Demographics

The town's population has grown significantly since the 1990s. Many people move away from the capital city, Budapest, and settle in Gödöllő. The British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has been operating its vaccine plant in the town since 2006. The American technology company, Itron has its own R&D centre there since 2017. The Hungarian flavour and essential oils manufacturer FOOD BASE, the Hungarian chemical company Chemico, the Italian blood plasma distributor Kedrion, the American cosmetics company Avon and the American vehicle manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. have production facilities in Gödöllő.

Transport

thumb|250px|The M3 motorway near Gödöllő

thumb|250px|Old [[HÉV station on the main square]]

Gödöllő is a transportation hub, because of the 3 main road and the M3 motorway cuts through the town, and the M31 motorway connects them with the eastern section of the M0 ring road. In addition, there are minor roads running from the town to Vác, Pécel and Jászberény.

The Budapest-Sátoraljaújhely-rail line is also affected, as well as the BKV H8, suburban train terminal is located here.

Gödöllő has nine local bus lines and is a common stop for long-distance buses.

In August 2025, Gödöllő was announced as the first European location to pilot AI-powered demand-responsive minibuses developed in South Korea. The project, launched jointly by Korean and Hungarian transport authorities, involves a fleet of Hyundai vehicles equipped with artificial intelligence to dynamically adjust routes based on real-time passenger demand. Operating on a demand-responsive transport (DRT) model, the service aims to improve local mobility by allowing users to request pickups via smartphone app or telephone.

Motorways

  • M3
  • M31

Railways

  • Budapest-Hatvan railway line
  • The suburban railway of Gödöllő (HÉV)

Airport

Gödöllő has a small sport airport.

Sights

Royal Palace of Gödöllő

thumb|The palace from bird's-eye view

The Royal Palace of Gödöllő is one of the most important, largest monuments of Hungarian palace architecture. it is a Baroque building on the area of 1,700 m<sup>2</sup> with a park of 28 ha. It is famous for being a favourite place of Queen Elisabeth of Hungary.

Main square

The House of Arts|thumb

thumb|Main square

Gödöllő's main square, Szabadság Tér (Liberty Square), is reached with a short walk from the suburban train (HEV) stop of the same name. Its sights are: right from Dózsa György Road: the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Reformed Church (9 Szabadság Square), town hall (7 Szabadság Square), the World Peace Gong (right side of the town hall), Hamvay Mansion (5 Szabadság Square), Gödöllő Town Museum (5 Szabadság Square), town market and the Pelican Well (5 Szabadság Square).

As a part of the New Hungary Development Plan, the town's main square has been completely renovated, with work completed in 2011, in an attempt to restore the atmosphere of the town to that of the time prior to the Socialist Party's building programme, which demolished much of the town centre to make way for blocks of flats. As part of the renovation, the square has been pedestrianised, 46 Secession era-style street lights added, and a singing fountain built in front of the Reformed Church.

Reformed Church

thumb|Reformed Church

The baroque-style Reformed Church, built in 1745, is an onion dome church with a beautifully simple façade. The building process was patronized; the money and the plot for the church were donated by Antal Grassalkovich I who had demolished a Reformed Church built in 1657 at the site of the present Royal Castle. The new church was consecrated in 1745. It was renovated several times: in 1912, the complete painted and carved wooden ceiling and the chancel were changed into concrete. The prang in 1945 affected the church seriously and the renovation processes took very long. The renovation of the tower was finished in 1993.

World Peace Gong

thumb|World Peace Gong

thumb|Royal waiting room

The World Peace Gong on the Szabadság (Liberty) Square is the fifth in the world and the first and only European peace gong which was given by Indonesia as a present and a symbol of worldwide friendship and fraternity to the town of Gödöllő. The gong shows the flags of all the countries, the symbols of all the religions and the maps of the oceans of the Earth. It was created by the World Peace Committee as a memento for the bomb attack in Bali in 2002. The gong was offered to Gödöllő in 2007 as an acknowledgement of advances in civilization, technology and economy as well as the peaceful social circumstances in Gödöllő. The gong weighs 150&nbsp;kg; it is a 2m diameter bronze circle relic, the work of Djuyoto Suntani, an Indonesian sculptor. The gong was inaugurated on 2 May 2007. The story of the gong is engraved in the small plaque in front and the park around it is populated with shrub species typically found in the Tropics. The gong remains in excellent condition, apart from the scratching out, prior to 2009, of the Israeli flag.

Hamvay Mansion

The mansion, a one-story characteristic baroque building in the town centre, recalls Gödöllő's baroque era with its typical yellow color, wrought-iron lamps. Ferenc Hamvay, landed lord of Gödöllő, built this mansion (a ground level building at the time) in 1662.

