Gyönk (Hungary)

Twin City since 1990

General information

The partnership between Darmstadt and Gyönk exists since 1990.
In the past 10 years, many common events and exchanges were organised. Especially the spheres of schools, the fire brigade, and music groups are keeping this partnership alive.

Gyönk is situated in the centre of the Tolnau Hilly Area, about 100 kilometres south of Lake Balaton and near the Meesek Mountains.
The famous Local Heritage Museum was arranged in a former residential home. This museum at Gyönk-Jink, as the community is also called, represents the settlement of the Protestant Germans and their lifestyle. The visitors of the Local Heritage Museum are received in a very pleasant environment. Windows and doors of the white house behind a wooden fence were painted in a blew colour, that today looks unusual but was the Germans' favourite colour. A typical feature of such mud houses were also two stairs, a kitchen and a cubbyhole, the cowshed and the thatched roof. Some preserved tools, used by the Protestant Germans, are also presented to the interested visitor.

The largest church at Gyönk is the Protestant church, built in neo-Gothic style in 1896. Other points of interest, such as the small Catholic church, the Reformed church built in 1777, and the Reformed pastor's home are also open for visits. A Classicist building in the community's centre, constructed in the last century as a restaurant, is today used as a House of Culture and a library. Children and adults may develop their activities in various circles and amateur groups for drama, music and art. The House of Culture is also used for a variety of functions, like for instance different art exhibitions. Even the landscape is worth a visit, as Gyönk lies in the valleys of the Tolnau Hilly Area, in between the so-called Gentle Hills.
Researchers have found out that from 1720 on German settlers from Hesse came to Gyönk and settled there. After 1945, several hundreds of families from Upper Hungary had to flee.
Numerous Hungarian Germans from Gyönk and surroundings then found a new home in our Heimstättensiedlung, as well as at Sankt Stefan at Griesheim near Darmstadt. This is the historic tradition for which Gyönk is twinned since 1990 with Darmstadt and also with Griesheim. Both Evangelical and Reformed Germans and Catholic Hungarians are living together at Gyönk.

The about 2,140 inhabitants earn their living in small businesses in the fields of industry, trade and farming. They make great efforts to preserve their past and their cultural traditions.
Visitors may not only get to know Gyönk by sightseeing but also by several activities. The winegrowers offer their fresh new wines in taverns. A very interesting program is being offered at the feast of grape harvest and Pentecost. Various kinds of show-riding are presented in a competition.

Every year guests from Gyönk come to the Border Walk at Darmstadt and for the Christmas market and offer their typical culinary specialties. The stand with Langosch, a yeast cake specialty, on the Christmas market is legendary.