Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern
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 ...
. It is situated on the river
Hornád
Hornád ( Slovak, ) or Hernád ( Hungarian, ) is a river in eastern Slovakia and north-eastern Hungary.
It is a tributary to the river Slaná (Sajo). The source of the Hornád is the eastern slopes of Kráľova hoľa hill, south of Šuňava.
...
at the eastern reaches of the
Slovak Ore Mountains
The Slovak Ore Mountains ( sk, Slovenské rudohorie , hu, Gömör–Szepesi-érchegység, german: Slowakisches Erzgebirge or Zips-Gemer-Erzgebirge) are an extensive mountain range within the Carpathian Mountains, located mostly in Slovakia's S ...
, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest city in Slovakia, after the capital
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...
.
Being the economic and cultural centre of eastern Slovakia, Košice is the seat of 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 ...
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
, three universities, various dioceses, and many museums, galleries, and theatres. In 2013 Košice was the European Capital of Culture, together with
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...
, France. Košice is an important industrial centre of Slovakia, and the U.S. Steel Košice
steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fi ...
is the largest employer in the city. The town has extensive railway connections and an
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
.
The city has a preserved historical centre which is the largest among Slovak towns. There are
heritage
Heritage may refer to:
History and society
* A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today
** Cultural heritage is created by humans
** Natural heritage is not
* Heritage language
Biology
* Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...
protected buildings in
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 ...
,
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 id ...
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...
styles with Slovakia's largest church: the
Cathedral of St. Elizabeth
The Cathedral of St. Elizabeth (Slovak: ''Dóm svätej Alžbety'', ; Hungarian: ''Szent Erzsébet-székesegyház'', German: ''Dom der heiligen Elisabeth''), also called Saint Elizabeth Cathedral, is a Gothic cathedral in Košice. It is the larg ...
. The long main street, rimmed with aristocratic palaces, Catholic churches, and townsfolk's houses, is a thriving
pedestrian zone
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...
with boutiques, cafés, and restaurants. The city is known as the first settlement in Europe to be granted its own coat-of-arms.
Etymology
The first written mention of the city was in 1230 as "Villa Cassa". The name probably comes from the Slavic
personal name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is know ...
''Koš'', ''Koša'' → ''Košici'' (Koš'people) → ''Košice'' (13821383) with the patronymic Slavic suffix "-ice" through a natural development in Slovak (similar place names are also known from other Slavic countries). In Hungarian ''Koša'' → ''Kasa'', ''Kassa'' with a vowel mutation typical for the borrowing of old Slavic names in the region (
Vojkovce
Vojkovce ( hu, Vojkfalva) is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia. It lies in the eastern part of Spišská Nová Ves District
Spišská Nová Ves District ( sk, okres Spišská ...
→ Vajkócz,
Sokoľ
Sokoľ (; hu, Hernádszokoly) is a village and municipality in Košice-okolie District in the Kosice Region of eastern Slovakia.
History
In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1270 (''Zokola''), when it belonged to master Rei ...
→ Szakalya, Szakál, Hodkovce → Hatkóc, etc.). The Latinized form ''Cassovia'' became common in the 15th century.
Another theory is a derivation from Old Slovak ''kosa'', "clearing", related to modern Slovak ''kosiť'', "to reap". Though according to other sources the city name may derive from an old Hungarian the first name which begins with "Ko".
Historically, the city has been known as ''Kaschau'' in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
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 ...
, ''Cassovie'' in French, ''Cașovia'' in
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, traditiona ...
, ''Кошице'' (''Košice'') in Russian, ''Koszyce'' in
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
here
Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to:
Software
* Here Technologies, a mapping company
* Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here
Television
* Here TV (formerly "here!"), a ...
for more names).
Below is a chronology of the various names:
History
The first evidence of inhabitance can be traced back to the end of the
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...
era. The first written reference to the Hungarian town of Košice (as the royal village – ''Villa Cassa'') comes from 1230. After the
Mongol invasion
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206-1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastation ...
in 1241, King
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his fath ...
invited German colonists to fill the gaps in population. The city was in the historic Abauj County of the Kingdom of Hungary.
The city was made of two independent settlements: Lower Kassa and Upper Kassa, amalgamated in the 13th century around the long lens-formed ''ring'', of today's Main Street. The first known
town privileges
Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...
come from 1290. The city proliferated because of its strategic location on an
international trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy)
In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...
route from agriculturally rich central Hungary to central Poland, itself along a greater route connecting the Balkans and the Adriatic and Aegean seas to the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...
. The privileges given by the king were helpful in developing crafts, business, increasing importance (seat of the royal chamber for
Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...
), and for building its strong fortifications. In 1307, the first
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
regulations were registered here and were the oldest in the Kingdom of Hungary.
As a Hungarian
free royal town
Royal free city or free royal city (Latin: libera regia civitas) was the official term for the most important cities in the Kingdom of Hungary from the late 12th centuryBácskai Vera – Nagy Lajos: Piackörzetek, piacközpontok és városok Magy ...
, Košice reinforced the king's troops in the crucial moment of the bloody
Battle of Rozgony
The Battle of Rozgony or Battle of Rozhanovce was fought between King Charles Robert of Hungary and the family of Palatine Amade Aba on 15 June 1312, on the Rozgony (today Rozhanovce) field. ''Chronicon Pictum'' described it as the "most cruel ba ...
in 1312 against the strong aristocratic ''Palatine Amadé'' Aba (family). In 1347, it became the second-place city in the hierarchy of the Hungarian free royal towns with the same rights as the capital
Buda
Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
. In 1369, it received its own coat of arms from Louis I of Hungary. The Diet convened by Louis I in Košice decided that women could inherit the Hungarian throne.
The significance and wealth of the city at the end of the 14th century was mirrored by the decision to build an entirely new church on the grounds of the previously destroyed smaller St. Elisabeth Church. The construction of the biggest cathedral in the Kingdom of Hungary – St. Elisabeth Cathedral – was supported by Emperor
Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it '' Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form o ...
, and by the
apostolic see
An apostolic see is an episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus or to one of their close associates. In Catholicism the phrase, preceded by the definite article and usually capitalized, refers to the Se ...
itself. Since the beginning of the 15th century, the city played a leading role in the
Pentapolitana Pentapolitana (or rarely Pentapolis) was a league of towns in the Middle Ages of the five most important Hungarian royal free cities (Latin: ''libera regiae civitas'', Hungarian: ''szabad királyi város'', German: ''Königliche Freistadt''; Slova ...
