Slovakia

The Slovak Republic – new state which came into existence on 1st January 1993 when former Czechoslovakia was divided into two sovereign states: the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

LOCATION

Slovakia is situated in the heart of Europe, in the centre of Europe (the geographical centre of Europe is on a hill Krahule, near Kremnica). Slovakia borders the Czech Republic to the West, Austria to the Southwest, Hungary to the Southeast, Poland to the North and the Ukraine to the East.

• The capital city: Bratislava
• Area: 49,039 square kilometre (for instance Switzerland has a size similar to Slovakia)

SURFACE

The surface is predominantly mountainous, but there are also many plains e.g in the west there is Zahorska Plain, in the south the Sub-Danube Plain and in the south-eastern part of Slovakia there is the Eastern Slovakia Plain.

MOUNTAINS

The highest mountains are the High and Low Tatras: there are a lot of the tourist and ski-centres, the most famous- Chopok, Lomnicky Peak, Kriváň, Rysy, Hrebienok, Solisko, Donovaly, Malinô Brdo. The highest peak of Slovakia is Gerlachovsky Peak (2 655 meters above the sea level).- it is possible to see there animals such as a bear, a lynx, a chamois, wild cats, otters, mountains eagles, a marmot and about 1500 species of various plants.

Apart from Tatras there are other mountains in Slovakia which are worth visiting: such as Small and Big Fatra Mountains, the Orava Beskydy Mountains, the Javorníky Mountains, the Small Carpathian Mountains, the White Carpathian Mountains.

VALLEYS

There are also numerous valleys with more than 90 lakes in them, the most famous are – Štrbské Pleso, Veľké Hincovo Pleso (the biggest and the deepest).

CAVES

• Caves in Slovakia: Demänovská caves, Dobšinská ice cave

WATERFALLS

• Studenovodské waterfalls

RIVERS

• the longest river – the Váh
• the biggest river – the Danube
• others: Hron, Hornád, Ipeľ

WATER DAMS

Also many water dams and reservoirs of great economic importance can be see here: the well-known are: Orava Water Dam, Zemplin Dam, Liptov Dam, Big Domaša Dam. The territory of Slovakia is rich in mineral and thermal springs with healthy effects, the most famous spas: Piešťany (mud-bath procedure), Trenčianske Teplice, Bardejov, Dudince, Sliač, Smrdáky.

POPULATION AND CITIES

• more than 5.4 million inhabitants:
  • the strongest nationality – the Slovaks
  • the strongest minority – the Hungarians
  • other minorities-the Czechs, Romanies, the Poles, the Germans, the Ukrainians, the Ruthenians, the Russians.

BIG CITIES

• Bratislava (the biggest city in the west part of Slovakia)
• Košice (the biggest city in the east part of Slovakia, the second biggest city)
• other important cities: Banská Bystrica, Nitra, Žilina, Poprad, Prešov, Zvolen

THE NATIONAL FLAG

• consists of three horizontal stripes- white, blue, red. The left half of the flag bears the state emblem of the Slovak Republic – a double cross with mountains in the background.

THE HYMN

• the folk song “There is a Flash of Lightning over Tatra” composed by the Slovak poet Janko Matúška

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

• the Slovak Republic is a state with parliamentary democracy headed by the presidents who is elected by citizens for a period of 5 years. The executive power is in the hands of the President, the Prime Minister and the Government.

RELIGION

• ¾ of the Slovak population are believers:
  • the predominant religion is the Roman Catholic religion
  • other religions: the Protestant religion, the Greek Catholic religion

HISTORY

• the first settlement – in the Primeval Ages.
• Ancient Ages – the Celtic and Dacian tribes
• 1st century – the Germanic tribes
• 5 – 6th centuries – the Slavic tribes settled in our area (a part of Slovakia belonged to Samo Realm – Samova ríša)
• 8th century – in the southwestern part of Slovakia was founded the Nitra Principality and it was later connected to the Great Moravia Empire (833– the Great Moravian Empire was founded).
• 863– Byzantine brothers Constantine and Methodius (St. Cyril and St. Methodius) came to Great Moravia Empire and brought the oldest Slavic alphabet.
• 907– Great Moravia Empire desintegrated and Slovakia became a part Hungarian kingdom (until 1918).
• 19th century – the time of national revival (národná obroda)
• 1843 – Ľ. Štúr codified the literary Slovak language
• 1861– the Memorandum of the Slovak nation was published.
• 28th October 1918 – the Czechoslovak Republic was founded
• 14th March 1939 – an independent Slovak Republic was declared in Slovakia, the course of the – Second World War growing dissatisfaction let to the Slovak National Uprising (SNP)-
• 29 August 1944
• 1945– Slovakia became a part of Czechoslovakia again. The election of 1946 meant a clear victory of democratic forces, but in August 1947 there was a Communist coup(komunistic­ký puč).
• 1968 – Prague Spring – led by Alexander Dubček
• August 1968 – the troops of the former Soviet Union and other socialist countries (the member of the Warsaw pact) invaded Slovakia in order to maintain the Communist regime.

the resistance against the Communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia culminated in the “Velvet Revolution” in November 1989 – the end of the Communist Regime and a start of a new period of democracy.

The Czech and Slovak Federative Republic started a new stage of its development using the methods of parliamentary democracy.

Various economic, social and national problems between two republics led to the peaceful split – on 1st January 1993 the independence of the Slovak Republic was declared.
may 2004 – SR became a member of EU.

PLACES TO VISIT

• everything mentioned in the section – surface
• big cities – Bratislava, Košice,
• other interesting cities worth seeing:
  • Pezinok, Modra (the largest producers of wine)
  • Trenčín (in the past the seat of famous Matúš Čák Trenčiansky, you should visit the castle towering over the city)
  • Zvolen (city known for the Castle of Zvolen)
  • Levoča (the old historical town famous for the wooden altar carved by Master Paul)
  • Banská Štiavnica – known as “the silver town”,
  • other castles: Orava Castle, Spišský Castle, Lednice Castle, Červený Kameň Castle, Castle Nitra (the reaidence of clerical institutions), Castle Bojnice (well-known for its ghosts and attractions connected with them).
  • open-air museum Vlkolínec