The town of 11,000 inhabitants is situated at the intersection of roads No. 46 and 47. The characteristics of the small town, which was formed in the one-time marshland plain, include the nationalities, its one-time school history and the Petőfi relics. It was given the rank of town in 1989. The village, which became depopulated in the Turkish wars, started to revive in 1723 due to the settlement policy of the Imperial Court of Vienna. The Lutheran Swabian and Slovak population was completed with Calvinist and Catholic Hungarians from the surrounding villages. In the main square the five ethnic minorities including the Gipsy and the Jewish ones are reflected in the statue called the Friendship of Nations by Sándor Várady presenting three girls holding on to each other, the churches based on the nationalities, the ethnographical collection of the museum and the German-Hungarian bilingual schools. The memorial plaque (1946-2002) commemorating the deportation of the Germans can be seen next to the German church in the main square, the memorial column with the miner’s lamp (2004) erected in memory of the victims carried off to do forced labour is in the church garden. The altarpiece of the German (Swabian) Lutheran church (1789) next to the Berény Hotel was painted by Soma Orlai Petrich. The church of the Slovakians is a larger Lutheran church in baroque style. Between them, next to the main road you can find the Catholic church of the Hungarians, a bit farther from the centre, the Calvinist one from 1804, in baroque style. The Soma Orlai Petrich Museum Collection (1991) presenting the ethnographical collection of the ethnic minorities is completed with an exhibition presenting poet Petőfi’s relationships in the town, which was placed in the Wenckheim-Fejérváry mansion. The first grammar school of the county was opened in 1802, where poet Petőfi, his father and his relative, Orlai studied. The first all girls’ school of county Békés was established between 1830 and 1840, where Petőfi’s wife, Júlia Szendrey studied. Her bust can be seen in front of the building of the museum collection. Petőfi monument near the river, at the one-time ferry. Historic pumping plant at Hosszúfok, with a museum of river control. In front of the town hall you can see a monument with the mythical eagle commemorating István Horthy, vice-regent and the victims of the World Wars. An outstanding event of the small town is the Berényi Days held at the same time as the International Festival of the People from Mezőberény. Many of the deported people and their descendants visit the industrial-commercial fair accompanied with several days of cultural programmes.