református templom. Tájak-Korok-Múzeumok Kiskönyvtára 468. sz. TKM Egy. és OMH. Budapest * Békefi R. (1907): A Balaton környékének egyházai és várai a középkorban. Budapest * M. Kozák É. (1992): Kutatások a zánkai református templomban. Műemlékvédelmi Szemle, 1992/1. sz. * Entz G., Gerő L. (1958): A Balaton-környék műemlékei. Budapest

External links

Street map (Hungarian)

Zánka homepage.

Zánka Children and Youth Center homepage.

European wine routes.

Zánka on the homepage of Vendégváró.

Zánka geographical position (Google Térkép)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zanka Populated places in Veszprém County Romanesque architecture in Hungary