Soľ () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Vranov nad Topľou District Vranov nad Topľou District () is a district in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia. Until 1918, the district was mostly part of the county of Kingdom of Hungary of Zemplén, apart from an area around Hanušovce nad Topľou which formed ...

in the

Prešov Region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...

of eastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. It is one of the oldest villages in eastern Slovakia.

History

The land that is now Sol' was the location of intermittent human settlements ranging from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

to the foundation of Sol' itself. It was likely settled because of its advantageous position. The village was first mentioned in 1252. Its name, Sol', which is Slovak for salt, comes from the three salt water springs which are in the vicinity of the village. The salt from the springs was used to salt foods until the beginning of World War I. In the summer of 1831, the village suffered a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreak which was followed by a large peasant uprising. The village had a sizable Jewish community in the 1800s, which had its own synagogue and may have had a religious school.

Geography

The

lies at an

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

of 140 metres and covers an

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

of 10.286 km².

Population

The village has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of about 2,293.

Economy and infrastructure

Transportation

The village has a railroad station in the outskirts, and a bus stop in the center of the village.

Education

There is a school in the village which serves Soľ and some surrounding villages. The school had an enrollment of 521 5-9 graders in the 2005/2006 school year. The school itself contains two buildings; an older building built in 1957, and a newer addition built in 1975. There is also a kindergarten with 65 students (as of the 2005/2006 school year).

Politics

Joseph Berta has served as mayor of Sol' since 1994.

Notable residents

* Jakob Jakobeus, a famous Slovak poet, historian, writer, and Protestant priest, lived in Sol' from 1626 to 1629.History of the village (in Slovak)
/ref> He served as pastor of the village during his stay and he wrote a collection of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

poetry.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sol Villages and municipalities in Vranov nad Topľou District Cities and towns in Slovakia