– the
league of towns Several leagues of cities (in German: ''Städtebünde'', singular ''Städtebund'')
became influential in the history of the Holy Roman Empire.
Military alliance and mutual assistance strengthened the position of imperial cities, especially during
t ...
of five most important cities in
Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...
(
Bardejov
Bardejov (; hu, Bártfa, german: Bartfeld, rue, Бардеёв, uk, Бардіїв) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region on a floodplain terrace of the Topľa River, in the hills of the Beskyd Mountains. ...
,
Levoča
Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча)
is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wor ...
, Košice,
Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...
, and
Sabinov
Sabinov ( la, Сibinium, hu, Kisszeben, german: Zeben, russian: Сабинов) is a small town located in the Prešov Region (north-eastern Slovakia), approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov i ...
). During the reign of King
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...
the town reached its medieval population peak. With an estimated 10,000 inhabitants, it was among the largest medieval cities in Europe.
The history of Košice was heavily influenced by the dynastic disputes over the Hungarian throne which, together with the decline of the continental trade, brought the city into stagnation. Vladislaus III of Varna failed to capture the city in 1441. John Jiskra's mercenaries from Bohemia defeated Tamás Székely's Hungarian army in 1449.
John I Albert
John I Albert ( pl, Jan I Olbracht; 27 December 1459 – 17 June 1501) was King of Poland from 1492 until his death in 1501 and Duke of Głogów (Glogau) from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty, the so ...
, Prince of Poland, could not capture the city during a six-month-long siege in 1491. In 1526, the city paid homage to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I.
John Zápolya
John Zápolya or Szapolyai ( hu, Szapolyai/ Zápolya János, hr, Ivan Zapolja, ro, Ioan Zápolya, sk, Ján Zápoľský; 1490/91 – 22 July 1540), was King of Hungary (as John I) from 1526 to 1540. His rule was disputed by Archduke Ferdi ...
captured the town in 1536 but Ferdinand I reconquered the city in 1551. In 1554, the settlement became the seat of the
Captaincy of Upper Hungary
The Captaincies of the Kingdom of Hungary ( hu, Magyar királyi főkapitányságok) were administrative divisions, military districts in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Ottoman Empire meant a constant threat to the kingdom, therefore the Habsburg ...
.
In 1604, Catholics seized the Lutheran church in Košice. The Calvinist
Stephen Bocskay
Stephen Bocskai or Bocskay ( hu, Bocskai István; 1 January 155729 December 1606) was Prince of Transylvania and Hungary from 1605 to 1606. He was born to a Hungarian noble family. His father's estates were located in the eastern regions of th ...
then occupied Košice during his Protestant insurrection against the
Habsburg dynasty
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
, with the backing of the Ottomans. The future
George I Rákóczi
George I Rákóczi (8 June 1593 – 11 October 1648) was Prince of Transylvania from 1630 until his death in 1648. Prior to that, he was a leader of the Protestant faction in Hungary and a faithful supporter of Gabriel Bethlen, his predecessor ...
joined him as a military commander there.
Giorgio Basta
Giorgio Basta, Count of Huszt, Gjergj Basta or Gheorghe Basta (1550 – 1607) was an Italian general, diplomat, and writer of Arbëreshë origin, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to command Habsburg forces in the Long War of 1591 ...
, commander of the Habsburg forces, failed in his attempt to recapture the city. At the
Treaty of Vienna (1606)
The Treaty of Vienna (also known as the Peace of Vienna) was signed on 23 June 1606 between Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania, and Archduke Rudolph. Based on the terms of the treaty, all constitutional and religious rights and privileges wer ...
, in return for giving back territory that included Košice, the rebels won from the Habsburgs a concession of religious toleration for the Magyar nobility and brokered an Austrian-Turkish peace treaty. Stephen Bocskay died in Košice on December 29, 1606, and was interred there.
For some decades during the 17th century Košice was part of the Principality of Transylvania, and consequently a part of the
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) ...
and was referred to as ''Kaşa'' in
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities ...
. On September 5, 1619, the prince of Transylvania,
Gabriel Bethlen
Gabriel Bethlen ( hu, Bethlen Gábor; 15 November 1580 – 15 November 1629) was Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and Duke of Opole from 1622 to 1625. He was also King-elect of Hungary from 1620 to 1621, but he never took control of ...
captured Košice with the assistance of the future
George I Rákóczi
George I Rákóczi (8 June 1593 – 11 October 1648) was Prince of Transylvania from 1630 until his death in 1648. Prior to that, he was a leader of the Protestant faction in Hungary and a faithful supporter of Gabriel Bethlen, his predecessor ...
in another anti-Habsburg insurrection. By the
Peace of Nikolsburg
The Peace of Nikolsburg or Peace of Mikulov, signed on 31 December 1621 in Nikolsburg, Moravia (now Mikulov in the Czech Republic), was the treaty which ended the war between Prince Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania and Emperor Ferdinand II of the ...
in 1621, the Habsburgs restored the religious toleration agreement of 1606 and recognized Transylvanian rule over the seven
Partium
Partium (from Latin '' partium'', the genitive of '' pars'' "part, portion") or ''Részek'' (in Hungarian) was a historical and geographical region in the Kingdom of Hungary during the early modern and modern periods. It consisted of the eastern ...
counties:
Ugocsa County
Ugocsa was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in north-western Romania () and western Ukraine (). The capital of the county was Nagyszőllős (now Vynohradiv, Ukraine).
Geography
Ugocsa co ...
,
Bereg County
Bereg ( rue, Береґ; ) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now mostly in western Ukraine and a smaller part in northeastern Hungary. The capital of the county was Beregszász ("Berehove" in Ukr ...
,
Zemplén County
Zemplén ( hu, Zemplén, sk, Zemplín, german: Semplin, Semmlin, la, Zemplinum) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. The northern part of its territory is now situated in eastern Slovakia ( Zemplín region), while ...
,
Borsod County
Borsod was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. The capital of the county was Miskolc. After World War II, the county was merged with the Hungarian parts of Abaúj-Torna County and Zemplén counties to form Borsod-A ...
