Spišská Sobota (German ''Georgenberg'', Hungarian ''Szepesszombat'') is a historic Slovak town that was absorbed in 1946 as a borough of the city of Poprad. It is located in the northeastern part of the city above the Poprad river. The population of Spišská Sobota was 2,909 as of June 2017.

History

The first written mention of Spišská Sobota is from 1256 as a border village, but it likely existed before this date. In 1271, Spišská Sobota was granted city privileges. In 1567 the city was given the right to host a fair. Spišská Sobota was the center of the shopping, bohemianism, business, trade and cultural guilds. Due to its geography the settlement developed into a market town. After the arrival of German colonists it competed with trade centers such as

Spiš Spiš (Latin: ''Cips/Zepus/Scepus/Scepusia'', german: Zips, hu, Szepesség/Szepes, pl, Spisz) is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland (14 villages). Spiš is an informal designation of the territory ...

, Levoča and

Kežmarok Kežmarok (german: Kesmark or ; hu, Késmárk, yi, קעזמאַרק, Kezmark, pl, Kieżmark) is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia (population 16,000), on the Poprad River. Prior to World War I, it was in Szepes county in the ...

. In 1647 Spišská Sobota was granted a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

by Ferdinand III. The coat of arms features the figure of St. George killing a dragon, inspired by the Latin (Mons Sancti Georgi) and German (Georgenberg) names of the city. In the 18th century, Spišská Sobota experienced significant development, and in 1773 housed 126 craftsmen. It was the only town in 1821 with a bookstore. In 1876 the city became the seat of the Slupsky District, the District Court, and the Tax Office. After the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

construction began on a new urban part of Spišská Sobota – ižany

Architecture

Spišská Sobota has a well-preserved historical center, which was included as part of the town's monument reserve in 1950. The historic architecture of Spišská Sobota includes

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

-style squares and

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

houses. Significant historical structures include the Church of St. Juraj, (originally built in a Neoromanian style in 1273, but rebuilt in 1464 in a Gothic style) featuring late Gothic altars and the altar of 1516; Workshop by Master of Paul of Levoča; the early 16th century Chapel of St. Anne; a

bell tower from 1598 and the Evangelical Classical church built in 1777. . This masterpiece took about 500 people to build, 100 of whom died in the process. The Church of St. Juraja was designated a Slovak Cultural Monument of the Year in 2011 by a nine member jury.

Sights

The center of Spišská Sobota consists of a newly reconstructed square, along with the bell tower, the Marian column and the late Romanesque Roman Catholic parish church of St. Juraj from 1273, which houses: * A carved organ from 1662, 7.8m wide, which has 814 pipes * 6 altars, of which the master is Pavel from Levoča. One house was stayed in by Matej Korvin who was honored with a memorial plaque. At the opposite end of the funerary square stands the Classicist Evangelical Church from 1777. From the church an alley leads to the cemetery.

Education

Next to the cemetery a primary school with hockey, swimming classes, and a playground.

Notable residents

* Martin Novák ( sk.) (a.k.a. Martin Novatius) – Slovak writer * Ján Brokoff – Baroque sculpture and sculpture * Eugen Wallachy – painter, landscape painter and portraitist * Ján Juraj Rainer – chatter * Móric Beňovský – adventurer, traveler * Ján Gallovič – Slovak actor *

Peter Bondra Peter Bondra (; born 7 February 1968) is a Ukrainian-born Slovak former professional ice hockey player. He was the general manager of the Slovakia national team from 2007 to 2011. A two-time 50-goal scorer, Bondra became the 37th player in Nati ...

– hockey player *

Ľuboš Bartečko Ľuboš Bartečko (born July 14, 1976) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey forward. He began and concluded his career with hometown club, HK ŠKP Poprad in the Slovak Extraliga. He most notably played in the National Hockey League (NH ...

– hockey player * Radoslav Suchý – hockey player * Tibor Sekelj –

Esperantist An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperant ...

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Slovakia Poprad Tourist attractions in Prešov Region