Vonyarcvashegy is a village in Zala county, in the district of
Keszthely. Vonyarcvashegy is located on the shores of Keszthely Bay,
on the southern edge of the Keszthely Plateau, in the eastern part
of Zala County. Lake Balaton closes the settlement to the south and
the mountains to the north, so it is only open in an east-west
direction. Thus, the Balatonszentgyörgy – Tapolca – Ukk railway line
also runs through the settlement, where a railway station of the
settlement receives suburban trains and high-speed trains from Pécs
and Szombathely.
The main road of the village is the second
secondary road 71, which connects with the settlements on the
northern shore of Lake Balaton and Keszthely. Vonyarcvashegy is
excellently accessible by bus from Keszthely, but there are frequent
flights from Tapolca.
Vonyarcvashegy is located on the coast of the Keszthely Bay, at the
southern edge of the Keszthely Plateau, in the eastern part of Zala
County. The settlement is blocked from the south by Lake Balaton and
from the north by the mountains, so it is only open in the east-west
direction. This is how the Balatonszentgyörgy–Tapolca–Ukk railway line
also runs through the settlement, on which a railway station of the
settlement receives suburban trains and fast trains from Pécs and
Szombathely.
The main road of the village is the secondary road
71, which connects it with the settlements on the northern shore of Lake
Balaton and Keszthely. Vonyarcvashegy is easily accessible from
Keszthely by bus, but there are frequent flights from Tapolca.
The Vonyarc part of the settlement, which is closer to
Lake Balaton, is historically well ahead of Vashegy. Its first
mention dates back to 1335 as the Church of Our Lady. The owners of
this time were the Karmacs family.
In 1573, the Turks stormed
the settlement and set it on fire. From the 1580s to the centuries,
the village became uninhabited. In the 17th century, the area
revived as a vineyard. In the Vonyarc mountain village, the owners
were mainly farmers from Keszthely, but from 1690 we can also talk
about a few local residents. The other part of today's settlement,
Vashegy, also appeared during this period. Its first mention dates
from 1689 as Balatongyörök vineyard.
In the 18th century,
there were two small villages on the site of today’s large village.
Its inhabitants were celery, living mainly on wage labor in the
vineyards. The owner of the area from 1741, in addition to the
Festetics family, was the Croatian Ban, who finally relinquished his
property in 1779, thus becoming fully owned by the Festetics.
Vonyarc and Vashegy merged in 1850 and began minor development.
His school opened in 1870.
The settlement continued to grow
in the early 20th century, but its outstanding development can only
be observed from the 1950s, when the village became involved in
tourism on Lake Balaton, and a good quality beach was created here.
In 1952, a new school was established, and in 1957, a campsite was
established. In 1960, Vonyarcvashegy was transformed into a large
village, where tourism is dominant.
Until 2007 it belonged to
the Keszthely – Hévíz, then to the Keszthely micro-region, and since
2013 to the Keszthely district.
There is a civil guard in the
settlement.
St. Michael's Hill
Vonyarc Chapel
Vashegyi Chapel
Calvary and the "Cross of
Light" (2010)
Mayors
1990–1994: Ferenc Andorkó (independent)
1994–1998:
Ferenc Andorkó (independent)
1998–2002: József Seffer (independent)
2002–2006: József Seffer (independent)
2006–2010: József Seffer
(independent)
2010–2014: Károly Péter (independent)
2014–2019:
Károly Péter (independent)
From 2019: Róbert Pali (independent)
Changes in the population of the settlement:
At the time of the
2011 census, the national distribution was as follows: Hungarian 91.2%,
Gypsy 0.2%, German 6.97%, Croatian 0.16%. 55.2% of the residents
identified themselves as Roman Catholic, 2.36% as Reformed, 1.32% as
Evangelical, and 7.9% as non-denominational (31.9% did not declare).