Rákospalota

thumb|Our Lady of Hungary church in Rákospalota Rákospalota (literally: Castle [upon] Rákos [brook], ) is a neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. With Pest-újhely and Új-palota it comprises District XV.

== History == In the early Middle Ages there were about six villages in the northern part of the Rákos plain. About 1200 A.D. a church was built on the little hill next to the Szilas brook - the ancestor of the present Catholic chapel. The first name of the village was Nyír (Birch) but later it became known as Palota (Palace) after the castle of the landowner. The little community had very hard times in the 16th-17th centuries when Buda was under Turkish occupation, but it survived thanks to the residents' strong Calvinist religion. After the liberation of Buda in 1696, by the Habsburgs, Rákospalota became one of the most prosperous villages in the region. Market gardening and agriculture flourished, and two baroque churches were built: one for the Calvinist community (it was demolished at the beginning of the 20th century) and a little Catholic chapel in 1735 on the foundation of the ancient village church.