Heves megyei aprónyomtatványok 23/H
______Sirol< The settlement of Sirok can be found at the meeting point of the mountains Mátra and Bükk, at the junction of the two Tarna ponds in a valley. The settlement of about 3 thousand residents alloys the past and present in a successful way, it show a picture of a settlement that has already conformed to the needs of the present. The castle of Sirok is an organic part of the settlement. It was built one km from the centre of the settlement, on the 294 m high rhyolite tuff cone of Castle Hill. Its sight is attractive in ruins in each month of the year as well, there is a wonderful circle panorama from the top. The traditional Castle Performances are held among the walls of the castle each year where the past revives in period dresses. During the Middle Ages it was first owned by a landlord, then by the king. Its importance was significant during the Turkish occupation in the middle of the 16th century. In 1596 the castle was occupied by the Turkish, it was relieved one hundred years later but from that time on the walls have already been on the brink of ruin. We can see two isolated cliffs from the top of the castle. The cliffs of very special forms were created by the rhyolite tuff that streamed out of the crater during the volcanic operation. The local residents gave really appropriate denominations for the cliffs, the Friar and the Nun which refer to their forms that have been formed by nature during millennia. Among the sights of the settlement the Baroque Church built in the 18th century and Szent László chapel built between 1992-96 have to be mentioned. The outer appearance and the inner structure of the chapel are a very good alloy of the stylistical marks of the medieval church and up- to-date architecture. Lake Nyirjes at the south-east slope of Darnó Hill is a nature conservation area. In the middle there is peat moss marsh with rare species of peat moss. The oldest block of Mátra Mountain existed in the Palaeozoic era.