,
Szabolcs County
Szabolcs was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now part of Hungary, except for three villages which are in the Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine. The capital of the county was Nyíregyháza.
Geography
...
,
Szatmár County
Szatmár County ( hu, Szatmár vármegye ) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary, situated south of the river Tisza. Most of its territory is now divided between Romania and Hungary, while a very small area is part o ...
and
Abaúj County
Abaúj ( la, comitatus Abaujvariensis, sk, Abov, german: Neuburg or ) is a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. In parts of the 19th century, and in the beginning of the 20th century, it was united with Torna Cou ...
Partium
Partium (from Latin '' partium'', the genitive of '' pars'' "part, portion") or ''Részek'' (in Hungarian) was a historical and geographical region in the Kingdom of Hungary during the early modern and modern periods. It consisted of the eastern ...
was returned to the Habsburgs.
On January 18, 1644, the Diet in Košice elected
George I Rákóczi
George I Rákóczi (8 June 1593 – 11 October 1648) was Prince of Transylvania from 1630 until his death in 1648. Prior to that, he was a leader of the Protestant faction in Hungary and a faithful supporter of Gabriel Bethlen, his predecessor ...
the prince of Hungary. He took the whole of Upper Hungary and joined the Swedish army besieging Brno for a projected march against
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. However, his nominal overlord, the Ottoman Sultan, ordered him to end the campaign, though he did so with gains. In the Treaty of Linz (1645), Košice returned to Transylvania again as the Habsburgs recognized George's rule over the seven counties of the
Partium
Partium (from Latin '' partium'', the genitive of '' pars'' "part, portion") or ''Részek'' (in Hungarian) was a historical and geographical region in the Kingdom of Hungary during the early modern and modern periods. It consisted of the eastern ...
. He died in 1648, and Košice was returned to the Habsburgs once more.
Subsequently, Košice became a centre of the Counter-Reformation. In 1657, a printing house and university were founded by the
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
, funded by
Emperor Leopold I
Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; hu, I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria ...
. The 1664
Peace of Vasvár
The Peace of Vasvár was a treaty between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire which followed the Battle of Saint Gotthard of 1 August 1664 (near Mogersdorf, Burgenland), and concluded the Austro-Turkish War (1663–64). It held for ab ...
at the end of the
Austro-Turkish War (1663-1664) The term Austro-Turkish War may refer to:
* Austro-Turkish War (1593–1606)
* Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664)
* Austro-Turkish War (1683–1699)
* Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)
* Austro-Turkish War (1737–1739)
* Austro-Turkish War (1788� ...
awarded Szabolcs and Szatmár counties to the Habsburgs, which put once more positioned Košice further inside the borders of
Royal Hungary
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ...
. In the 1670s the Habsburgs built a modern pentagonal fortress (
citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
) south of the city. Also in the in the 1670s, the city was besieged by
Kuruc
Kuruc (, plural ''kurucok''), also spelled kurutz, refers to a group of armed anti- Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711.
Over time, the term kuruc has come to designate Hungarians who advocate strict national in ...
armies several times, and it again rebelled against the Habsburgs. The rebel leaders were massacred by the Emperor's soldiers on November 26, 1677.
Another rebel leader,
Imre Thököly
Imre is a Hungarian masculine first name, which is also in Estonian use, where the corresponding name day is 10 April. It has been suggested that it relates to the name Emeric, Emmerich or Heinrich. Its English equivalents are Emery and Henry ...
captured the city in 1682, making ''Kaşa'' once again a vassal territory of the
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) ...
under the
Principality of Upper Hungary
The Principality of Upper Hungary ( hu, Felső-Magyarországi Fejedelemség; ota, او رتا ماجار, Orta Macâr, lit=Middle Hungary) was a short-lived Ottoman vassal state ruled by Imre Thököly.
Background
After peace treaty of Vasv� ...
Aeneas de Caprara
Count Aeneas Sylvius de Caprara (1631 – February 1701), also known as Enea Silvio or Äneas Sylvius von Caprara, was an Austrian Field Marshal during the Nine Years' War.
Biography
Born at Bologna to count Niccolò Caprara, he was a descendan ...
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
in late 1685. In 1704–1711
Prince of Transylvania
The Prince of Transylvania ( hu, erdélyi fejedelem, german: Fürst von Siebenbürgen, la, princeps Transsylvaniae, ro, principele TransilvanieiFallenbüchl 1988, p. 77.) was the head of state of the Principality of Transylvania from the last d ...
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi ( hu, II. Rákóczi Ferenc, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–11 as the prince ( hu, fejedelem) of the Estates Confedera ...
made Košice the main base in his
War for Independence
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regul ...
. By 1713 the fortress had been demolished.
When not under Ottoman suzerainty, Košice was the seat of the Habsburg "Captaincy of Upper Hungary" and the seat of the Chamber of
Szepes County
Szepes ( sk, Spiš; la, Scepusium, pl, Spisz, german: link=no, Zips) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small are ...
(Spiš, Zips), which was a subsidiary of the supreme financial agency in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
responsible for Upper Hungary). Due to
Ottoman
Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to:
Governments and dynasties
* Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924
* Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...
occupation of
Eger
Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque bu ...
, Košice was the residence of
Eger
Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque bu ...
's archbishop from 1596 to 1700.
From 1657, it was the seat of the historic Royal University of Kassa (Universitas Cassoviensis), founded by Bishop Benedict Kishdy. The university was transformed into a ''Royal Academy'' in 1777, then into a ''Law Academy'' in the 19th century. It was to cease to exist in the turbulent year 1921. After the end of the anti-Habsburg uprisings in 1711, the victorious Austrian armies drove the
Ottoman Army
The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire.
Army
The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...
back to the south, and this major territorial change created new trade routes which circumvented Košice. The city began to decline and from a rich medieval town became a provincial town known for its military base and mainly dependent on agriculture.
In 1723, the
Immaculata
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...
statue was erected on the site of a former
gallows
A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...
at Hlavná ulica (''Main Street'') to commemorate the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
of 1710–1711. The city also became one of the centers of the Hungarian linguistic revival, including the publication of the first Hungarian-language periodical, called the Magyar Museum, in Hungary in 1788. The city's walls were demolished step by step from the early 19th century to 1856; only the
Executioner's Bastion
The Executioner's Bastion is a bastion situated at Stará baštová Street in the historic center of Košice, Slovakia.
Its name is derived from the fact that the bastion was situated near a medieval executioner's house. It is semicircular buildi ...
remained among limited parts of the wall. The city became the seat of its own
bishopric
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
in 1802. The city's surroundings became a theater of war again during the
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Euro ...
, when the Imperial cavalry general
Franz Schlik
Franz Joseph von Schlik of Bassano and Weisskirchen (Prague, 23
May 1789 – Vienna, 17 March 1862) was a Count and general in the Austrian Empire. He was one of the most successful Austrian generals during the Hungarian Revolu ...
defeated the Hungarian army on December 8, 1848, and January 4, 1849. The city was captured by the Hungarian army on February 15, 1849, but the Russian troops drove them back on June 24, 1849.
In 1828, there were three manufacturers and 460 workshops. The first factories were established in the 1840s (sugar and nail factories). The first telegram message arrived in 1856, and the railway connected the city to
Miskolc
Miskolc ( , , ; Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the fourth larges ...
in 1860. In 1873, there were already connections to
Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...
,
Žilina
Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Sl ...
, and
Chop, Ukraine
Chop ( uk, Чоп, hu, Csap, sk, Čop, rue, Чоп, yi, טשאָפּ) is a city located in Zakarpattia Oblast (province) of western Ukraine, near the borders of Slovakia and Hungary. It is separated from the Hungarian town of Záhony by the ...
(in today's Ukraine). The city gained a public
transit system
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
in 1891 when the track was laid down for a horse-drawn tramway. The traction was electrified in 1914. In 1906,
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi ( hu, II. Rákóczi Ferenc, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–11 as the prince ( hu, fejedelem) of the Estates Confedera ...
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
and during the gradual break-up of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, the city at first became a part of the transient "
Eastern Slovak Republic
Slovak People's Republic ( sk, Slovenská ľudová republika) or the Eastern Slovak Republic ( sk, Východoslovenská republika) was a short-lived state that lasted from 11 December to 29 December 1918.
The Eastern Slovak National Council was ...
", declared on December 11, 1918, in Košice and earlier in
Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...
under the
protection
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although t ...
of Hungary. On December 29, 1918, the
Czechoslovak Legions
, image = Coat of arms of the Czechoslovak Legion.svg
, image_size = 200px
, alt =
, caption = Czechoslovak Legion coat of arms
, start_date ...
entered the city, making it part of the newly established
. However, in June 1919, Košice was occupied again, as part of the
Slovak Soviet Republic
The Slovak Soviet Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika rád, hu, Szlovák Tanácsköztársaság, uk, Словацька Радянська Республіка, literally: 'Slovak Republic of Councils') was a short-lived Communist state in sout ...
, a
proletarian
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
puppet state
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sover ...
of Hungary. The Czechoslovak troops secured the city for Czechoslovakia in July 1919, which was later upheld under the terms of the
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It formal ...
in 1920.
Fate of Košice Jews
Jews had lived in Košice since the 16th century but were not allowed to settle permanently. There is a document identifying the local coiner in 1524 as a Jew and claiming that his predecessor was a Jew as well. Jews were allowed to enter the city during the town fair, but were forced to leave it by night, and lived mostly in nearby Rozunfaca. In 1840 the ban was removed, and, a few Jews were living in the town, among them a widow who ran a small Kosher restaurant for the Jewish merchants passing through the town.
Košice was ceded to Hungary, by the
First Vienna Award
The First Vienna Award was a treaty signed on 2 November 1938 pursuant to the Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace. The arbitration and award were direct consequences of the previous month's Munich Agreement, which ...
, from 1938 until early 1945. The town was bombarded on June 26, 1941, by a still unidentified aircraft, in what became a pretext for the Hungarian government to declare war on the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
a day later.
The German occupation of Hungary led to the deportation of Košice's entire
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish population of 12,000 and an additional 2,000 from surrounding areas via cattle cars to the
concentration camps
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
.
In 1946, after the war, Košice was the site of an orthodox festival, with a Mizrachi convention and a
Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva ( he, בְּנֵי עֲקִיבָא, , "Children of Akiva") is the largest Religious Zionism, religious Zionist Zionist youth movement, youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was first established i ...
Yeshiva (school) for Jews, which, later that year, moved with its students to Israel.
A memorial plaque in honor to the 12,000 deported Jews from Košice and the surrounding areas in Slovakia was unveiled at the pre-war Košice Orthodox synagogue in 1992.
Soviet occupation
The Soviet Union captured the town in January 1945, and for a short time, it became a temporary capital of the restored Czechoslovak Republic until the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
had reached
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. Among other acts, the Košice Government Programme was declared on April 5, 1945.
A large population of ethnic Germans in the area was expelled and sent on foot to Germany or to the Soviet border.
After the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed be ...
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
. Several
cultural institutions
A cultural institution or cultural organization is an organization within a culture/ subculture that works for the preservation or promotion of culture. The term is especially used of public and charitable organizations, but its range of meaning ...
that still exist were founded, and large residential areas around the city were built. The construction and expansion of the East Slovak Ironworks caused the population to grow from 60,700 in 1950 to 235,000 in 1991. Before the breakup of Czechoslovakia (1993), it was the fifth-largest city in the federation.
Under Slovakia
Following the
Velvet Divorce
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia ( cs, Rozdělení Československa, sk, Rozdelenie Česko-Slovenska) took effect on December 31, 1992, and was the self-determined split of the federal republic of Czechoslovakia into the independent countries o ...
and creation of the Slovak Republic, Košice became the second-largest city in the country and became a seat of a
constitutional court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
. Since 1995, it has been the seat of the
Archdiocese of Košice
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...
.
After 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Košice, as a regional metropolitan area, became a major hub for administration, transfer and housing of refugees fleeing from Ukraine.
Geography
Košice lies at an altitude of
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
The ...
and covers an area of . It is located in eastern Slovakia, about from the Hungarian, from the
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* Som ...
, and from the Polish borders. It is about east of Slovakia's capital
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...
and a chain of villages connects it to
Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...
which is about to the north.
Košice is on the
Hornád
Hornád ( Slovak, ) or Hernád ( Hungarian, ) is a river in eastern Slovakia and north-eastern Hungary.
It is a tributary to the river Slaná (Sajo). The source of the Hornád is the eastern slopes of Kráľova hoľa hill, south of Šuňava.
...
River in the
Košice Basin
Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...
, at the easternmost reaches of the
Slovak Ore Mountains
The Slovak Ore Mountains ( sk, Slovenské rudohorie , hu, Gömör–Szepesi-érchegység, german: Slowakisches Erzgebirge or Zips-Gemer-Erzgebirge) are an extensive mountain range within the Carpathian Mountains, located mostly in Slovakia's S ...
. More precisely, it is a subdivision of the
Čierna hora
Black Mountain ( sk, Čierna hora , german: Schwarzer Berg) is a small mountain range in eastern Slovakia. It forms part of the Slovak Ore Mountains. The range is located roughly between the city of Košice to the southeast and the municipalitie ...
mountains in the northwest and
Volovské vrchy
The Volovec Mountains ( sk, Volovské vrchy, ) is a mountain range in eastern Slovakia, the largest range within the group of Slovak Ore Mountains, which is part of the Inner Western Carpathians.
The range is about 70 kilometers by 30 kilomete ...
mountains in the southwest. The basin is met on the east by the Slanské vrchy mountains.
Climate
Košice has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Dfb''), as the city lies in the
north temperate zone
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
. The city has four distinct seasons with long, warm summers with cool nights and long, cold, and snowy winters. Precipitation varies little throughout the year with abundance precipitation that falls during summer and only few during winter. The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of , and the hottest month is July, with an average temperature of .
Demographics
Košice has a population of 228,249 (mid year, 2021). According to the 2011 census, 73.8% of its inhabitants were
Slovaks
The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak.
In Slovakia, 4.4 ...
, 2.65%
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 Ural ...
, 2%
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
, 0.65%
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, ...
, 0.68%
Rusyns
Rusyns (), also known as Carpatho-Rusyns (), or Rusnaks (), are an East Slavic ethnic group from the Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn, an East Slavic language variety, treated variously as either a distinct languag ...
, 0.3%
Ukrainians
Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Or ...
. 19% of Košice's population did not declare their ethnic affiliation in the 2011 census.
The religious makeup was 45%
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, 16.6% people with no
religious affiliation Religious identity is a specific type of identity formation. Particularly, it is the sense of group membership to a religion and the importance of this group membership as it pertains to one's self-concept. Religious identity is not necessarily th ...
, 6.12%
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 ...
, and 2.33%
Lutherans
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
, 2%
Calvinists
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
and 0.11%
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
.
Historical demographics
According to the researchers the town had a German majority until the mid-16th century,Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsisné Hodosi, Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin, Simon Publications LLC, 1998, p. 46-4 /ref> and by 1650, 72.5% of the population may have been Hungarians, 13.2% was German, 14.3% was Slovak or of uncertain origin. The Ottoman Turkish traveller
Evliya Çelebi
Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty ye ...
mentioned that the city was inhabited by "Hungarians, Germans, Upper Hungarians" in 1661 when the city was under the suzerainty of Ottoman Empire and under Turkish control.
The linguistic makeup of the town's population underwent historical changes that alternated between the growth of the ratio of those who claimed Hungarian and those who claimed Slovak as their language. With a population of 28,884 in 1891, just under half (49.9%) of the inhabitants of Košice declared Hungarian, then the official language, as their main means of communication, 33.6% Slovak, and 13.5% German; 72.2% were Roman Catholics, 11.4% Jews, 7.3% Lutherans, 6.7% Greek Catholics, and 4.3%
Calvinists
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
. The results of that census are questioned by some historians by a disputed claim that they were manipulated, to increase the percentage of the Magyars during a period of
Magyarization
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleitha ...
.
By the 1910 census, which is sometimes accused of being manipulated by the ruling Hungarian bureaucracy, 75.4% of the 44,211 inhabitants claimed Hungarian, 14.8% Slovak, 7.2% German and 1.8%
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
. The Jews were split among other groups by the 1910 census, as only the most frequently-used language, not ethnicity, was registered. The population around 1910 was multidenominational and multiethnic, and the differences in the level of education mirror the stratification of society. The town's linguistic balance began to shift towards Slovak after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
by
Slovakization
Slovakization or Slovakisation is a form of either forced or voluntary cultural assimilation, during which non-Slovak nationals give up their culture and language in favor of the Slovak one. This process has relied most heavily on intimidation ...
.
According to the 1930 census, the city had 70,111, with 230 Gypsies (today
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
* Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
), 42 245 Czechoslovaks (today
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, ...
and
Slovaks
The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak.
In Slovakia, 4.4 ...
), 11 504
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 Ural ...
Romanians
The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Roman ...
, 801
Ruthenians
Ruthenian and Ruthene are exonyms of Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term Rutheni was used in medieval sourc ...
, 27 Serbocroatians (today
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their ...
and
Croatians
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...
) and 5 733
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
.
As a consequence of the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
and
Second Vienna Awards
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
, Košice was ceded to Hungary. During the German occupation of Hungary towards the end of
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, approximately 10,000 Jews were deported by the
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party ( hu, Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of Nationa ...
Slovakization
Slovakization or Slovakisation is a form of either forced or voluntary cultural assimilation, during which non-Slovak nationals give up their culture and language in favor of the Slovak one. This process has relied most heavily on intimidation ...
and by mass migration of Slovaks into newly built communist-block-microdistricts, which increased the population of Košice four times by 1989 and made it the fastest growing city in
There are several theatres in Košice. The Košice State Theater was founded in 1945 (then under the name of the East Slovak National Theater). It consists of three ensembles: drama, opera, and ballet. Other theatres include the Marionette Theatre and the Old Town Theatre (''Staromestské divadlo''). The presence of
Hungarian Hungarian may refer to:
* Hungary, a country in Central Europe
* Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946
* Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary
* Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignme ...
and Roma minorities makes it also host the Hungarian "Thália" theatre and the professional Roma theatre "Romathan".
Košice is the home of the
State Philharmonic Košice
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
(''Štátna filharmónia Košice''), established in 1968 as the second professional
symphonic orchestra
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
in Slovakia. It organizes festivals such as the Košice Music Spring Festival, the International Organ Music Festival, and the Festival of
Contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...
.
