Žiar nad Hronom

Žiar nad Hronom (until 1927 in Slovak "Svätý Kríž" - until 1955 "Svätý Kríž nad Hronom"; German Heiligenkreuz an der Gran , Hungarian Garamszentkereszt - until 1888 Barsszentkereszt - older also Szentkereszt ) is a town in central Slovakia with 18,852 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2019) and seat of Okres Žiar nad Hronom .

geography

The town is located on both sides of the river Hron , but primarily on the right bank, at the confluence with the brook Lutilský potok and lies in the valley basin Žiarská kotlina . In the vicinity there are volcanic mountains such as Kremnické vrchy (north), Vtáčnik (northwest) and Štiavnické vrchy (south). The train station on the left bank of the Hron is at an altitude of 244 m nm , the city center on the other hand at 272 m nm and is 40 kilometers from Banská Bystrica and 170 kilometers from the capital Bratislava .

The districts are Šášovské Podhradie (German Castle Village , incorporated in 1971) and Žiar nad Hronom, with the incorporated and now abandoned village Horné Opatovce (German Apfelsdorf an der Gran , also Opatdorf , incorporated in 1969).

Neighboring municipalities are Lutila in the north, Stará Kremnička and Trnavá Hora in the east, Močiar and Ladomerská Vieska in the southeast, briefly Podhorie and Sklené Teplice in the south, Lehôtka pod Brehmi in the southwest, Lovča in the west and Lovčica-Trubín in the northwest.

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Panorama of Žiar nad Hronom as seen from Šibeničný vrch

history

Ruins of Šášov Castle east of Žiar nad Hronom

The town of Žiar nad Hronom was mentioned in writing for the first time as Kerestur as early as 1075 and is associated several times with the Šášov castle , which was then called Susol . A settlement called Cristur was recorded in 1237, which received town charter in 1246, developed into an agricultural town in Bars County in the following centuries and became the seat of a manor. In the Middle Ages, the town was also the site of a toll booth and had belonged to the Archdiocese of Gran since the late Middle Ages . In 1536 28 porta were recorded in a tax register. Although the local fortress never fell to the Turks , it was conquered and devastated several times along with the city by insurgent troops of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 17th century. In 1661 the whole town with the Gothic church burned down. After the reconstruction in the 18th century, in 1776 the manor came to the newly created diocese of Neusohl . In 1828 there are 136 houses and 955 inhabitants and the town was predominantly agricultural, albeit with a few guilds.

Until 1918, the place in Persch County belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary and then came to Czechoslovakia or now Slovakia. During the Second World War , the city was captured by the Red Army on January 31, 1945. A complete new beginning for the city was the founding of the only aluminum factory in Czechoslovakia in 1953, which made the city famous beyond the region. As a result of the establishment, the small town with 1,500 inhabitants turned into an industrial town with around 20,000 inhabitants. In 1955 the city was given its current name, as “religious” names were considered undesirable in communist Czechoslovakia.

population

Námestie Matice slovenskej

According to the 2011 census, Žiar nad Hronom had 19,883 inhabitants, including 15,484 Slovaks , 565 Roma , 98 Czechs , 84 Magyars , 15 Germans and 13 Moravians ; all other residents either belonged to an ethnic group with fewer than ten members or to another ethnic group not listed in the statistics. 3,580 residents did not provide any information. 9,693 residents supported the Roman Catholic Church , 478 residents the Protestant Church AB , 69 residents the Greek Catholic Church , 49 residents the Congregational Church, 26 residents the Reformed Church , 24 residents the Evangelical Methodist Church , 19 residents the Orthodox Church , 17 residents to Jehovah's Witnesses and 12 residents to the Brethren Church; all other residents either belonged to a denomination with fewer than ten members or to another denomination not listed in the statistics. 4,219 inhabitants had no denomination and for 5,144 inhabitants the denomination was not determined.

According to the 2001 census, the city has 19,945 inhabitants. According to nationalities:

94.27% Slovaks
1.97% Roma
0.95% Czechs
0.69% Magyars

According to religion:

62.07% Roman Catholic
25.54% not religious
3.19% Protestant

Attractions

Country castle in Žiar nad Hronom

Renaissance Baroque castle-1631 on Regulation of Archbishop Péter Pázmány was built, and at times the episcopal summer residence of the Banská Bystrica bishops was
Classicist Church of Exaltation of the Cross from 1813, replacing an older Gothic church
Laurentius Church in Horné Opatovce, which remains as one of the few buildings in the village that was lost in 1969
Ruins of Sachsenstein Castle east of the city

economy

Aluminum plant

The main employer in the village is the foundry Nemak Slovakia with 1050 employees and the aluminum producer Slovalco , which was previously called Závody Slovenského národného povstania .

traffic

Railway: Žiar nad Hronom station on the left bank of the Hron in Ladomerská Vieska on the Nové Zámky – Zvolen railway line
Road: Crossing of 1st order roads 50 (Trenčín – Zvolen – Košice) and 65 (Nitra – Martin), also accessible via the R1 expressway (exit Šášovské Podhradie or Lehôtka pod Brehmi). A bypass built as part of the R2 expressway was opened to traffic on December 15, 2014.

Twin cities

Svitavy (Czech Republic)

Individual evidence

↑ 2011 census by ethnicity (Slovak) ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
↑ 2011 census by denomination (Slovak) ( Memento from September 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : Žiar nad Hronom - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

[1] 2011 census by ethnicity (Slovak) ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

[2] 2011 census by denomination (Slovak) ( Memento from September 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive )