Zánka
Encyclopedia
Zánka is a village in Veszprém county
Veszprém (county)
Veszprém is the name of an administrative county in Hungary. Veszprém is also the name of the capital city of Veszprém county.-Veszprém county:...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

.

Etymology

Zan is an ancient Hungarian personal name, and the original name of the settlement. The diminutive suffix -ka was added later.

History

Zánka has been inhabited since Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times. Its settlement was most likely due to good agricultural conditions. In the 12th century, the first version of what is today the Calvinist church was built in the old village; both the village and its church are mentioned in the chronicles between 1333-1335. A charter from 1519 mentions that the church's patron was Saint Stephen, King of Hungary. During the Ottoman Wars
Ottoman-Hungarian Wars
The Ottoman-Hungarian War refers to a series of battles between the Ottoman Empire and the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Following the Byzantine civil war, the Ottoman capture of Gallipoli and the decisive Battle of Kosovo, the Ottoman Empire seemed poised to conquer the whole of the Balkans...

, the village lost a majority of its population, which had been primarily Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

. 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
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....

. 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
Balaton
Balaton may refer to:* Lake Balaton in Hungary, the largest lake in central Europe* Balaton Principality , a Slavic state* Balaton , a Hungarian microcar* Balaton, Minnesota, a city in the United States* 2242 Balaton, a main-belt asteroid...

, 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
People's Republic of Hungary
The People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...

 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 Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

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

The Old Church

The constructional history of the Árpád dynasty
Árpád dynasty
The Árpáds or Arpads was the ruling dynasty of the federation of the Hungarian tribes and of the Kingdom of Hungary . The dynasty was named after Grand Prince Árpád who was the head of the tribal federation when the Magyars occupied the Carpathian Basin, circa 895...

 age church was revealed during the renovation and archaeological excavations between 1984-1985. 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 churhces of Dejte and Hidegség
Hidegség
Hidegség is a village in Győr-Moson-Sopron county, Hungary.-Sightseeing for visitors: the old church of Árpád age:In the village there is an old architectural heritage from the romanesque art: the church standing on the top of the hill above the village. The church consists of two parts. Older is...

, 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
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

, in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. Ancient Coptic churches were also built in such style which survived in the architectural art of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

). This style also can be found in the western European region (for example Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...

, 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
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

Mark.

External links

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