Prešov


Prešov is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city in eastern Slovakia and the third-largest city in all of Slovakia, after the nearby city of Košice. It belongs to the Košice-Prešov agglomeration and is the natural cultural, economic, transport, and administrative center of the Prešov Region. It lends its name to the Eperjes-Tokaj Hill-Chain, which was considered the geographic entity on the first map of Hungary from 1528. There are many tourist attractions in Prešov, such as castles, pools, and the old town.

Etymology

The first written mention is from 1247. Several authors derived the name from Hungarian eper.
Other alternative names of the city include Preschau, Eperjes, Preszów, Peryeshis, Пряшев , Пряшово and Пряшів .
People from Prešov are traditionally known as koňare which means "horse keepers".

Characteristics

The old town is a showcase of Baroque, Rococo, and Gothic architecture. The historical center is lined with buildings built in these styles. On the outskirts, however, the Soviet influence is clearly evident through the massive concrete panel buildings of the housing estates and specifically the Sekčov housing estate, the largest housing estate in Prešov. More Soviet-style architecture is seen in the government buildings near the city center.
Significant industries in the city include mechanical and electrical engineering companies and the clothing industry. Solivary, the only salt mining and processing company in Slovakia, also operates in the city. The city is the seat of a Greek Catholic metropolitan see and of the primate of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.
Many concerts, operas, operettas, and stage plays are performed at the new building of the Jonáš Záborský Theatre, as well as at the older theatre premises.
The city and the region were contenders for European Capital of Culture 2013. The nearby city of Košice was chosen.

Topography

Prešov lies in the eastern part of Slovakia at the confluence of the rivers Torysa and Sekčov in the Košice Basin. It is surrounded by Slanské vrchy from the east and Šarišská vrchovina from the west. Roads I / 18, I / 68, I / 20 intersect in the town and the south-western connection of the D1 motorway is being built. The Košice – Muszyna railway line leads through Prešov, to which the lines to Humenné and Bardejov connect. Košice lies south, Poprad west, Bardejov north and Vranov nad Topľou east.

City Districts

Self-governing city districts. Territorial districts of self-governing city districts:
  • Circuit number 1: Sídlisko III, Sídlisko Mladosť, Rúrky
  • Circuit number 2: Sídlisko II, Kalvária, pod Kamennou baňou, pod Wilecovou hôrkou, Borkút, Vydumanec, Kvašná voda, Cemjata
  • Circuit number 3: north of the city, Mier, Šidlovec, Dúbrava, Surdok, Kúty, Širpo, Nižná Šebastová
  • Circuit number 4: city center – Staré mesto, Táborisko, Sídlisko Duklianskych hrdinov
  • Circuit number 5: Solivar, Soľná Baňa, Šváby, Delňa, Tichá Dolina
  • Circuit number 6: southern part of the housing estate Sekčov – building 1–4
  • Circuit number 7: northern part of the housing estate Sekčov – building 5–7, Šalgovík
Cadastral city district: Prešov, Nižná Šebastová, Solivar, Šalgovík, Cemjata
Other districts: Delňa, Dúbrava, Kalvária, Rúrky, Soľná Baňa, Šarišské Lúky, Širpo, Šidlovec, Táborisko, Teľov, Vydumanec, Borkút, Kúty, Surdok
Housing estates: Sídlisko Duklianskych hrdinov, Mier, Mladosť, Sekčov, Sídlisko II, Sídlisko III, Šváby
Previous city districts: Haniska, Ľubotice, Šarišské Lúky
In the last few years and today, the construction of new residential areas and satellite towns in Prešov is being realized, especially in the districts Šidlovec, Solivar, Šalgovík, Tichá dolina, and Surdok.

Watercourses

  • Torysa with tributaries:
  • * Šidlovský potok
  • * Vydumanec
  • * Malkovský potok
  • * Sekčov
  • * Delňa
  • Continues to Sekčov:
  • * Šebastovka
  • * Ľubotický potok
  • * Šalgovícky potok
  • * Soľný potok
  • * Baracký potok