Museums and galleries
Some of the museums and galleries based in the city include the
East Slovak Museum The East Slovak Museum ( sk, Východoslovenské múzeum) in Košice, Slovakia, is one of the oldest Slovak museums, founded in 1872. It is located in the Old Town borough of Košice, at ''Námestie maratóncov'' (Marathon Runners' Square).
The muse ...
(''Vychodoslovenské múzeum''), originally established in 1872 under the name of the Upper Hungarian Museum. The
Slovak Technical Museum
The Slovak Technical Museum ( sk, Slovenské technické múzeum, STM) is a major Slovak technology museum, based in the eastern Slovak city of Košice, with branches throughout Slovakia. It was established in 1947 and opened to the public in 1948 ...
(''Slovenské technické múzeum'') with a
planetarium
A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
A dominant feature of most planetarium ...
, established in 1947, is the only museum in the technical category in Slovakia that specializes in the history and traditions of science and technology. The
East Slovak Gallery
The East Slovak Gallery, established in 1951, was the first regional gallery in Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is ...
(''Východoslovenská galéria'') was established in 1951 as the first regional gallery with the aim to document artistic life in present-day eastern Slovakia.
European Capital of Culture
In 2008 Košice won the competition among Slovak cities to hold the prestigious title European Capital of Culture 2013. Project Interface aims at the transformation of Košice from a centre of heavy industry to a postindustrial city with creative potential and new cultural infrastructure. Project authors bring Košice a concept of the creative economy – merging of economy and industry with arts, where transformed urban space encourages development of certain fields of creative industry (design, media, architecture, music and film production, IT technologies, creative tourism). The artistic and cultural program stems from a conception of sustained maintainable activities with long-lasting effects on cultural life in Košice and its region. The main project venues are:
*Kasárne Kulturpark – 19th-century military barracks turned into new urban space with a centre of contemporary art, exhibition and concert halls and workshops for the creative industry.
*Kunsthalle Košice – a 1960s disused swimming pool turned into the first
Kunsthalle
A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection.
In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...
in Slovakia.
*SPOTs – the 1970s and 1980s disused heat exchangers turned into cultural "spots" in Communist-Era-block-of-flats districts.
*City park, Park Komenského and Mojzesova – revitalisation of urban spaces.
*Castle of Košice, Amfiteáter, Mansion of Krásna, Handicrafts Street – reconstruction.
*Tabačka – a 19th-century tobacco factory turned into a centre of independent culture. The Tabačka Kulturfabrik, DIG gallery, Kotolňa and several artistic residents are located in the area of the former tobacco factory.
Media
The first and the oldest international festival of local TV broadcasters (founded in 1995) – The
Golden Beggar
The Golden Beggar ( sk, Zlatý žobrák) is the first and the oldest international festival of local TV broadcasters, which takes place every year in June in Košice, Slovakia.
The festival was established in 1995 to celebrate, popularize and sup ...
, takes place every year in June in Košice.
The oldest evening newspaper is the
Košický večer
200px, left,
''Košický večer'' () was a city evening paper in Košice, Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is border ...
. The daily paper in Košice is
Korzár
''Korzár'' ( Slovak: ''Corsair'') is a regional newspaper published in Košice, Slovakia. The paper has been in circulation since 1998.
History and profile
The newspaper was established in 1998. At the initial stage, the paper was named ''Korzo ...
. Recently, the daily paper Košice:Dnes (Košice: Today) came into existence.
TV stations based in Košice:
TV Naša
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...
,
TV Region
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
Rádio Košice
Rádio Košice is a commercial radio station broadcasting from Košice
Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Sl ...
,
Dobré rádio
Dobré is a village in south-western Ivory Coast. It is in the sub-prefecture of Grihiri, Sassandra Department, Gbôklé Region
Gbôklé Region is one of the 31 regions of Ivory Coast. Since its establishment in 2011, it has been one of three re ...
,
Rádio Kiss National radio stations
Broadcaster is Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska, owned by Government of Slovakia.
Multiregional commercial radio stations
Multiregional christian radio stations
Regional radio stations
Local radio stations
...
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 ...
. It accounts for about 9% of the Slovak gross domestic product. The steel mill, U.S. Steel Košice with 13,500 employees, is the largest employer in the city and the largest private employer in the country. The second-largest employer in the east of the country i Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia It was established and has been based in Košice since 2006. Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia had 4,545 employees in Košice in Q4 of 2020, which makes it the second-largest shared service center in Slovakia and one of the top fifteen largest employers in Slovakia. As part of the growing ICT field Košice IT Valley association was established in 2007 as a joint initiative of educational institutions, government and leading IT companies. In 2012 it was transformed into the cluster. In 2018 the cluster was for the second time certified for “Cluster Management Excellence Label GOLD” as the first in central Europe and is one of three certified clusters in the area of information and communication technologies. Other major sectors include mechanical engineering,
food industry
The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...
, services, and trade.
GDP per capita
Lists of countries by GDP per capita list the countries in the world by their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The lists may be based on nominal or purchasing power parity
Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the measurement of prices i ...
in 2001 was €4,004, which was below Slovakia's average of €4,400. The
unemployment rate
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refer ...
was 8.32% in November 2015, which was below the country's average 10.77% at that time.
The city has a
balanced budget
A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...
of 224 million
euro
The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s, ).
Sights
The city centre, and most historical monuments, are located in or around the Main Street (''Hlavná ulica'') and the town has the largest number of protected historical monuments in Slovakia.
The most dominant historical monument of the city is Slovakia's largest church, the 14th century
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 ...
Cathedral of St. Elizabeth
The Cathedral of St. Elizabeth (Slovak: ''Dóm svätej Alžbety'', ; Hungarian: ''Szent Erzsébet-székesegyház'', German: ''Dom der heiligen Elisabeth''), also called Saint Elizabeth Cathedral, is a Gothic cathedral in Košice. It is the larg ...
; it is the easternmost cathedral of western-style Gothic architecture in Central Europe, and is the cathedral of the
Archdiocese of Košice
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...
. In addition to St. Elizabeth, there is the 14th century
Executioner's Bastion
The Executioner's Bastion is a bastion situated at Stará baštová Street in the historic center of Košice, Slovakia.
Its name is derived from the fact that the bastion was situated near a medieval executioner's house. It is semicircular buildi ...
and the Mill Bastion are the remains of the city's previous fortification system. The Church of the Virgin Mary's Birth is the cathedral for the
Greek Catholic 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 ...
