Balkány is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary.
The Gödény Mansion
The Gödény mansion in Balkány was owned by the Balkan branch of the noble Gödény family from Gödényháza and Farkasfalva until the socialist nationalization . After that, several families were housed in the building, which currently houses a police station.
Folk architecture
Compared to the surrounding villages , the cityscape seems to be civilized with relatively large houses, building materials already used before the turn of the century and relatively rare in peasant practice ( brick , tin – formerly shingle – roofing, etc.), and a varied (adapted) and varied roofing. The city has traditionally moved a large number of industrialists.
Regardless of the dimensional differences, the main architectural material here was also the earth plastered with mud, from which a fork-laden (swallow-laid) or stake-framed (wall-mounted) earth wall, wooden-framed patics, beaten and adobe walls were made. Especially the new houses of the former manorial centers were often built with traditional techniques, mainly with beaten or adobe walls. The walls have a raftered roof structure, which is made of reeds (straw is simpler), later sheet metal and then tile shells.
Dwelling houses are less often two-storey (Erkel u. 5.), more often three-storey. The floor plan of the street room (large kitchen) + atrium kitchen + pantry (or small house) had a stove-oven and a free chimney burner. During the major reconstructions around 1950 , most of them were removed, but a wooden chimney (Jókai u. 19.), a chimney head made of plastered hedges (Ady Endre u. 35.), and a flattened chimney tent can still be seen today.
Gencsy Castle
The castle
The castle was built in 1774 , but its history can be traced back to an older time. Contemporary records mention two mansions in the settlement that may have been associated with it. In 1670 , the mansion of Pál Balko stood: „Egi Free Noble Curia… Egi saraz Sindelyes mill.“ There is also a description of Mihály Bori’s noble mansion dated 1676 : “Curia nobil, lignea elevatior Scandularis, constans ex hypocaust, atrio, Camera, domus familiaris stramine tecta constat hypocausti, atrio et Camera… sunt stabula… (Portiones possesionarial Mich. Bori). “ Whether the building that stands today, erected in 1774 , was erected on the site of these earlier buildings, we do not know for sure.
The Balkány Cemetery preserves the classicist tomb of Borbála Gencsy Sámuelné Losonczy , erected by her son in 1811 . Cylindrical pedestal trunk on a rectangular pedestal, conical obelisk with a rim above it, and the coat of arms of the family on it. The classicizing eclectic tomb belongs to the Gencsy family . It has a square floor plan and all four sides end with a strong tympanum .Gencsy Castle from a bird’s eye view
The Gencsy Castle freestanding eclectic building. Rectangular floor plan, single-storey 2 + 5 + 2-axis building, in the middle part there is a four-column glazed arcade , the entrance part has a triple section with 5-5 steps. Its upstairs balcony is closed by a balustrade , the same decoration was applied to the attic of the risalit of the two corners of the building .
Churches
There are three churches in the town of Balkány, and there are ecumenical houses of worship in four surrounding homesteads ( Tormáspuszta , Görénypuszta , Perkedpuszta , Cibak ). Until 1939 , there was also a synagogue in the village, and today there is a post office in its building .
Greek Catholic Church
The new chapel , built in 1977 , grew into a church by 1990 , its capacity tripled: a sanctuary, a nave, a sacristy, a porch, a tower meant expansion, and since then it has been beautifying year by year. The iconostasis was completed a few years ago , and in 2000 the walls were also decorated. It is the most widespread religion in the Balkans, with 1782 believers.
Roman Catholic Church
The new Roman Catholic church , built in November 1937 , was dedicated in honor of Our Lady of Hungary. The rectory next to the church was already mentioned in 1840 as an old cultural building. The cave in Lourdes on the other side of the church was renovated in 2007 . The number of registered followers of the church is about 1,715.
Reformed Church
Balkány medieval history of the most important relics of today Reformed Church. It had to stand in the first third of the 14th century , as in 1328 a priest named Andrew was mentioned, who is also included in the papal tithe list. It is mentioned in the 16th century that it was recorded as a wilderness. The history of this church is very great importance, because then probably stand for a long period of disuse even in the 15th century , which is also building, as the Calviniststhey first had a wooden church: „Balkan, ligneum Calvinistarum 1696?“ This wooden church was certainly no longer repairable, and presumably in the early 18th century the empty old church was restored. However , as early as 1772 , permission was sought to renew its shingle roof . Its tower could hardly have been because it stood next to a low belfry , which in 1766 was supported by columns due to its deteriorating condition. In the outer wall of the church there is an epitaph of Samuel Gencsy from 1872 . The present three-storey brick bell tower was erected in front of the eastern façade of the building in the early 19th century .
