Rožňava ( hu, Rozsnyó, german: Rosenau,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''Rosnavia'') is a town in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), 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 s ...

, approximately by road from Košice in the

Košice Region The Košice Region ( sk, Košický kraj, , hu, Kassai kerület; uk, Кошицький край) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. The region was first established in 1923 and its present borders were established in 1996. It c ...

, and has a population of 19,182. The town is an economic and tourist centre of the Gemer. Rožňava is now a popular tourist attraction with a beautiful historic town centre. The town is an episcopal seat. It has above all food, textile and remnants of mining industries.

History

Archaeological finds show that the region was densely settled by miners as early as around 1200. The first written mention stems from 1291, the royal free town status from 1410. The Roman Catholic diocese of Rozsnyó was founded in 1776. In the Middle Ages, Rozsnyó was a prosperous mining town for

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

, and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

. Mining activities stagnated from the 16th century (when territories to the south of the town were conquered by Ottoman Turks). Mining - this time mainly of iron ore - was renewed around 1800 and was present in the town throughout the 20th century. It was ruled by

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

as part of Filek sanjak (Its centre was Rimaszombat) during periods of 1554-1593 and 1596-1686. It was known as "Rojna" during Ottoman period. The name of the town probably derives from the German word for rose (''Rose, in the German name of the town "Rosenau"''). Until 1920 it was part of Gömör és Kishont County of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, and again from 1938 to 1945. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Rožňava was captured on 23 January 1945 by troops of the

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

4th Army, acting as a part of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front (2-й Украинский фронт), was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943 the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During the Second Jassy–Kishinev ...

. On 13 September 2003, Rožňava was visited by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

Noteworthy buildings

* an important

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

Museum * a completely preserved medieval central town square with burgher houses * the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

(Gothic, late 13th century) with many precious historic art objects, especially a Renaissance painting of Mestercia showing realistic mining motifs, as well as the body of St. Neith, a catacombs Saint. * the Town Tower (Renaissance, 1654) in the middle of the central town square * the Jesuit church (Baroque, 1687) * the Bishop's residence (Baroque-Classical, arose 1778 from older houses) with a plague column in front of the building * a town hall (Classical, 1711) * an Evangelic Lutheran church (Classical, 1786) * a Reformed church (neo-Gothic, 1905)

Demographics

According to the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, the town had 19,261 inhabitants. 69.27% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 26.80%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

, 1.59% Roma and 0.69%

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, ...

. The religious make-up was 41.08% Roman Catholics, 32.34% people with no religious affiliation, 12.03%

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

and 1.33%

Greek Catholics The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

Notable citizens

* Haviva Reik, Jewish resistance fighter *

Pavel Jozef Šafárik Pavel Jozef Šafárik ( sk, Pavol Jozef Šafárik; 13 May 1795 – 26 June 1861) was an ethnic Slovak philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavists. Family ...

, poet and philologist. * Vladimir Oravsky, writer, director * Adam Szentpétery, artist. * Dana Velďáková, triple jumper * Jana Velďáková, long jumper *

Henrieta Farkašová Henrieta Farkašová (born 3 May 1986) is a retired Slovak alpine skier, eleven-time Paralympic champion and seventeen-time world champion in the B3 (classification) category. Biography Farkašová's motto is: "Impossible is nothing". Farka ...

, gold medal winner at the 2010 Winter Paralympics and at 2014 Sochi Paralympics

Parts of the town

* Nadabula * Rožňavská Baňa (Rožňava Mine)

Twin towns — sister cities

Rožňava is twinned with: *

Bačka Topola Bačka Topola ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка Топола, ; hu, Topolya, ) is a town and municipality located in the North Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The municipality is composed of 23 local communities and has a po ...

, Serbia *

Český Těšín Český Těšín (; pl, Czeski Cieszyn ; german: Tschechisch-Teschen) is a town in the Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Český Těšín lies on the west bank of the Olza ...

, Czech Republic *

Cieszyn Cieszyn ( , ; cs, Těšín ; german: Teschen; la, Tessin; szl, Ćeszyn) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitan ...

, Poland * Lipótváros (Budapest), Hungary *

Szerencs Szerencs is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary. It lies away from Miskolc, and away from Budapest. It has about 9,100 inhabitants. History Szerencs grew into a town where the Great Plain and the Zemplén mountains meet. ...

, Hungary

References

;Notes

External links

* *
Rožňava

(with photo of the main square)
Medial information site about life in Rožňava
(in Slovak) {{DEFAULTSORT:Roznava Cities and towns in Slovakia Geography of Košice Region Hungarian communities in Slovakia