Zamárdi

Zamárdi the southern shore of Lake Balaton is one of the most easily accessible resorts.

Lake Balaton, the water and its flora and fauna has always played an important role in human life, communities were drawn by the water already in the ancient times.

That’s why much more remainders of civilization have been found around Lake Balaton than in other places far away.
The area of Zamárdi was inhabited already in the Copper, Bronze and Iron Age, and tracks of the Celts and ancient Romans have also been found. A very extensive archeology find has been discovered from the Avarian cemetery which was probably one of the largest and richest burial grounds in the Carpathian Basin. We would like to get these historic monuments back in Zamárdi and to expose them in an adequate place.

The next important historic period was the time following the Hungarian Conquest. The name of Zamárdi is mentioned in written documents of the era, at first in a certificate dated 1082, then in the authentic certificate of King Stephen the Third dated 1171. Note, however, that the settlement mentioned more and more often in writing in the later centuries did not have a block settlement form; houses were rather arranged according to the demesne structure. The ancient village may have been Egyházaszamárd, right on the important communication road.

In the 16th century, the Turkish army totally destructed these villages, and the area was abandoned for a very long time. Our village was revived by Vildebald Grassó and his successor, Ágoston Lécs, both of them abbots of Tihany in the thirties of the 18th century. A church was finally built in 1774. People lived mainly from agriculture, vine-growing, stock farming and fishing. This agriculture remains the main character of our area until the nineteen-sixties when a new era began with the touristic utilization of Lake Balaton.
The new Zamárdi, of course, could not avoid the tempests of history and people suffered very much but the existence of the village was not threatened anymore.
Today Zamárdi is one of the most beautiful settlements at Lake Balaton, with the longest free-entry beach, offering high level services, combining a lively holiday area with a calm village zone surrounded by wonderful vineyards and tourist paths.