Prešov , is an Eastern town of Slovakia.

Geography

The city has a favorable situation. It extends in the northern part of the basin of Košice, in the vast fertile meadows of the rivers Torysa and Sekcov, of which the limit is made up in the east of the mount Slanské vrchy and the west by the range of hills Sarisska vrchovina. The natural axis of the territory is consisted the Torysa river with its affluents Bachuren and Cergov.

History

There does not exist any written mention testifying to the origin of the name of the city. It is supposed, that it is derived from the word “Close” or of Latin Apperies . In addition, its Hungarian name Eperjes is related to a legend on the king Bela II of Hungary which would have found strawberries (eper, in Hungarian) at this place.

The territory of Prešov and its neighborhoods was populated permanently since prehistory until the Early middle ages. In this locality are, of, the dwellings of the type of Prešov representing of the hamlets of peasants and stockbreeders with exploitation and apartment buildings. The settlement of the Slaves is illustrated in writings dating from the turning of which confirm a developed artisanal culture, in particular the pottery (ceramic of type of Prague), weaving, the forging mill.

At the beginning of the 12th century, the territory of Prešov was integrated in the State of Hungary, which was related to the arrival of the Hungarian immigrants. After the invasion of the Tartars were invited there German colonists who accelerated the transformation of the rural site downtown, located favorably at the crossroads of the military and commercial roads. The first written mention of the indicated city as Epurie goes back to the year 1247. The municipal privileges were conferred on the city by the king Ondrej II, in 1299, and it became independent of the lords of the castle of Saris. These privileges were extended by the king Louis I in 1374, which completed the process of constitution of the city and Prešov which became a free royal city. Since the 14th century, and in particular at the 15th century, the city made general great strides. Corporations of trades were constituted, of which most important were those of the weavers and the launderers of fabrics, of the furriers, the blacksmiths, the metal workers, the wet coopers, the shoe-makers, the tailors and the butchers. Towards the end of in Prešov worked more than one hundred Master-craftsmen, which arranged the city among the most important centers of craft industry on the territory of Slovakia current. The tradesmen of Prešov profited from the exemption of the rights of toll to the royal tollbooths of the Hungary going back to 1405 and undertook voyages beyond the borders, in particular in Poland and Transylvania. Their principal goods were the wine, in particular that of the area of Tokay. The city had part of the vineyards and the wine was stored in cellars on several floors with the basement of the middle-class houses (Prešov acquired the right of deposit in 1536). The sumptuous architecture and interiors of the middle-class houses reflected the economic prosperity of the city which culminated towards the end of the 15th century.

The evolution of the city with was influenced by the reform which was propagated and the insurrections against Habsbourg. As from 1647, Prešov was the seat of Comitat de Saris and, thanks to very the high level of the college evangelic (1667), it became one of the most important centers of teaching of the time. The college organized according to the model of an academic college of ten classes of the German pedagog Johannes Sturm, used also the name of Famous Gymnasium. In the year was taught philosophy, the Eastern theology and languages. Tens of famous pedagogs there continued their studies or gave courses. In spring 1650 stopped there for a short period the humanistic philosopher and, reforming teaching and founder of modern pedagogy Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius) (1592-1670). The city was also struck by natural disasters, for this period: plague, fires, wars and insurrections. The decline was worsened by the event of 1687, known in the history like “the slaughter-house of Prešov”. For the support and testified sympathies with Imrich Tokoly, chief of the insurrection of the states against Habsbourg, the military tribunal condemned to death 24 famous middle-class men. The demographic data testify to wide to the decline to the city. In 1617 Prešov counted: 5500 inhabitants, whereas in 1720 it only counted any: 2028.

The city knew its rebirth at and the beginning of. An event of very particular importance was the constitution of the Greek diocese catholic in 1816, which encouraged the arrival of a considerable number of Ruthènes. As of the end of the 18th century, in the city constituted itself also an important Jewish community. The trades and the trade took again their dash, of manufactures were created. The exploitation of salt, coming from abundant saltworks layers of the sediments of the tertiary sector, had a great economic importance for the city. In 1752, when the galleries of Solivar were flooded by the ground water and that many minors found death in the galleries, was carried out to a change of technology. One started to extract from the saline solution of the galleries flooded in leather bags, which one obtained salt by evaporation. at the beginning of the 19th century a vast whole of generating stations of salt was built.

In the years of the revolution of 1848-1849, Prešov fell on several occasions alternatively between the hands from the revolutionists and the imperial army. In March 1849 came in Prešov with the Slovak volunteers, the defenders of the Slovak identity, Ludovit Stur and Jozef Miloslav Hurban. In 1870 was built the railroad Kosice - Prešov, but even the realization of the other Prešov lines - Plavec (1873) and Prešov - Bardejov (1893) could not make the economic advancement of the city more intense.

In June 1919, Prešov was occupied by the Hungarian Red Army. The attempt at installation of a Communist regime under the name of Slovak Republic of the Councils, according to the model of the revolution of Russia, lasted however only three weeks. Prešov ends up being integrated in the new Czechoslovakian State.

The period after the Second world war was carrying signs of the development in particular of industry, teaching, the culture and the sport. After Košice, Prešov became the second Eastern city of Slovakia.

Economy

Prešov is, currently, an economic and industrial center developed of the Slovakia of the North-East.

Culture and tourism

Prešov is a center of institutions administrative, economic, cultural, university center and cultural of Ruthènes - Ukrainians. The city is also the seat of three évêchés, catholic Greek, orthodoxe and evangelic of the rite of Augsburg. Typical character of the Marie city the popular rich person history and traditions with the technically developed modern time. All that confers on Prešov its own image, its originality and of good prospects for the future.

Twinnings

External bonds

• Official site

Simple: Prešov