Modrý Kameň

Modrý Kameň Kékkő
Municipality
Modrý Kameň Castle
Flag Coat of arms
Modrý Kameň Location of Modrý Kameň in the Banská Bystrica Region Show map of Banská Bystrica Region Modrý Kameň Location of Modrý Kameň in Slovakia Show map of Slovakia
Coordinates: 48°14′N 19°20′E / 48.24°N 19.33°E / 48.24; 19.33
Country	Slovakia
Region	Banská Bystrica Region
District	Veľký Krtíš District
First mentioned	1290
Government
• Mayor	Aladár Bariak
Area [1]
• Total	19.64 km2 (7.58 sq mi)
Elevation [2]	250 m (820 ft)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	1,664
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	992 01[2]
Area code	+421 47[2]
Car plate	VK
Website	www.modrykamen.sk

Modrý Kameň (lit. "Blue Stone"; German: Blauenstein; Hungarian: Kékkő) is a town and municipality in the Veľký Krtíš District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia.

It is located on the Krupina Plain (Slovak: Krupinská planina) on the Krtíš and Riečka rivers. It is around 5 km from Veľký Krtíš and 50 km from Zvolen. With a population of around 1,600, it is the second smallest town in Slovakia.

The name of the town was first mentioned as Keykkw in 1290. The name of the settlement means "Blue Rock". Ruins of the castle Modrý Kameň stand on a rock pinnacle above the town. The castle was built in the second half of the 13th century by the ancestors of the Balassa noble family. They had to recapture the castle from the sons of Casimir of the Hunt-Poznan clan by a siege in 1290. The castle was captured by Ottoman troops in 1576, because its guard fled when they heard the approaching Ottomans. The castle was given up and subsequently destroyed by Ottoman troops in 1593. It was restored between 1609 and 1612 by Sigismund Balassa. The castle was ravaged many times during the 17th century, so it became ruined and abandoned. The Balassa family built a new Baroque mansion house on the side of the castle hill in the early 18th century; stones of the former castle were used in the mansion building operations. The last member of the Balassa noble family died in 1899. After the demise of the Balassa family, the Almásy noble family became the proprietors of Modrý Kameň castle. They sold the demesne to the Czechoslovakian state in 1923.

In 1910 the settlement had a population of 1,347, consisting mostly of Slovak inhabitants, though a significant Hungarian minority lived in Modrý Kameň as well. Modrý Kameň belonged to Nógrád (Novohrad) county until the end of World War I. The settlement was the center of the Modrý Kameň district (Slovak: okres Modrý Kameň, Hungarian: Kékkői járás) between 1912 and 1960. An electric network was built in 1943.

During World War II, an illegal antifascist communist organization operated in the settlement. During the Slovak National Uprising, Modrý Kameň was the center of the national revolutionary committee of the district, and partisan groups operated on the outskirts.

Modrý Kameň was pronounced a town in 1969.

According to the 2001 census, the town had 1,434 inhabitants. 92.82% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 2.79% Roma, 2.02% Hungarians and 0.35% Czechs.^[6] The religious make-up was 79.22% Roman Catholics, 8.44% people with no religious affiliation and 7.60% Lutherans.^[6]

• A Roman Catholic church was built in 1879
• A Baroque chapel of St Anna was built in 1759
• Modrý kameň Castle Museum (Marionette and toy museum, Valentine Balassi poet's life and work, Ethnographic exhibition of the region, A look at the history of dental technology and stomatology)

Modrý Kameň is twinned with:

• Bercel, Hungary
• Opatów, Poland

• 
  Aerial photo of the castle
• 
  View from the castle to the city

• Media related to Modrý Kameň at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Castle Museum