Szabolcs locality is located in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, 36 km from Nyíregyháza, on the left bank of the river Tisza. Access is via the road 38, north of Rakamaz (6 km).
Today, Szabolcs town lives through her past. The archaeological research begun in 1969, vestiges of the former county seat from the 11th and 13th centuries were originally integrated in the public awareness of the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, then in the national consciousness. After these steps, in 1975-1980 the church with three naves was restored, a monument of architecture which had been built in the 11th century, the earth fortress was restored, the best preserved of all fortresses in the Carpathian Basin, the parish was restored and established museum. These objectives (and the annual feast of St. Ladislau) are the major points of attraction in Szabolcs. Visitors can enjoy the romantic landscapes formed by the dryed arms of Tisza, the Kerek Lake and Kis-Tisza, which are monuments of nature.
The earth fortification of Szabolcs was built on a bend of the Tisza River, and follows a triangular plane. The archaeological section was opened in a ditch near the western gate of the earth fortress where one could see a settlement on several levels under the fortress, ranging from the Neolithic period until the late Iron Age. The building of the fortress used a shell structure with compartments formed by joining beams of different thicknesses (20-35 cm), these compartments being filled with excavated earth from the fortress ditch. The outer side of these wooden structures was vertical, and the inside might be stair-like here and there. The corners of the fortress were probably equipped with towers, two gates faced Tisza, and the access inside was via a bridge superimposed perpendicularly on the surrounding ditch of the fortress. According to the measurements made at the outer walls, the fortress occupied an area of 337-235-387 m. Her height varied, and could reach 8-10 m above the earth foundation strengthened with stone. Research carried out on small-sized, clear surfaces inside the fortress have proved that there were no permanent buildings, its surface area being used by inhabitants who sought refuge here in cases of emergency. On these occasions, drinking water for humans and animals was provided by a tank buried in the ground. According to research results, the fortress was built in the 10th century. After the Uzi, Pechenegs and Cumans sieges from 1085 and 1091, the walls of the fortress were restored and strengthened. After the Tatar invasion (1241-42), Szabolcs never functioned as center of the royal county and the town was abandoned. The wooden shells filled with earth rotted and fill poured out, forming dams which were assimilated in the traditional consciousness as an earth fortress. Nowadays, Szabolcs is the best preserved fortress of the 10th century from Central and Eastern Europe, and which, rightly so, is a protected architectural monument.
A Kállay family document from 1357 mentions in Szabolcs a monastery dedicated to St. Virgin Mary, fit with six stone columns and a wooden tower next to the building and a church dedicated to St. Michael. The specialty literature considers the church with the semicircular apse dating from the 11th century. The original church nave was divided in three bodies by the two rows of three stone columns. Collateral naves were barely a meter wide. The gateway was originally on the south side, keeping the threshold of it, made of an impressive piece of stone.
According to written records, the first Mudrány family member, a wine merchant, was a native of Szepes County and settled here during the riot ran by Francis Rákóczi II. In the 19th century, Mudrány András, dying without heirs, left the building to the Calvinist Church. The church used it as rectory and in 1980, after Restoration, it has become an exhibition space of the Jósa András Museum of Nyíregyháza depicting the collection of art and decorative art of the institution on a restored interior. The mansion was formally made monument of architecture in 1987. The mansion exhibition presents the daily life and furnishings belonging to specific noble curia of times long past. Mudrány mansion was built in the late 18th century and followed a specific plan of the noble curia from eastern Hungary at that time. The building plan is symmetrical: to the left and right of the horizontal axis are rowed similar rooms in size and spatial arrangement. The hall has three doors, one of which provides access to the former dining room, the other two to the bedrooms. Next to each bedroom is a salon, one for men and one for women, both functioning also as guest-rooms. Except for the kitchen and the vestibule, the rooms are decorated with frescoes: in the four corners of the painted ceilings, surrounded by decorative frames, are the portraits of the greatest Hunnish-Hungarian personalities of history, of Hungarian history, respectively, some of them being revealed during the works of building restorations.
