Spišský Štvrtok

Spišský Štvrtok (until 1927 Slovak "Štvrtok"; German Donnersmark or Donnersmarkt , Hungarian Csütörtökhely , until 1902 Csötörtökhely , Polish Spiski Czwartek , Latin Quintoforum ) is a municipality in northern Slovakia with 2524 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019). It belongs to the Okres Levoča , part of the Prešovský kraj , and is part of the traditional Spiš landscape .

geography

View of Spišský Štvrtok from the Slovak Paradise from

The municipality is located in the north-western part of the Hornádska kotlina basin at the foot of the Leutschauer Berge , in the source area of the Štvrtocký creek in the catchment area of the Hornád and is exactly at the 49th parallel . To the west of the village you can still find foothills of the Kozie chrbty , further south you can reach the Slovak Paradise National Park . The municipality is hilly, with the exception of small tracts of land in the north, deforested and covered by brown forest floors. The elevation varies from 530 m nm to 600 m nm , the center of the village is at an altitude of 570 m nm and is eleven kilometers from Levoča and Spišská Nová Ves and 15 kilometers from Poprad .

The municipality also includes the former village of Mečedeľovce (first mentioned in 1314 as Micheletfaua , in Hungarian Meczedelfalu ), which was incorporated in the middle of the 19th century and is no longer a district today.

Neighboring municipalities are Abrahámovce in the north, Dravce in the northeast, Iliašovce in the east, Arnutovce and Smižany in the southeast, Letanovce in the south and Jánovce in the west.

history

Church of St. Ladislaus in Spišský Štvrtok

Close-up of the Zápolya Chapel

At the archaeological site of Myšia hôrka on the border with Jánovce around 1900 remains of an old one, dating back to around 1500 BC, were found. A stone settlement dating from the Middle Bronze Age was found. The old settlement of the Ottomány culture was around 6,600 m² in size, protected by moats, ramparts and bastions, and was located next to an ancient trade route from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea. Because of its supposed importance and size, the site was nicknamed "Slovak Mycenae " by historians . In addition, remnants of the settlements from the Hallstatt period , the Puchau culture and from the time of the Moravian Empire were established in the municipality.

After the Hungarian conquest, according to some sources, a small Hungarian village was built on the site of today's place, which was named after Ladislaus the Holy and which was devastated during the Mongol storm in 1241–42. After the arrival of German "guests" in the Spiš, the place was first mentioned in writing in 1263 as Villa Sancti Ladislai , then in 1294 as Santus Ladislaus alias Quintoforum . The Quintoforum refers to the market that took place on Thursdays. Thanks to the favorable location, high development of agriculture, trade and guilds as well as good relations with the Count of Leutschau, Donnersmarkt was elevated to a town in 1312 and was a member of the alliance of the Spiš Saxons. The town developed so quickly that in the 14th century it tried, in view of growing disputes with the town of Leutschau, to become the seat of the province of the 24 Spiš towns, but it did not succeed.

After 13 Spis cities were pledged to Poland in 1412, which ultimately lasted 360 years, Donnersmark became the seat of the cities remaining in the Kingdom of Hungary , which merged to form the province of 11 Spis cities. However, as early as 1465, Donnersmark became part of the estate of the Spiš Castle and became a subject village in 1532 at the latest (owned by the Thurzo family ). The village was able to confirm its market rights again in 1638, but was affected several times by the chaos of war in the 16th and 17th centuries, primarily by uprisings directed against the Habsburgs and by plague epidemics. In 1650 it came to the possession of the Csáky family , which lasted until the abolition of serfdom in 1848. At the same time, the German influence disappeared almost completely due to the massive influx of Slovaks. In 1672 the Csákys founded a minorite monastery . In 1787 the village had 62 houses and 493 inhabitants, in 1828 there were 85 houses and 637 inhabitants, of which only four were craftsmen, as agriculture was the main source of income. After 1854 there were no market days and a possible recovery was missed due to the lack of a direct connection to the Kaschau-Oderberger Bahn . At the end of the 19th century, many residents emigrated because of poverty.

Until 1918/1919 the place in Zips County belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary and then came to Czechoslovakia or today Slovakia.

Donnersmark is the ancestral seat of the noble Silesian family Henckel von Donnersmarck .

population

According to the 2011 census, Spišský Štvrtok had 2433 inhabitants, of whom 2211 were Slovaks, 105 Roma, 12 Czechs, 4 Russians, 2 Poles and 1 Ukrainian, German and one inhabitant of another ethnic group. 96 residents did not provide any information. In 2019 residents committed to the Roman Catholic Church, 18 residents each to the Greek Catholic Church and the Congregational Church, 5 residents to the Jehovah's Witnesses, 2 residents to the Evangelical Church AB and 1 resident each to the Apostolic Church, the Orthodox Church, the Reformed Church Church as well as to another denomination. 75 inhabitants were without a denomination and the denomination was not determined for 292 inhabitants.

Buildings

Building of the Minorite Monastery

Church of St. Ladislaus (Slovak Kostol svätého Ladislava ), an originally Gothic church with Romanesque parts from the 13th century, redesigned in Baroque style in 1697 and 1747. On the south side of the nave is the Zápolya chapel , which was built according to the design of the master craftsman Hans Puchsbaum Connected in 1473, which the Hereditary Count of Spiš Stephan Zápolya had built for himself and his family. The interior of the church is designed in the Baroque style except for the Gothic baptismal font.
Building of the Minorite Monastery in early Baroque style from 1668, a one-storey building with an almost square floor plan. After several changes of purpose, an institute for social care has been housed there since 1950 .

Infrastructure and traffic

The community operates a kindergarten and a primary school, and there is also a post office in the village. It has fully developed water and gas pipes, and the sewage pipes are connected to a sewage treatment plant.

Spišský Štvrtok is located at the intersection of several main roads and is therefore well developed. The 1st order road 18 ( E 50 ) leads north past the village from Žilina and Poprad to Levoča and further on to Prešov . Second order road 535 connects the village with Spišská Nová Ves and further north, after a break between Spišský Štvrtok and Jánovce, Kežmarok . The Spišský Štvrtok junction of the D1 motorway is north-west of the village .

The next connection to the Košice – Žilina railway line is at the Letanovce stop four kilometers away. Larger train stations, where express, EC and IC trains also stop, are Poprad-Tatry and Spišská Nová Ves.

The nearest international airport is Poprad-Tatry Airport, 21 kilometers away .