Zsámbék

Zsámbék (German: Schambeck) is a town in Pest County, in Hungary.

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Zsámbék is located 30 km west of Budapest along the M1 motorway in the Gerecse Mountains. Its neighbouring villages are Tök, Perbál, Páty, Herceghalom, Mány, Bicske, and Szomor.

History

Zsámbék has been inhabited since Paleolithic times. It has seen Celtic, Roman and Avarian populations throughout its history, according to archaeological finds. A Celtic mail coach's remains were found there as well as a bronze trumpet.

In the 1050s the wife of Béla III of Hungary, who was the sister of the French king, gave the village to a knight named Aynard. The Aynard family built the Premonstratensian church beginning in 1220.

The church was destroyed in 1241 during the Mongolian invasions. Following the destruction, during the reign of Béla IV of Hungary, the church and monastery were rebuilt. Positioned at an important merchant route — halfway between Esztergom and Székesfehérvár and near Buda — the village underwent rapid growth.

In 1467 Mathias Corvinus granted the rights of an oppidium. He also gave the fortress to his son, Corvin János.

In 1541, Turkish troops occupied the fortress and held it for 145 years. During this occupation, they also built a Turkish bath, the ruins of which are still visible in the village.

In 1686 general Bottyán János fought there against the Turks. Later the Zichy family became the landowners of the region. They then rebuilt the castle.

An earthquake in 1763 ruined the church once again. It was not reconstructed after this horrific event. Settlers from Germany, who came to live in the abandoned village after the Turkish occupation, took the stones from the church and used them for building houses and fences. Many of the church's stones are still present in the walls of older houses.

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