Szentgál

In the heart of the Bakony, where Séd Brook springs, embraced by wooded hills lies Szentgál. The village was inhabited by royal hunters, who gaines their privileges in 1328 in exchange for which they were obliged to furnish the royal court with game and fur.

The borders of the village extend far; several small villages existed in the Szentgál Basin in the Middle Ages but today their memory is preserved only in field and boundary names. They perished in the Turkish battles and their traces were washed away by time. Of all the villages only Szentgál survived the turmoil of centuries; moreover, in the eighteenth century it grew to be the largest and most population equally dividing between the Catholic and Protestant denomination.

The painting of the main altar in its Catholic church, "The Birth of Mary", is the work of the renowned Baroque painter, Johann Ignaz Cymbal. The village is the birthplace of the linguist Lajos Lőrincze, who sought to purify the Hungarian language.

Locals have dedicated a room to his memory in the village house. The woods of oak, beech, ash and pine trees ont the plateau carved by ravines offer a natural habitat for mushrooms and herbs. Bordering the village you can walk through the woods of yew-trees of European fame. It has been placed under environmental protection to preserve its face of genuine, untouched nature.