    History

Habitation in the area around Prešov dates as far back as the Paleolithic period. The oldest discovered tools and mammoth bones are 28,000 years old. Continuous settlement dates back to the 8th century.
After the Mongol invasion in 1241, King Béla IV of Hungary invited German colonists to fill the gaps in population. Prešov became a German-speaking settlement, related to the Zipser German and Carpathian German areas, and was elevated to the rank of a royal free town in 1347 by Louis the Great.
In 1412, Prešov helped to create the Pentapolitana, the league of five towns, a trading group. The first record of a school dates from 1429. After the collapse of the old Kingdom of Hungary after the Ottoman invasion of 1526, Prešov became a border city and changed hands several times between two usually rivalrous domains, Habsburg Royal Hungary and Hungarian states normally backed by the Ottomans: the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, the Principality of Transylvania, and the Principality of Upper Hungary.
Still, Prešov went through an economic boom thanks to trade with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the 16th century, it brought in grape vines from the nearby Tokaj wine region, and was home to German-Hungarian, Polish, and Greek wine merchants. Some of the first books on Tokaj wine were written in German in Prešov.
In 1572, salt mining began in Solivar.
Antun Vrančić, a Croatian prelate, writer, diplomat and Archbishop of Esztergom, died in Prešov in 1573.
Prešov was prominent in the Protestant Reformation. It was at the front line in the 1604–1606 Bocskai uprising, when Imperial Army commander Giorgio Basta retreated to the town after failing to take Košice from the Protestant rebels.
In 1647, the Habsburgs designated it the capital of Sáros County. In late January 1657, Transylvanian Prince George II Rákóczi, a Protestant, invaded Poland with an army of some 25,000, which crossed the Carpathians on the road from Prešov to Krosno.
Wolfgang Schustel, a Lutheran reformer during the Reformation, who adopted an uncompromising position on public piety, worked in Prešov and other towns. In 1667, the important Evangelical Lutheran College of Eperjes was established by Lutherans in the town.
Imre Thököly, the Protestant Hungarian rebel and Ottoman ally, studied at the Protestant college here. In 1685, he was defeated here by the Habsburgs at the Battle of Eperjes. In 1687, twenty-four prominent citizens and noblemen were executed, under a tribunal instituted by the Austrian general Antonio Caraffa, for supporting the uprising of Imre Thököly:
At the beginning of the 18th century, the population was decimated by the Bubonic plague and fires and was reduced to a mere 2,000 inhabitants. By the second half of the century, however, the town had recovered; crafts and trade improved, and new factories were built. In 1752, the salt mine in Solivar was flooded. Since then, salt has been extracted from salt brine through boiling.
The English author John Paget visited Prešov and describes it in his 1839 book, Hungary and Transylvania. In 1870 the first railway line was built, connecting the town to Košice. At the end of the 19th century, the town introduced electricity, telephone, telegraph, and sewage systems. In 1887, fire destroyed a large part of the town.
In 1918, Czechoslovak troops began occupying eastern Slovakia, along with Prešov. On 16 June 1919, Hungarian troops entered the city and the very brief Slovak Soviet Republic was declared here with the support of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The short-lived republic collapsed on 7 July 1919, and Czechoslovak troops re-entered Prešov. In 1920, after the Treaty of Trianon, Prešov definitively became part of the newly created Czechoslovakia. During World War II, the nearby town of Košice again became part of the Kingdom of Hungary as a result of the First Vienna Award. As a result, many institutions moved from Košice to Prešov, thus increasing the town's importance. In 1944, a professional Slovak Theatre was established in Prešov. The city is a site in the Holocaust:
About two thousand Jews were deported from Prešov to the Dęblin–Irena Ghetto in May 1942. Only a few dozen survived.
On 19 January 1945, Prešov was taken by Soviet troops of the 1st Guards Army. After 1948, during the Communist era in Czechoslovakia, Prešov became an industrial center. Due to World War II, Prešov lost the majority of its Jewish population. Nonetheless, the population of the city increased rapidly from 28,000 in 1950 to 52,000 in 1970 and 89,000 in 1990.

Overview of significant historical events

  • 4th–5th century – arrival of Slavs to the territory of Prešov
  • 1247 – the first written mention of Prešov
  • 1299 – granting of city rights by King Andrew III of Hungary
  • 1412 – Prešov belongs to Pentapolitana
  • 1429 – the first mention of a town school in Prešov
  • 1453 – the first coat of arms of Prešov
  • 1455 – granting the right of the city of Prešov to organize an annual three-day fair by King Ladislaus the Posthumous
  • 1502–1505 – beginning of the construction of the Co-Cathedral of St. Nicholas
  • 1647 – sanctification of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession of the Holy Trinity Church
  • 1667 – College in Prešov, Evangelical Educational Center of Upper Hungary, National Cultural Monument
  • 1687 – Caraffa's slaughterhouse, 24 executed townspeople
  • 1703 – the beginning of the most powerful anti-Habsburg uprising led by Francis II Rákóczi
  • End of the 18th century – arrival of the first Jews in Prešov
  • 1816 – Prešov becomes the seat of an independent Greek Catholic diocese
  • 1848 – construction of the 1st Jewish synagogue
  • 1886–1887 – big devastating fires affect Prešov
  • 1 November 1918 – in the afternoon, 41 soldiers and 2 civilians were executed in the city square. This event is also known as the Prešov Uprising
  • 16 June 1919 – from the balcony of the town hall, the Slovak Soviet Republic was declared
  • 1923–1924 – construction of the Art Nouveau building of the Bosáková bank
  • 20 December 1944 – the bombing of the city is reminiscent of a small monument on Konštantínova Street
  • 19 January 1945 – liberation of Prešov by the Red Army, the end of World War II, is reminiscent of the Liberators Memorial
  • 1950 – the center becomes a city monument reserve
  • 1972 – The Solivary is becoming a national cultural monument
  • 2 July 1995 – Pope John Paul II visited Prešov
  • 14 September 2021 – Pope Francis visited Prešov