Banská Štiavnica

Banská Štiavnica is one of the most important mining sites located in the beautiful countryside of Štiavnicke hills. The value of high amount of sights is expressed by including Banská Štiavnica in the UNESCO List of Cultural Heritage. The settlement of the city area began already in the 10th century. In the 13th century took place migration of the population of Tyrol. In Banská Štiavnica there are two castles - Old castle and church of the Virgin Mary and New Castle. This was built in the 16th century as a fortress against the Turks. Today there is located the Slovak Mining Museum. Dominant of the city is the Calvary, which is located on the hill top - a relic of the volcano cone. There are 14 sacred objects belonging to the most important baroque works of Slovakia situated in Banská Štiavnica. Other sites are remarkable church of St. Catherine, Town Hall and Square of the Holy Trinity with Baroque sculpture with interesting town buildings. The Architecture documents the wealth of the city, which was in the middle of the 19th century, the second largest in Slovakia and one of the largest in Hungary. One of the sites associated with mining history of the town is so-called Kammerhof - seat of the city estates manager, who was as well the Director of the Mining Academy and enjoyed the title of Count. Mining and Forestry Academy was the first university in the technical field in Europe and was founded in the 1735th. Activity of the Academy was completed in 1919. Other attractions of Banskí Štiavnica include the possibility of visiting Štiavnicke mines.