Hosszúhetény

phone district code:

population:

3363 person

area:

4527 km²

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Hosszúhetény is a village in southwest Hungary, Baranya county.It is located 18 kilometres northeast to Pécs, the county capital, in a valley between the feet of Zengő, the highest peak of the Mecsek mountains and the peak called Hármashegy.

As of 2001 it had a population of 3,360 and an area of 45.27 km2.

The valley has been inhabited since the Stone Age. Two other nearby villages belong to the administration of Hosszúhetény: Püspökszentlászló and Kisújbánya.

Located in an environmentally protected area, a special microclimate producing rare flower species like Paeonia officinalis ssp, among picturesque mountains, the three villages are popular among tourists who arrive from all parts of Hungary and abroad. Tourism gives an increasing portion of the villagers' revenues after the decline of coal mining which flourished in the region between the 1950s and 1990.

NATO radar

In the 2000s the Hungarian government wanted to build a NATO radar station on the top of the Zengő, but the plan foundered in 2005 on fierce resistance from the inhabitants of Hosszúhetény and nearby Pécsvárad and environmentalist groups including Greenpeace.