Kolárovo

Kolárovo (before 1948: Guta; Gúta or earlier Guta) is a town in the south of Slovakia near the town of Komárno. It is an agricultural center with 11,000 inhabitants.

Basic information
The town of Kolárovo is located in the Podunajská nížina (Danubian Lowland) at the confluence of the Váh and Little Danube Rivers. The western part of the plane land is on Žitný ostrov, the medium part on boggy flats of the Little Danube, Váh, and Váh Danube Rivers, the eastern part with many old shoulders and inland embankments at the flat of the Váh and Nitra Rivers. The town comprises 6 neighborhoods: center, Částa (Császta), Kráľka (Királyrét), Veľký Ostrov (Nagysziget), Örtény and Pačérok (Pacsérok).

About 11,000 inhabitants live between the dams at the Little Danube, of whom 82.6% are of Hungarian ethnicity, 16% of Slovak ethnicity, and the rest 1.4% of other ethnicities.

Kolárovo belongs to the largest towns of the lower part of the Žitný ostrov.

History
The village was mentioned for the first time in 1268 and during its existence it has changed its name several times (Old Guta, Big Guta, Little Guta).

According to a local tradition, the Árpáds populated the surrounding abandoned villages by the Iazyges from the regions along the river Tisza. Folk customs and rustic buildings, etc. bear evidence of this. Other facts suggest that the area of Kolárovo was donated by King Ladislaus IV, the Cumanian. According to them, it was King Ladislaus I of Hungary, who delimited the area of the town to the extent of 56000 acres by his bill. King Ladislaus IV donated the surrounding hamlets to the village. Since that day the town has been the property of the archbishop of Esztergom (Strigonium). The bill of 1268 bears evidence of this. However, these landlords never became favoured among the inhabitants of Guta who revolted from time to time against them and other lords. The inhabitants of the town also suffered a lot during the war. In 1311, Chellus, an armiger of Matthew III Csák, destroyed the villages of Guta, Nesvady a Zemné with his horde.

The first village in this territory was called Little Guta and it was situated on the right bank of the river Váh, next to the river Nitra. This settlement was also called Old Guta (mentioned in 1268).

In the 14th century, the second settlement, called Great Guta, was established.

In the past, the "Frog Castle" (Békavár; Žabí hrad) stood on the land of the village. According to some sources it was also called Békevár (Castle of Peace). It was built under the rule of Queen Mary in 1349 to protect fords and a business route.

After the Battle of Mohács the inhabitants of the two villages, being afraid of the Turks, moved to a safer place on the right bank of the Little Danube, to the Žitný ostrov, where present-day Kolárovo is situated. In 1573 the village was plundered by the Turkish beg of Esztergom (Strigonia). At this time Great Guta had already been destroyed together with its old church, although the village had partially been protected by embankments which were a part of the fortress system of Kolárovo.

In 1551 the village received town status. It was a fortified market town and it also obtained several privileges (to organize fairs, stock markets, etc.)

In 1669 Turkish units burned the eastern part of Kolárovo. Between 1848-1849 at the time of national-liberating fights, the retreating Austrian troops fired on the town after the battles they had won at Pered (now:Tešedíkovo) and Žihrác.

Important occurrences of names of the city

 * 1268 - Villa Gutta
 * 1349 - Guta
 * 1948 - Kolárovo

Kolárovo "Békevár" Fortress
The fortress was built at the place of the castle of Queen Mary of Hungary. In comparison with the large fortresses in Nové Zámky and Komárom, it has always played a less important role in the town's history. It has been repaired and renovated several times according to the period requirements. After the battle of Mohács t the beginning of Ottoman Turkish occupation the fortress was quickly repaired by the local captain Gregor Martonosi Pesthényi in 1527, to protect it from the approaching army of John Zápolya, supported by Turks. That year an army commander of Zápolya, Gáspár Ráskay drew into Guta and conquered the town. Soon afterwards, the fortress fell into the hands of the Habsburg imperial army again.

Between 1584-1594 the fortress was strengthened with the help of the Italian army engineers. At the time when Gabriel Bethlen was conquering the fortress in Komárno, local Walloon and French soldiers escaped. Between 1662-1664, with the inhabitants afraid of new attacks by Turks, the fortress was modernized again. Inside there were stone accommodation houses and stone stores for gunpowder and guns. At that time there were 130 mercenaries behind the walls under the command of Mathias Frühwirtha. In the spring of 1707 at the time of the Rákóczi's War for Independence, Count Guido Starhemberg performed the fortification worth 6090 forints with the help of the army engineer Fischer.

The Kuruc general János Bottyán stayed near the town on four occasions. On 12 July 1708 he conquered the fortress with the help of heavy artillery and captured local mercenaries. After the fighting the fortress was destroyed and Kuruc soldiers retreated with the words "Let it be the residence of frogs from now!" Although the fortress was repaired later, its derogatory name Békavár (Frog Castle) was preserved. A Danish garrison was located there by General Heister. In 1840's the fortress had no importance, only the army of the general Görgeyho had a rest there after a lost battle.

Sports
The eventful sports life of our town is reflected by active and successfully performing sports clubs.

