Banská Bystrica (, Hungarian: Besztercebánya, German: Neusohl) is a city in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With approximately 76,000 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia. The present-day town was founded by German settlers who were invited by the Hungarian Árpád kings during the Middle Ages (as part of the Ostsiedlung), but it was built upon a former Slavic/Slovak/Avar settlement. It became a part of Zólyom County after Hungarian conquest. In 1255, during the reign of Béla IV of Hungary, it obtained the municipal privileges of a free royal town of the Kingdom of Hungary and was resettled by Germans from Thüringen. The copper mining town acquired its present picturesque look in the late Middle Ages when the prosperous burghers built its central churches, mansions, and fortifications. It is the capital of the kraj (more specifically Banská Bystrica Region) and the okres (Banská Bystrica District). It is also the home of Matej Bel University. As a historical town with easy access to the surrounding mountains, Banská Bystrica is a popular winter and summer tourist destination.
Etymology
The Slovak name Banská Bystrica includes two roots: the adjective Banská from Slovak baňa – "mine", and the name of the local river Bystrica (from Slavic bystrica – "swift stream"). The name of the town in also comes from the Beszterce stream (from the Slavic name of the stream, Bystrica), and the suffix bánya is connected to the mines of the town. The river lent its name to the town as early as 1255 when the Latin name Villa Nova Bystrice (meaning "New Town of Bystrica") was recorded in the document in which King Béla IV of Hungary granted the town royal privileges.Fejes Bálint: Zólyom vármegye rövid története, Belvedere, University of Szeged, Hungary, 1993
Several variations of Bystrica (Byztherze, Bystrice, Bystrzice, etc.) were then regularly used without the adjective identifying it as a mining town until the late 16th century. Although the first written record of the name Byzterchebana dates from 1263, it was rarely used afterwards. The Old German name Neusohl ("New Zvolen") (first recorded in 1300) and later its Latin version (Neosolium) reflected the fact that some early settlers came from the nearby town of Zvolen (at the time known in German as Altsohl, literally "Old Zvolen"). The two names have been used in parallel and even together (as in Novizolii Bistriciensis) throughout the history of the town. In the late 16th century, the use of the mining adjective became more frequent (as in Bystrzicze na baniech or Bystricze Banska, both from 1530). This evolution resulted in the current form of the name, first recorded in 1773 as Banska Bystrica. In the Austrian Empire, the German name Neusohl was used until the compromise of 1867, when the Hungarian name Besztercebánya became the official one.Die Poststempel auf der Freimarken-Ausgabe 1867 von Österreich und Ungarn, Edwin Mueller, 1930 (en allemand) The parallel use of Slovak or German names in the written record did not, however, cease in this period. Banská Bystrica became the official name of the town in 1920.
History
The earliest history of Banská Bystrica was connected to the extraction of its abundant deposits of copper (and to a lesser extent of silver, gold, and iron). The tools used by prehistoric miners at the locality called Špania Dolina have been dated to 2000–1700 BC. People of the Lusatian culture built their settlements at Špania Dolina, Horné Pršany, Malachov, and Sásová. Ancient hill fort locations are still reflected in the local toponym Hrádok, meaning "a small fort (later: castle)". The territory was inhabited by the Celtic tribe of the Cotini (Púchov culture) in the 3rd century BC. The Germanic tribe of the Quadi took over the place during the Roman Era, leaving for instance a hoard of silver artifacts in Netopierska jaskyňa (Bat Cave).
The present city was built upon a former Slavic settlement. After the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin it was incorporated into Zólyom county of the Kingdom of Hungary. The first known stone church was built by Saxon immigrants in the then still independent settlement of Sásová in the first half of the 13th century, when the area belonged to the king. According to Slovak archaeologists, Banská Bystrica started as a permanent settlement in the 9th century. Other sources claim that due to the attack of Mongols, in 1243–44, the town ceased to exist. In 1255, King Béla IV granted Banská Bystrica extensive municipal privileges to attract more skilled settlers. Descendants of the German immigrants to this and other counties later became known as the Carpathian Germans. The city flourished as a regional mining center. It built the Late Romanesque Church of the Virgin Mary in the second half of the 13th century. During the same period, Banská Bystrica obtained its own coat of arms inspired by the coat of arms of the ruling dynasty of the Árpáds, also used as the historical flag of the Kingdom of Hungary.Klíc k našim mestum' by Karel Liška and Ludvík Mucha, ed. Práce in Prague, 1979 The local craftsmen were organized in fifty guilds, with the butchers' guild being the oldest.