Eparchy of Košice
Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on ...
. Other monuments and buildings of cultural and historical interest are; the old Town Hall, the Old University, the Captain's Palace, Liberation Square, as well as a number of galleries (the
East Slovak Gallery
The East Slovak Gallery, established in 1951, was the first regional gallery in Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is ...
) and museums (the
East Slovak Museum The East Slovak Museum ( sk, Východoslovenské múzeum) in Košice, Slovakia, is one of the oldest Slovak museums, founded in 1872. It is located in the Old Town borough of Košice, at ''Námestie maratóncov'' (Marathon Runners' Square).
The muse ...
). There is a
Municipal Park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to res ...
located between the historical city centre and the main railway station. The city also has a
zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...
located northwest of the city, within the borough of
Kavečany
Kavečany ( hu, Kavocsán) is a borough (city ward) of Košice, Slovakia. The borough is situated 6 km northwest of Košice, at an altitude of roughly above sea level, in the Košice I district. Kavečany retains a rural character, with a pop ...
.
Places of worship
*
Cathedral of St. Elizabeth
The Cathedral of St. Elizabeth (Slovak: ''Dóm svätej Alžbety'', ; Hungarian: ''Szent Erzsébet-székesegyház'', German: ''Dom der heiligen Elisabeth''), also called Saint Elizabeth Cathedral, is a Gothic cathedral in Košice. It is the larg ...
Plague Chapel of St. Rosalie
The Plague Chapel of St. Rosalie () in Košice was built at the bottom of Red bank, according to work of T. Tornyossy and J. Goresch (together with J.E. Widman's collaboration), near the cemetery in 1714–1715 as the memorial of the plague from ...
Calvinist Church
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...
*
Evangelical Church
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
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 ...
, and since 2002 it is the seat of the autonomous Košice Self-governing Region. Additionally, it is the seat of the Slovak
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
. The city hosts a regional branch of the
National Bank of Slovakia
National Bank of Slovakia ( sk, Národná banka Slovenska, NBS), is the central bank of Slovakia, a member state of the European Union since 2004 and of the euro area since 2009. It was formed on from the division of the State Bank of Czecho ...
(''Národná banka Slovenska'') and consulates of Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Russia, Spain and Turkey.
The local government is composed of a mayor ( sk, primátor), a
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
(''mestské zastupiteľstvo''), a city board (''mestská rada''), city commissions (''Komisie mestského zastupiteľstva''), and a city magistrate's office (''magistrát''). The
directly elected
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...
mayor is the head and chief executive of the city. The term of office is four years. The previous mayor,
František Knapík
František Knapík (born 17 October 1956 in Ľubotín) was the mayor of the Slovak city of Košice until December 2010, and a member of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).
He studied at a grammar school (gymnasium) in Sabinov and at the ...
, was nominated in 2006 by a coalition of four political parties KDH,
SMK
The SMK was an armored vehicle prototype developed by the Soviet Union prior to the Second World War. It was named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov, a Communist Party official assassinated in 1934. The SMK was discovered and classified by German ...
, and SDKÚ-DS. In 2010 he finished his term of office. The present mayor is Ing. Jaroslav Polaček. He was inaugurated on 10 December 2018.
In 2021, the municipality recycled 24.64% of its municipal waste.
Administratively, the city of Košice is divided into four districts:
Košice I
Košice I ( hu, Kassai I. járás) is a district in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia, in the city of Košice. It is bordered by the Košice II, Košice III
Košice III ( hu, Kassai III. járás) is a district in the Košice Region of easter ...
(covering the center and northern parts),
Košice II
Košice II ( hu, Kassai II. járás) is a district in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia, in the city of Košice
Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the ri ...
(covering the southwest),
Košice III
Košice III ( hu, Kassai III. járás) is a district in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia, in the city of Košice
Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the ...
(east), and
Košice IV
Košice IV ( hu, Kassai IV. járás) is a district in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia, in the city of Košice. It is bordered by the Košice I, Košice II, Košice III
Košice III ( hu, Kassai III. járás) is a district in the Košice Re ...
(south) and further into 22 boroughs (wards):
Education
Košice is the second
university town
A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several sma ...
in Slovakia, after Bratislava. The
Technical University of Košice
Technical University of Košice (Slovak: ''Technická univerzita v Košiciach'') is the second largest university of technology in Slovakia.
University structure
* Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnology,
* Faculty of Ma ...
is its largest university, with 16,015 students, including 867 doctoral students. A second major university is the
Pavol Jozef Šafárik University
Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice ( Slovak ''Univerzita Pavla Jozefa Šafárika v Košiciach'') is a university located in Košice, Slovakia. It was founded in 1959 and is organized into five faculties. The university is named after Pa ...
, with 7,403 students, including 527 doctoral students. Other universities and colleges include the University of Veterinary Medicine in Košice (1,381 students) and the private
Security Management College in Košice
Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
(1,168 students). Additionally, the
University of Economics in Bratislava
The University of Economics in Bratislava ( sk, Ekonomická univerzita v Bratislave) is the oldest university of economics in Slovakia.
History
The university was established in 1940 as a private university under the name Vysoká obchodná ško ...
, the
Slovak University of Agriculture
Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra is a public university in Nitra, Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bord ...
in
Nitra
Nitra (; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra (river), Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of about ...
, and the
Catholic University in Ružomberok
Catholic University in Ružomberok (CU) is a public university with religious character. The Conference of Slovak Bishops and National Council of the Slovak Republic took part in its foundation in 2000.
CU performs its activities especially in t ...
each have a branch based in the city.
There are 38 public elementary schools, six private elementary schools, three religious elementary schools, and one International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) candidate international school. Overall, they enroll 20,158 pupils. The city's system of secondary education (some
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...
s and all high schools) consists of 20 gymnasia with 7,692 students, 24 specialized high schools with 8,812 students, and 13
vocational school
A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the task ...
s with 6,616 students.
Kosice International School (KEIS) is the first international primary school in Eastern Slovakia. It will be an International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) international school. Opening in September 2020.
Notable personalities
Transport
Public transport in Košice is managed by ''Dopravný podnik mesta Košice'' ("Public Transport Company of the City of Košice"). The municipal mass transit system is the oldest one in present-day Slovakia, with the first horse-car line beginning operation in 1891 (electrified in 1914). Today, the city's public transportation system is composed of buses (in use since the 1950s), trams, and trolleybuses (since 1993).