In the 18th century, it was rebuilt and became a one-storey building when Antal Grassalkovich I made it a guest house. Then it fulfilled a number of functions, including Gödöllő's first pharmacy in 1814. Some of the ceiling decorations in the interiors of the ground floor are probably left from that time. In the 19th century, it became the hotel bearing the name of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. From this time on, the hotel was the venue for numerous cultural and artistic events like theatre performances, and it hosted a casino and a number of balls in its ballroom. The Commemorative Room arranged in 1927 in the school operating in the building until 1988 is home to a collection of souvenirs of Gödöllő's history and cultural life. In 1978, another collection on local history was exhibited, the successor of which came to be the Town Museum Gödöllő. The Hamvay Mansion and the market in its garden were renovated in 1998–99; the works were awarded numerous national and international prizes.

Town market

The modern town market is a lively place. Open on weekday mornings through the early afternoon, it includes outdoor and indoor stands selling fresh produce, flowers, and local craft work, with some stall holders wearing traditional dress. The market has several cafes and a bar.

The Pelican Well

At the main entrance to the town market stands the Pelican Well; it includes a design featuring a pelican feeding its young with its own blood.

Education

thumb|upright|The Boy Scout, a statue erected to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the [[4th World Scout Jamboree|1933 World Jamboree]]

Nurseries

  • 1st Nursery (Palotakert)
  • 2nd Nursery (Kossuth Lajos Street)
  • 3rd Nursery (Premontrei Road)

Kindergartens

;Municipal kindergartens

  • Martinovics utcai Óvoda
  • Szent János utcai Óvoda
  • Kazinczy körúti Óvoda
  • Palotakerti Óvoda
  • Tisza utcai Óvoda
  • Táncsics Mihály úti Óvoda
  • Egyetem téri Óvoda
  • Zöld Óvoda

;Privately run kindergartens

  • Játékkuckó Magánóvoda
  • Gödöllő Szabad Waldorf Óvoda
  • Stefi Néni Óvodája
  • Tudásfa Tanoda Alapítványi Óvoda
  • Mókus Odú Gyermekóvoda

Elementary schools

;Municipal schools

  • Erkel Ferenc Elementary School
  • Hajós Alfréd Elementary School
  • Damjanich János Elementary School
  • Petőfi Sándor Elementary School
  • Montágh Imre Elementary School, Special Vocational School and Vocational School of Advanced Skills

;Church and public elementary schools

  • Szent Imre Catholic Elementary School
  • Gödöllői Waldorf Elementary School and Secondary Grammar School and Primary Art School

Secondary schools

;Municipal secondary schools

  • Török Ignác Secondary Grammar School
  • Madách Imre Secondary School, Vocational School and College

;Church and public secondary schools

  • Gödöllői Premontrei Szent Norbert Secondary Grammar School and Church Music Secondary School and College
  • Gödöllői Református Líceum Secondary Grammar School and College
  • Gödöllői Waldorf Elementary School and Secondary Grammar School and Primary Art School

Other educational institutions

  • Frédéric Chopin Music School
  • Summer Day
  • Educational Advisory
  • Institute for School and Speech Therapy
  • Single Teaching Field Service

Szent István University

thumb|The main building of the university's faculty of Mechanical Engineering

thumb|The main entrance of the university

thumb|[[Szent István University|The university]]

The university headquarters are located in the picturesque Gödöllő, but altogether nine faculties and an institution accept students in Budapest, Jászberény, Békéscsaba, Szarvas, and Gyula. Most of the schools in Szent István University have one or even two-century long histories. SZIU is Hungary's largest agricultural higher educational institution.

More than 18,000 students study in the seven campuses of the university. In addition to conventional agricultural and environmental sciences, Szent István University offers courses in veterinary medicine, environmental sciences, mechanical engineering, economy and social sciences, architecture, water supply management, medical sciences, and applied arts.

Amerigo Tot's "The Apotheosis of the Nucleus"

Amerigo Tot is a sculptor of Hungarian origin. His copper relief created on an imposing 120 square metres entitled "The Apotheosis of the Nucleus" can be seen in the University Hall of the Faculty of Technical Studies.

"I wanted to show the apotheosis of the nucleus in copper...The nucleus, he said, is a general thought. It is the grain for the plant and the beginning for biology as well.' Theoretically grain and soil and woman go together..." said Tot about the theoretical background of the relief. His work was originally designed for the gate of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The first design was ready in 1970 but, due to a series of historical events it was only inaugurated in 1983 in the presence of the artist, who was by then seriously ill.

Museum of Agricultural Machinery

The museum hosts the second largest collection of agricultural machinery in the world. On its 6,000 square meters, it is home to a collection of more than 2,000 agricultural machines that are still working. Six exhibitions introduce agricultural machinery and curiosities in the history of agricultural techniques. The visitor will be introduced to the 2.5 million year-old history of food acquisition and production, through models reconstructed with the help of original designs and machines. It is a true adventure of understanding mankind's tough fight for the daily bread. The exhibitions show the development of the machines from very early times like wind, water and steam powered agricultural machines, to modern ones used today. Some 200 agricultural models show the development of food producing machinery together with documentation on the technical history of the respective time.