The affluent Fugger and Thurzo families founded the prosperous Ungarischer Handel company (German for "Hungarian Trade") in 1494. Depending mainly on the mines around Banská Bystrica, the company had become a leading world producer of copper by the 16th century. With the most sophisticated mining technologies in Europe, an advanced accounting system, and benefits including medical care for its 1,000 employees, Ungarischer Handel was one of the largest and most modern early-capitalist firms. An early record of the miners' industrial action is from 1526 when the City Council needed to take refuge within the confines of City Castle. The Ottoman Empire's thrust northwards led the magistrate to improve the city's fortifications with modern stone walls in 1589, but the Turks never occupied the region. Banská Bystrica became one of the foremost centers of the Protestant Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 16th century. Later on, the city had to fight for its religious freedom, guaranteed by the Royal Charter, against the Austrian ruling dynasty of the Roman Catholic Habsburgs, for its physical independence against the Ottoman Turks and for its self-governance against the Kingdom of Hungary's powerful magnates. In 1620, Prince Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania, a Protestant, was elected King of Hungary by the Diet meeting at Banská Bystrica.
The village of Radvaň, now a borough of Banská Bystrica, was granted the economically important right to hold annual fairs (Radvanský jarmok) in 1655. The fair was transferred to Banská Bystrica's main square in the 20th century. The copper deposits had been all but depleted by the 18th century, but new industries, such as timber, paper, and textiles, developed. In 1766, the city became the capital of Zólyom county; Banská Bystrica also became the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric in 1776 and of several institutions of higher education. Public services expanded in the 19th century with the foundation of a permanent municipal hospital (1820), a municipal theater (1841), and a municipal museum (1889). The railway reached the town from Zvolen in 1873.
After Austria-Hungary lost the First World War, Banská Bystrica, along with the entire northern part of Hungary, was given to Czechoslovakia by the peace treaty of Trianon in 1920.
During World War II, Banská Bystrica became the center of anti-Nazi opposition in Slovakia when the Slovak National Uprising, one of the largest anti-Nazi resistance events in Europe, was launched from the city on 29 August 1944. The insurgents were defeated on 27 October, and Banská Bystrica was briefly occupied by German forces before it was liberated by Soviet and Romanian troops on 26 March 1945. After the war, Banská Bystrica became the administrative, economic, and cultural hub of central Slovakia. It has been a university town since the 1950s. Its largest, Matej Bel University, was founded in 1992.
Geography Banská Bystrica lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of . It is about halfway between Slovakia's two largest cities, north-east from Slovakia's capital Bratislava and west of Košice. A chain of discrete suburbs and villages connects it with Zvolen, another major town to the south.
Banská Bystrica is situated in the Hron River valley (). The Hron River curves through the city from the east to the south. The city nests among three mountain chains: the Low Tatras to the north-east, the Veľká Fatra to the north-west, and the Kremnica Mountains to the west. All three are protected areas because of their environmental value. Banská Bystrica hosts the headquarters of the Low Tatra National Park. Despite the proximity of these mountain ranges, the local landscape is dominated by the much lower Urpín Mountain, , which is a popular place of recreation.
Banská Bystrica lies in the north temperate zone and has a continental climate with four distinct seasons. It is characterized by a significant variation between hot summers and cold, snowy winters.
Population
It has a population of people (31 December ).
Ethnicity
Before World War II, the population of the city also included significant German, Hungarian, and Jewish minorities and many people were trilingual, mastering the Slovak, German, and Hungarian languages. The Jews resided for a long time in Radvaň because they used to be prohibited from entering the city. The synagogue in Banská Bystrica was built in 1867 and demolished in 1983.
Historical populations by ethnicity Year Slovaks Germans Hungarians 1715 1,899 873 279 1850 4,221 978 44 1910 4,388 ? 5,261 1919 8,265 406 1,565 2001 78,700 53 446
Religion
Economy
While Banská Bystrica's prosperity used to be derived from copper mining in the distant past, the most important sectors of the local economy are now tourism, timber, and the mechanical industry. Two of the largest employers in Slovakia, Slovenská pošta (the public postal service, ranked as the 3rd largest employer) and Lesy SR (the national forest service, ranked as 13th). have their headquarters in Banská Bystrica. In the period 2007–2013, the city intended to work with Zvolen and other municipalities in the vicinity to jointly develop one of Slovakia's major metropolitan areas. The municipal strategy of economic development envisages Banská Bystrica as a regional center of tourism, services, administration, and entrepreneurship. The proclaimed three pillars of the future development are the natural and cultural heritage, information technologies, and infrastructure.
GDP per capita in 2001 was €3,643, which was below Slovakia's average (€4,400). GDP per capita for the Banská Bystrica Region (Banskobystrický kraj) in 2004 was PPS €10,148.70 (current euros), which was below Slovakia's average of PPS €12,196.20.Eurostat, "Gross domestic product indicators – ESA95." 2004A00; Table REG_E3GDP − Gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices at NUTS level 3: Purchasing Power Parities per inhabitant, SK032 and SK0. More recent data disaggregated to the level of districts or municipalities are not available, but all of Slovakia's regional seats have per-capita GDPs above their regional averages. The unemployment rate in Banská Bystrica was 6.2% in December 2006, below the country's average of 9.4% at that time. The unemployment rate in the whole country has been decreasing since then, reaching 7.8% in November 2007.