Balassagyarmat
The former county seat of Nógrád county, the second largest town of the county, a trade, service and educational center, and since the Trianon Pact, it is a bordertown towards Slovakia.
Economy
The economy of Balassagyarmat in these days are determined by five major companies involved in energetics, in the electrotechnical and electrical industry and mechanical engineering. The largest employers of the county can also be found among them.
The industrial park, that can be found on the western and southern industrial areas, has a constantly developing infrastructure, and it offers possibilities to start new businesses besides serving the already established ones.
Education
The town has 2 nurseries, 5 kindergartens, 4 primary schools, 6 secondary schools, an art school and a youth hostel.
From the schoolyear of 2020/2021 the SZC Szondi György Technical and Vocational School started an industrial technician training unique in the county, offering competitive knowledge, and the Balassi Bálint High School of Balassagyarmat offers English bilingual training among its other trainings.
Culture
Balassagyarmat is the citadel of the Palóc culture.
The whole peasant culture of Nógrád county is collected and presented in the Palóc Museum. Among its main cultural institutes we must mention the Jánossy Gallery, the Horváth Endre Gallery and the Szerbtemplom Gallery. The Nyírjesi Game Park and Botanical Garden won the Educational Path of Ecotourism of the Year title in 2012. Besides the events of 3D halls and the music club of the Madách Imre Movie Theatre, the Palóc grove open air theatre the town offers several buzzing cultural programs through the whole year. Balassagyarmat is the town of small museums: the Pannónia Motorbike Museum, The first Bycicle Museum, the Jewish Collection and Exhibition Room, the monumental Orthodox cemetery, the Civitas Fortissima Museum, the Collection of Regional History, and the Artéria Gallery welcome the visitors.
Sport
The most popular sports with several decades of tradition in the town are the football and the handball. The modern facilities of the Kövi Pál Sport Center on the Banks of the Ipoly:
The recently built Révész László swimming pool, a football stadium, a football field with artificial grass surface, the Town Sport Hall, a park for extreme sports and skateboardtrack. There is a bike and kayak-canoe tour center near the border cross. The Ipoly and the Nyírjes lake system are ideal for fishing and the surrounding forest wilderness for hunting.