Hungaricums (traditional Hungarian food types) are on display here: more than 300 types of food introduce the traditional food of Hungarians arranged in a thematic order according to region. The complete history of Hungarian agricultural production is explained in an exhibition in which the visitor can see soil cultivating machines, plant cultivating machines and those for animal husbandry used by ploughmen in earlier times, as well as modern machines used today.

Twin towns – sister cities

Gödöllő is twinned with:

  • Giessen, Germany (1988)
  • Forssa, Finland (1990)
  • Miercurea Ciuc, Romania (1990)

<!--Berehove - twinning ended-->

  • Wageningen, Netherlands (1992)
  • Dunajská Streda, Slovakia (1994)
  • Senta, Serbia (1994)
  • Laxenburg, Austria (1997)
  • Turnhout, Belgium (1999)
  • Żywiec, Poland (2002)
  • Aichach, Germany (2006)
  • Valdemoro, Spain (2008)
  • Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav, Czech Republic (2009)
  • Bogor, Indonesia (2009)
  • Bad Ischl, Austria (2012)
  • Zhangzhou, China (2013)
  • Beit Aryeh-Ofarim, Israel (2015)
  • Edirne, Turkey (2016)
  • Fauske, Norway (2022)
  • Incheon, South Korea (2023)
  • Đurđevac, Croatia (2024)
  • Haiphong, Vietnam (2024)

Notable people

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thumb|150px|Plaque for [[Sándor Petőfi]]

thumb|150px|Plaque for [[Géza Ottlik]]

thumb|Plaque for [[Lajos Kossuth in the Kossuth street]]

  • József Ángyán, professor, agricultural engineer and politician
  • Miklós Baranyai, physician and politician, member of the National Assembly (MP)
  • Behnam Lotfi, musician, member of Compact Disco
  • József Dzurják, football player and manager
  • Elisabeth of Austria, empress
  • Franz Joseph I of Austria, emperor and monarch
  • Károly Grósz, communist politician, Prime Minister of Hungary (1987–1988)
  • Noémi Kiss, writer
  • István Medgyaszay, architect and writer
  • Dénes Mihály, inventor and engineer
  • Kornél Mundruczó, actor and film director
  • Dániel Nagy, footballer
  • Gyula J. Obádovics, mathematician
  • Géza Ottlik, writer, translator, mathematician and theorist
  • Sándor Petőfi, poet and liberal revolutionary (lived in Gödöllő for the summer of 1843)
  • Tibor Rab, footballer
  • Vilmos Szabadi, violinist
  • Ignác Török, honvéd general in the Hungarian army, one of the 13 Martyrs of Arad
  • Krisztina Tóth, table tennis player
  • Péter Tusor, university associate history professor
  • Victor Vashi, political cartoonist
  • Theodore Wolfner, deputy in the Austro-Hungarian Monarch
  • Zita of Bourbon-Parma, princess
  • János Zováth, footballer

In cinema

  • Parts of the 1999 British-American film Au Pair take place in Gödöllő.
  • In 1900, Aleksandar Lifka shot the visit of the Emperor Franz Joseph and Queen Elisabeth to the town of Gödöllő.
  • Several scenes were shot at the Gödöllő Railway Station in the Citizen X (1995).
  • Mata Hari, American-Hungarian film (1985)

Media

  • Rádióaktiv 93.6
  • Gödöllői Szolgálat (weekly)
  • Gödöllői Hírek (appears every two weeks)

<gallery>

Vasútállomás-gödöllő.jpg|Railway Station

Water tower - Gödöllő.jpg|The water tower of Gödöllő

Godollocivertanlegifoto4.jpg|Aerial view of the palace

Treppenahaus Gödöllö.JPG| A stairway in the palace

Gödöllő kálvária2.jpg|Calvary in the Erzsébet Park (Elizabeth's Park)

Grassalkovich-kastély (7051. számú műemlék) 10.jpg

Gödöllői egyetem kertje.jpg|Garden of the university with the statue of Prince Kálmán

Gödöllői Grassalkovich-kastély udvara.jpg

Schloss Gödöllö, 1869.JPG|A painting from 1869 representing the palace

Grassalkovich-kastély kerti pavilonja (14879. számú műemlék) 2.jpg|King's Hill pavilion in the Kastély Park (park of the palace)

Szent Flórián-szobor (7054. számú műemlék) 2.jpg|Statue of Saint Florian

Grassalkovich-kastély kápolnája (római katolikus templom) (14878. számú műemlék).jpg|Chapel of the palace

Szent István Egyetem főépülete (egykori premontrei gimnázium, rendház és kollégium) (15414. számú műemlék) 4.jpg|Main entrance of the university

Erzsébet park2.jpg|The Crown's Hill in the Erzsébet Park

Szent István Egyetem főépülete (egykori premontrei gimnázium, rendház és kollégium) (15414. számú műemlék) 5.jpg

4th-world-jamboree-map.jpg|Map of Gödöllő during the 4th World Scout Jamboree

Világfa.jpg|World Tree

</gallery>

Notes

References

  • in Hungarian and English