It was called Szentmária until 1903. It is situated in the northern part of the Tarnavölgy valley, 22 kilometres to the west of Eger. The number of its inhabitants is hardly 350. It has an own railway station on the Kál-Kápolna-Bátonyterenye raiway line. In its boundary there are stone ores. The settlement was already populated before Árpád ’ s conquest of Hungary. It first appears in a certificate as Zenthmarya in 1417. Tarnaszentmária was destroyed during the Turkish war but got populated again at the turn of the fifteenth-sixteenth century, later it devastated again during the 15 years long war. Its inhabitants earned their upkeep mainly by burning of wood coal. Through cutting forest area, they gained plough land progressively. Its roman catholic church is the oldest and smallest one operating today in Hungary. According to archaeologists, the church was meant to be a burial place of the principality and was built at the end of the tenth century. This was probably the first baptistery. It is worth take a look at. Three houses treasure the memory of the folklore architectural style.