Fortresses and castles | Museums, provincial houses | Sigts in nature

Fortresses and castles

• Eger Castle
• Distance from Sirok: 25 km

 The first Hungarian King, Szent István established an episcopacy between 1001-1009 and a stone fortress was began in 1248 to protect it. A Roman style church that was destroyed gave its place to a Gothic and later to a Neogothic cathedral on the castle hill. During the Turkish conquest, in 1552 a two thousand strong army protected the fortress over a 5-week siege against an enemy forty fold superior in number. This heroic fight is one of the most outstanding events of Hungarian history and people have heard of it all over the world owing to the historical novel of Géza Gárdonyi. Eger Fortress is under monument protection and includes the István Dobó Castle Museum. The permanent exhibition presents the history of the fortress and its underground fort system, the casemates.

• Kisnána Fortress
• Distance from Sirok: 17 km

The earliest part of the Fortress was built around the 11^th-12^th century. It was reconstructed and extended a few times in later centuries. Its protection system was shaped in the mid-1400s. It was probably owned and demolished by the Turkish at the time of Eger's fall in 1596. It has never been reconstructed. By the end of 2011 it will be renovated with the support of the European Union.

• Edelény Castle
• Distance from Sirok: 90 km

The L'Huillier-Coburg Castle, found at the gates of Aggtelek, is one of the largest and most significant Baroque castles in the country. The Rococo style decorative paintings in the seven rooms upstairs are among the best preserved secular frescoes in Hungary. The buildings that stood empty and deteriorated in the 1990s were taken over by the National Trustee of Monuments in 2001. Continuous renovation has been going on in the castle since 2004 and a HUF 2.2 billion reconstruction is being carried out under the aegis of the European Union.

Museums, provincial houses

• Ore-mining exhibition, Recsk
• Distance from Sirok: 8 km

The building was erected in 1943 and its inner wooden structure and original wooden ceiling made of pine trees from Máramaros make it very beautiful and interesting. It was originally the Miners' Cultural Centre, financed by the ore mine that has since been closed down. It is an exhibition financed by the local government. More than 150 minerals and semi-precious stones present the past of mining.

• Folk Art House, Mátraderecske
• Distance from Sirok: 12 km

In the front section of the Folk Art House there is a shop run by the Heves County Domestic Industry Cooperative where typical “palóc” homespun hand-woven items, tablecloths and dresses can be bought.

• Cifra stable, Coach Museum, Parádfürdő
• Distance from Sirok: 15 km

The most famous sight of Parádfürdő was built by Count Károlyi György based on Ybl Miklós's plans in 1880. The Coach Museum is here and it offers many interesting things to see for the visitors, from the discovery of the wheel to the tools of a cartwright and the richly decorated four-wheel carriages of the aristocracy.

• Mátra Museum, Gyöngyös
• Distance from Sirok: 43 km

The Baroque style castle was built between 1769-70 by the Orczy family. It was reconstructed in Classicist style in 1826 and it became a harmonious Classicist building surrounded by an English garden. In the last few years HUF 2.2 billion was spent on the complete renovation of the Orczy castle and the building of a new science pavilion. This work was recognized through the Europa Nostra Award in 2010.

Sights in nature

• Ilona Valley Waterfall, Parád
• Distance from Sirok: 18 km

The biggest waterfall of the Mátra Mountains is that of the Ilona Valley. It offers a particularly beautiful sight in rainy weather.

• Vár Mountain, Verpelét
• Distance from Sirok: 12 km

It is a natural rarity, the only volcanic cone in Hungary that has retained its original shape to a great extent. Vár Mountain is a volcanic embryo, similar to the ones found on the sides of Etna in Sicily. It was created in the late, period of the Mátra volcanic activities.

• The park of Gyürky-Solymossy Castle in Bátorterenye
• Distance from Sirok: 37 km

The two-storey baroque-style building with onion-shaped dome, built by the Gyürky family in the 17th century is located in the Kisterenye quarter of Bátorterenye. A 13-hectare English landscape park type garden that was created by the Gyürky and Solymossy barons belongs to the castle. Besides the trees that are native of Hungary you can find Spanish fir and Chinese juniper in the park.

• Hive rocks, Szomolya
• Distance from Sirok: 22 km

The national park is on the western slope of Vén Mountain above Szomolya in the Kaptár Valley where the rhyolite tuff range is divided into eight big cavernous rocks. The hive stones are rock ranges or cone shaped stone towers in which the ancient people carved some niches.

• Egerszalók Thermal Spring
• Distance from Sirok: 26 km

Egerszalók thermal water contains sodium, calcium-magnesium and hydrogen carbon with a significant quantity of meta-quartz acid. It won the best sulphurous medicinal water title in its category.