BARDEJOV

'Bardejov' (, , ) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region and has about 33,000 inhabitants. The spa town, mentioned for the first time in 1241, exhibits numerous cultural monuments in its completely intact medieval town centre. The town is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

Contents

Name

History

Landmarks

City quarters

Demographics

See also

External links

References

Name

The name of the town comes from the Hungarian word ''"bárd"'' (English: "bard/chopper"), which indicated an amount of territory, which could be chopped down by one man in one day. In the Hungarian name (Bártfa), the ''"fa"'' (English: "tree") suffix came later, and it also changed the last letter of "''bárd''" to "''bárt''", for an easier pronunciation.

History

The territory of present-day Bardejov has attracted settlers since the Stone Age. However, The first written reference to the town dates back to the 1240s, when monks from Bardejov complained to the King Béla IV about a violation of the town’s borders by Prešov. By that time, an important church of St. Aegidius was already built. Heavily fortified in the 14th century, the town became a center of trade with Poland. More than 50 guilds controlled the flourishing economy. Bardejov gained the status of a royal town in 1376, later becoming a free royal town. The town’s golden age ended in the 16th century, when several wars, pandemics, and other disasters plagued the country.

Landmarks

Bardejov is dominated by the monumental church of St. Aegidius, mentioned for the first time in 1247. A three nave basilica with multiple chapels was completed by the 15th century. It hosts eleven precious Gothic winged altars with panel paintings. The central square (Slovak: ''Radničné námestie''), which used to be the town’s medieval marketplace, is now surrounded by well-preserved Gothic and Renaissance burghers’ houses. One of the most interesting buildings is the town hall, built in 1505. The lower part was built in the Gothic style, while the upper part is already in the Renaissance style. The fortification system from the 14th and 15th centuries is listed by the European Fund of Cultural Heritage as one of the most elaborate and best preserved medieval fortifications in Slovakia.
Bardejov is also an important spa town. The therapeutic mineral water springs help people with oncological, blood circulation, and digestive tract problems. The old spa complex, not far from the center of Bardejov, also hosts an open air museum of folk architecture.

City quarters

The city consists of the following quarters:
# Bardejov
# Bardejovská Nová Ves
# Bardejovská Zábava
# Bardejovské Kúpele
# Dlhá Lúka (annexed in 1971)
# Mihaľov

Demographics

Bardejov has a population of 33,374 (as of December 31, 2005). According to the 2001 census, 91.3% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 2.6% Roma, 2.5% Rusyns, and 1.4% Ukrainians. The religious makeup was 63.2% Roman Catholics, 16.9% Greek Catholics, and 7.6% Lutherans.^[1]

See also

Bardejov battle

External links

★ Official homepage of the city

★ UNESCO site about Bardejov

References

1. http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html Municipal Statistics from the Statistical Office of the Slovak republic