Biatorbágy
Biatorbágy is located in the western part of Pest County, on territory bordering Fejér County.
Biatorbágy is bordered to the north by the settlements of Páty and Budakeszi, to the east by Budaörs and Törökbálint, to the southeast by Sóskút, to the south by Etyek, Fejér County, and to the west by Herceghalom.
Biatorbágy was established through an amalgamation of the separate settlements of Torbágy in the north and Bia to the south in 1966. However, its written history starts much earlier, since the two settlements first feature in a property register from 1192 under the names “Torbágyerdő (Torbágy Forest)” and (“Biua land”).
The settlement and the environs dotted with hills were already inhabited in prehistoric times, as evidenced by findings from the copper and bronze age, but archaeologists have also uncovered Avar graves here.
The core of the two former villages creating the town of today is marked by the remains of the former churches. In Bia this means the ruins of the Holy Cross Chapel in the Reformed cemetery and in Torbágy the Gothic cover of the Catholic church shrine. Torbágy was a one-street settlement on the main road, whereas Bia consisted of two parallel streets in the valley running north to south.
The two villages were depopulated during the Turkish occupation, and after the occupation ended the site of the medieval settlements was restored, starting from the 17th and 18th centuries. Torbágy was settled by people of German nationality, whereas Bia continued as a Hungarian village, while other nationalities moved here from surrounding villages.
The settlement’s leading role in public administration is confirmed by the fact that Bia was the district center for 16 villages, with 41,000 inhabitants, from the mid-19th century until 1935; it was considered a bustling place, full of model farms and artisans. Most of the population with German origins were resettled to Germany in 1946, and Hungarian inhabitants arrived in their place from various regions of the Carpathian Basin.
Construction of the viaduct in the 1800s had a significant impact on the still separate settlements of Bia and Torbágy. The second viaduct was constructed with the modernization of the railways in 1898. The viaducts were built to bridge a valley that is 120–140 m wide and 20–25 m high, and became the symbol of Biatorbágy, as well as the location for terrorist attacks on 12 September 1931. The bridges that no longer have their original function are relics of railway history and are currently subject to local protection.
