VYSOKé TATRY (TOWN)

'Vysoké Tatry' (; literally ''High Tatras''), informally 'Mesto Vysoké Tatry' (literally ''The Town of High Tatras'' ), is a town in the High Tatras in Slovakia including all the major resorts of that region. It was created in 1990 and its official name from 1990 to 1999 was ''Starý Smokovec'' (the name of one of the major component settlements) .

Contents

Features and statistics

Administrative division

History

Sport

External link

Features and statistics

The town of Vysoké Tatry is special in many respects. It is not a true town, but a conglomerate of separate and quite different settlements, whose only common feature is that they are the main tourist resorts situated in the High Tatra mountains and are connected by a common dedicated railway system (the Tatra Railway). The town is Slovakia's major centre of tourism after the country's capital. It has 4953 inhabitants (excl. tourists) as at December 31, 2004. It is situated at an altitude of 1010 m above sea level. Covering 380,216 km², it is the biggest town of Slovakia in terms of area.
The local authority, cultural centre and main shops are situated in the settlement of Starý Smokovec.

Administrative division

The town consists of three cadastral areas, which in turn consist of 15 settlements:

★ Štrbské Pleso

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★ Štrbské Pleso (founded in 1873, 1 355 m)

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★ Vyšné Hágy (f. in 1890, 1125 m)

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★ Podbanské (f. in 1871, 940 m, partly in the village of Pribylina now)

★ Starý Smokovec

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★ Horný Smokovec (950 m)

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★ Dolný Smokovec (890 m)

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★ Nový Smokovec (1 000 m)

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★ Starý Smokovec (founded in 1793, 1 010 m)

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★ Tatranská Polianka (f. in 1885, 1 005 m)

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★ Tatranské Zruby (f. in 1923, 995 m)

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★ Nová Polianka (f. in 1946, 1 060 m)

★ Tatranská Lomnica

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★ Tatranská Lomnica (f. in 1893, 850 m)

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★ Tatranská Kotlina (f. in 1881, 760 m)

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★ Tatranská Lesná (f. in 1927, 915 m)

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★ Kežmarské Žľaby (920 m)

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★ Tatranské Matliare (f. in the mid-19th century, 885 m)

History

The present-day town was created in 1990. It has a complicated administrative history.
A municipality (i.e. not a town) of Vysoké Tatry was created as early as in 1947 on the territory of the following formerly separate municipalities: Batizovce, Huncovce, Folvarky, Gerlachov, Kežmarok, Liptovská Kokava, Mlynica, Nová Lesná, Malý Slavkov, Mengusovce, Pribylina, Rakúsy, Stará Lesná, Starý Smokovec, Spišská Belá, Štrba, Štôla, Veľká Lomnica, Veľký Slavkov, Važec, Východná, and Žakovce. In February 1948, the territory received a central local authority ("Jednotný národný výbor Vysoké Tatry" - literally "United National Committee of High Tatras", 'national committee' being the the term then used for local authorities in Czechoslovakia).
In 1954, parts of the municipalities Pribylina (the majority of which was returned in 2004), Východná and Liptovská Kokava were added to Vysoké Tatry. Starý Smokovec was made the seat of the Vysoké Tatry municipality.
In 1960, the Vysoké Tatry municipality ceased to exist and was divided into the separate municipalities: Starý Smokovec (with town status), Štrbské Pleso, Tatranská Lomnica, Ždiar and Štôla. However, since 1964 these municipalities had a common local authority again, although they remained separate municipalities.
In 1990, three of the above municipalities - Starý Smokovec, Štrbské pleso and Tatranská Lomnica - were merged to create the town 'Starý Smokovec'(named after the settlement serving as the seat of the authorities). The remaining municipalities - Ždiar and Štôla - are still independent municipalities.
In 1999, the town 'Starý Smokovec' was renamed 'Vysoké Tatry'.

Sport

The area hosted to the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 1935 and 1970.

External link

★ Official site

★ http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html