The name of the Árpád-era settlement was already mentioned in 1284 in a document preserved in the Zichy documentary library under the name Villa Zekul. We know its owners from 1316, who were the sons of Bánki Lőkös of the Hontpázmány clan. Between 1324 and 1331, it was acquired by the great-grandson of Ubul of the Balogsemjén clan, the son of István of Nagysemlyén, László, ancestor of the Kállay family, and this right of possession of the Kállays was confirmed by King Sigismund of Hungary in a grant of 1427. The settlements of Iliatelke, Juha and Őze, which fell within the boundaries of the settlement, are now extinct. The name of the settlement indicates that it may have once been the residence of a lawn guard, the first mention of the village being around 1284.

The church dedicated to St. Michael is first mentioned in 1324. In its present form, the building has a single nave with a semicircular sanctuary of the same width and height as the nave, reinforced by buttresses and entirely built of brick. The nave façade is pierced by two semicircular window openings. The entrance to the church is in the central axis of the west façade.

Archaeological research carried out in 2007 produced some surprising results. It was found that the original sanctuary had been demolished and a completely new part of the building was erected in the mid-18th century. The sanctuary of the church was previously thought to be of Árpád age. According to the results of the research, the first church, built of red bricks, was already standing in 1324 and was probably built at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries by the Bánk family of the Hontpázmány family. In the second period, the western wall and the doorway of the nave were demolished and the church was extended to the west. The western corners of the enlarged nave were reinforced with diagonal buttresses of stepped design. In the south nave wall, two semi-circular window openings were created. A new entrance was opened in the west wall. The doorway has a pointed-arched closure, with a niche above it, also with a pointed arch.

Excavations have revealed mural paintings on the south inner side wall of the nave. Of the two female saints, only the head of the one to the east and the upper part of the one at the western end of the nave have survived. The frescoes date from the 15th century and may once have been the opening and closing figures of a mural that decorated almost the entire south wall.

In 1744, the church, largely destroyed, was abandoned, but a few years later a major building project was begun. The 18th-century rebuilding not only affected the sanctuary, but also the medieval triumphal arch and the nave's north-east buttress were demolished. At the end of the 18th century and again in the 19th century, the building underwent a series of repairs to the wooden ceiling, the roof and the interior fittings.

The building was already seen by the famous 19th century art historian Rómer Flóris, who not only drew a picture of the western doorway, but also wrote the following in his limited report on the church: 'stone masonry, two classes of pillars, round window, sanctuary with two windows, brick construction, Romanesque windows in the south. Above, cornice with moulded cornice, never vaulted.

Székely, Reformed Church (4534 Székely, Illyés Gy. u. 2. Hrsz.: 255) renovation:

• Repairs to facade plasterwork, plastering of ascending walls to distinguish the different building phases and historical periods,
• restoration of the remaining monumental details: Romanesque wall pillar, Gothic brick capitals,
• colouring of the entire façade,
• closing the entrance of the church with a new door,
• restoration of the interior plasterwork, then whitewashing of the walls,
• repair of the brick flooring and the parapet,  
• partial internal renovation (restoration of the structure of the pulpits, repair and conversion of the pews, furniture, restoration of the pulpit and crown, painting of the furniture, renovation of the electrical network, installation of electric foil heating for the pews).

GALÉRIA