Each sports club, including football, handball, judo, wrestling, cycling, karate, table tennis, Gut-gym, water tourism, pigeon breeders, cynologic - budgets independently. The budget of individual sports clubs consists of financial aid from the Town of Kolárovo after being approved by the Municipal Parliament, contributions acquired from sponsors, various subsidies, tickets, membership fees etc. All sports clubs, either club of classical sports, sporting-artistic, combat or just for fun, have a common objective. Their main objective is to obtain the best possible results and also to educate young people. They try to engage as many people as possible in various sporting activities. They organise year by year recruitment with demonstrations for pupils of primary schools with the idea that in this way they acquire as many young people, active sportsmen, as possible.

The sports clubs on the territory of the Town of Kolárovo organise year by year mass sporting events like "Sporting Day of the Town of Kolárovo" and "International Sporting Day of Sister Cities of Kolárovo - Kisbér". The Committee of Sports of the Municipal Parliament is a co-ordinator of these event organization.

Apart from giving financial aid, the Municipal Parliament tries to inspire young people and older sportsmen. It supports the sports collectives of our town and is involved with the Committee of Sports.

Cultural sights
The Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built between the years 1723-1724 in Baroque style at the place of the older burnt-out Gothic church. In 1772 the building was enlarged. In the interior of the church there is a late baroque wagon vault. The altar painting on the main classical altar illustrates the translation of the Virgin Mary being a masterpiece of Ferdinand Lütgerndorff from 1832. There was an older fortifying wall around the church with loopholes and round corner bastions from the 17th century. However, the wall was sadly pulled down in the 1950'.

The chapel in the former cemetery is a Baroque construction from the 1750s. In front of the chapel there is a gate to the former cemetery.

The Holy Trinity Column is erected at the original spot in the church park and dates back to 1831. It was built to commemorate the victims of cholera. The statue of St Valentine is a work of folk art dating back to 1835 and was placed in front of the market entrance. Today, after having been removed several times, it is situated next to the chapel. The Memorial of World War I dates back to 1920's. The statue "Come up to me" is the work of Alajos Riegele. On the board there are the names of dead soldiers. The memorial of the people taken to the concentration camps in Dachau and Schonberg is the work of János Reicher and constructor István Lukačovič. The memorial was in 1965 originally situated next to the Municipality Office. The statue of Mother Earth is the work of the sculptor János Nagy. The fountain in front of the Municipality Office illustrates the unity during flood, the work called Outburst in front of the Municipality Office is based on the design of the constructor Paluš.

The memorial of the victims of World War II with the names of victims is situated in a new park. The tables on deportation in 1947 are on the statue of Mother and Child in the park of the Health Center. On the wall next to the entrance gate to the former cemetery there is a diploma by the sculptor Klára Pataki. The statue of a girl with a bucket situated in the area of the Slovak Primary School is the work of the sculptor J. V. Huck. The houses made from extruded bricks with a walled gable under the thatched roof date back to 19th century. Several of these houses have been preserved today.

Shipboard mill
The last floating mill was moved to Slovakian village museum's storage in Martin in 1965. Administration of relics in Komárno in 1980 initialised the main idea to build up at least one floating mill as an exhibit for educational and museum function. They work out a project, to make it suitable for new surroundings on the Little Danube rim, based on a steel floater.

Natural area
Shipboard Water mill, is situated in Kolarovo town, on the southwest part of "Rye Island" which is surrounded by two rivers- the Little Danube and the Vah, and by the dead sector of the Little Danube. It was built as part of a cultural monument - Shipboard mill - in an area with typical meadow forest fauna and flora. An almost unbelievable part of this area is the ruins of "Peace Castle". The next notable sight is the wooden bridge with wooden roofing. Its length (86 m) ranks it among the longest wooden bridges in Europe. Characteristic of life in this area is that peacocks breed here in the wild. The area's historic development is studied by members of the Society of Protectors. They have created a place to show country architecture, a place for children's education, summer camps, and country tourists. The Water mill Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the summer season i.e. from May to September. There is an excellent camping site and a lot of community activity.

Church

 * Reformed Christian Mission Congregation, Slovenská St. No. 22
 * Roman Catholic Church, Kostolné nám. No. 17
 * Evangelical Parish Office, Mostová St. 26

Schools

 * Ján Amos Komenský Primary School with Slovakian language teaching, Rábska St. 14
 * Corvin Mátyás Primary School with Hungarian language teaching, Školská St. 6
 * II. F.Rákóczi Primary School with Hungarian language teaching, Palkovichova St. 3
 * Basic School of Arts, Kostolné nám. No. 10
 * Schola Privata Gutaiensis, Slovenská St. 52
 * Church 8-year Grammar School of Our Lady, Brnenské nám. No. 15

Pensioners Club

 * Pensioners Club, Kolárovo, Dlhá St. No.29
 * Pension House for Pensioners and Pensioners Club Kolárovo, Partizánska St. No. 15-17

Companies

 * Beneficus
 * IP Trans
 * Kromberg & Schubert
 * Projekt Market
 * Vitaflora
 * PEMO Trans
 * Sting 2000 s.r.o.
 * milna s.r.o.
 * sungut-solar

Partner towns

 * Mezőberény, Hungary
 * Kisbér, Hungary