Kežmarok


Kežmarok is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia, on the Poprad River. Before World War I, it was in Szepes county in the Kingdom of Hungary.

History

Settlement at Kežmarok dates back to the Upper Stone Age. In the 13th century, the region contained a community of Saxons, a Slovak fishing village, a Hungarian border post, and a Carpathian German settlement. Its Latin name was first mentioned in 1251 as Villa Sancte Elisabeth. In 1269, Kežmarok received its town charter. It also had the right to organize a cheese market. In 1433, the town was severely damaged by a Hussite raid. After 1440, the count of Spiš had a seat in Kežmarok. In the 15th century, Kežmarok became a free royal town.
The town was a stronghold of the noble Thököly family. The Hungarian magnate and warrior Imre Thököly was born in the town in 1657. He died in exile in Turkey in 1705, but in the 20th century his body was returned to Kežmarok and he is buried in a noble mausoleum in the town's Lutheran church.
The town's other monuments include a castle, many Renaissance merchant houses, and a museum of ancient books. In pride of place is the Protestant church built in 1688 entirely of wood. The church also contains an organ of 1719 with wooden pipes. The church has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008.
Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, Kežmarok was part of Szepes County within the Kingdom of Hungary. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the Slovak Republic. On 27 January 1945, the Red Army dislodged the Wehrmacht from Kežmarok in the course of the Western Carpathian offensive, and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia. Kežmarok had an ethnic German majority until around 1910, and Germans stayed a large minority until the end of World War II. Most Germans were evacuated to Germany or the Sudetenland before the arrival of the Red Army. The evacuation was mostly the initiative of Adalbert Wanhoff and prepared the diocese of the German Evangelical Church between mid-November 1944 and 21 January 1945. It also had a large and active Jewish community. During World War II, under the auspices of the First Slovak Republic, nearly 3,000 of the town's Jews were deported to German death camps. The town's pre-war Jewish cemetery has now been restored.

Monuments

The town contains many historic monuments, including the Basilica of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Wooden articular church in Kežmarok.

Population

It has a population of  people.

Sport

The tradition of Kežmarok sports goes back deep into the past. The shooting club was founded here in 1510 and the building of its shooting range, many targets and commemorative items have been preserved to this day. In 1873, the Hungarian Carpathian Association was founded in the city, which was the first tourist organization in Hungary. Since the 1923/1924 season, the Kežmarok Carpathian Association, among other activities, organized a hockey cup competition in Starý Smokovec, which was one of the first in Slovakia.

Twin towns — sister cities

Kežmarok is twinned with:

Notable people

Sport