Košice railway station
Košice railway station ( sk, Železničná stanica Košice, also known for a short period as ''Košice hlavná stanica'') serves the city of Košice, seat of the Košice Region, eastern Slovakia.
Opened in 1860, the station is the eastern termi ...
is a rail hub of eastern Slovakia. The city is connected by rail to
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
,
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...
,
Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...
,
Čierna nad Tisou
Čierna nad Tisou ( hu, Tiszacsernyő) is a town and municipality in the Trebišov District in the Košice Region of extreme south-eastern Slovakia, near the Tisa (Tisza) river.
History
The town and municipality is one of the newest in the Koš ...
,
Humenné
Humenné (; hu, Homonna; ukr, Гуменне) is a town in the Prešov Region ("kraj") in eastern Slovakia and the second largest town of the historic Zemplín region. It lies at the volcanic Vihorlat mountains and at the confluence of the ...
,
Miskolc
Miskolc ( , , ; Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the fourth larges ...
(Hungary), and
Zvolen
Zvolen (; hu, Zólyom; german: Altsohl) is a town in central Slovakia, situated on the confluence of Hron and Slatina rivers, close to Banská Bystrica. It is surrounded by Poľana mountain from the East, by Kremnické vrchy from the West an ...
steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fi ...
southwest of the city. The D1 motorway connects the city to
Prešov
Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...
, and more motorways and roads are planned around the city.
Košice International Airport
Košice International Airport ( sk, Medzinárodné letisko Košice) is an international airport serving Košice, Slovakia. It is the second largest international airport in Slovakia. It is located to the south of St Elisabeth Cathedral, above ...
is located south of the city. Regular direct flights from the airport are available to
London Luton
London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by ...
and
Stansted
London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London.
London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
(from April 2020),
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...
,
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...
and
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. Regular flights are provided by
Czech Airlines
Czech Airlines j.s.c. (abbreviation: ČSA, cz, České Aerolinie, a.s.) is the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Its head office is located in the Vokovice area of Prague's 6th district and its hub is Václav Havel Airport Prague. The comp ...
,
Austrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its ...
,
Eurowings
Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-hau ...
,
LOT Polish Airlines
LOT Polish Airlines, legally incorporated as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (corporation), S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. Established in 1928, LOT was a founding member of IATA and remains one of List of airlines by foundat ...
and
Wizz Air
Wizz Air, legally incorporated as Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. ( hu, Wizz Air Hungary Légiközlekedési Zrt.) is a Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier with its head office in Budapest, Hungary. The airline serves many cities across Europe, as well as s ...
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...
. At its peak in the year 2008, it served 590,919 passengers, but the number has since declined.
Sports
The
Košice Peace Marathon
The Košice Peace Marathon (Slovak: Medzinárodný maratón mieru) is an annual road marathon held in Košice, Slovakia, since 1924. It is the oldest marathon in Europe and the third-oldest in the world (after the Boston Marathon, first held ...
(founded in 1924) is the oldest annual
marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...
in Europe and the third oldest in the entire world, after the
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ...
and the
Yonkers Marathon
The Yonkers Marathon, is a marathon race held annually in Yonkers, New York. Founded in 1907, it is the second oldest marathon in the United States, after the Boston Marathon. It is held on the third Sunday in October. In addition to the mara ...
. It is run in the historic part of the city and is organized every year on the first Sunday of October.
Ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...
club
HC Košice
Hockey Club Košice is a Slovak professional ice hockey club based in Košice that competes in the Slovak Extraliga, the top tier of Slovak ice hockey. It is the most successful hockey club in Slovakia and the former Czechoslovakia, having won t ...
is one of the most successful Slovak hockey clubs. It plays in Slovakia's highest league, the Extraliga, and has won eight titles in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015; and two titles (1986 and 1988) in the former
Czechoslovak Extraliga
The Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League was the elite ice hockey league in Czechoslovakia from 1936 until 1993, when the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Slovak Extraliga and Czech Extraliga formed from the split.
H ...
. Since 2006, their home is the
Steel Aréna
Steel Aréna – Košický štadión L. Trojáka (English: ''Steel Arena – Ladislav Troják Stadium in Košice'') is the home arena of the ice hockey club HC Košice. Its capacity is 8,343.
The arena opened on February 24, 2006, and w ...
which has a capacity of 8,343 spectators. Košice was once home to
football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
MFK Košice until it folded due to bankruptcy. It was the first club from Slovakia reach the group stages of the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
and won the domestic league twice (1998 and 1999). Another football club
FC Košice
FC may refer to:
Businesses, organisations, and schools
* Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India
* Finncomm Airlines (IATA code)
* FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC
* Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pak ...
is currently in the second league, with a new home stadium known as the Košická futbalová Arena (KFA).
Košice, along with
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...
2019 IIHF World Championship
The 2019 IIHF World Championship was hosted from 10 to 26 May 2019 by Slovakia. It was the second time that Slovakia has hosted the event as an independent country, as was the case in 2011. The host cities were Bratislava and Košice, as announc ...
in ice hockey.
Košice became the 2016 European City of Sport by the European Capitals of Sports Association (ACES Europe). The sporting events in 2016 included "the International Peace Marathon, several urban runs, a swimming relay contest, the Košice-Tatry- Košice cycling race, the dancesport world championships, the Basketball Euroleague, Volleyball World League and Water Polo World League".
Twin towns – sister cities
Košice is
twinned
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Abaújszántó
Abaújszántó is a small town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, about from the county seat Miskolc. It belongs to the famous Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district.
History
Abaújszántó has been inhabited since ancient times. The Hung ...
, Hungary (2007)
*
Bursa
( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in t ...
, Turkey (2000)
*
Cottbus
Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exte ...
, Germany (1992)
*
Katowice
Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most populo ...
, Poland (1991)
*
Krosno
Krosno (in full ''The Royal Free City of Krosno'', pl, Królewskie Wolne Miasto Krosno) is a historical town and county in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. The estimated population of the town is 47,140 inhabitants as of 2 ...
, Poland (1991)
*
Miskolc
Miskolc ( , , ; Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the fourth larges ...
, Hungary (1997)
*
Mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ...
, United States (2000)
*
Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, whil ...
, Serbia (2000)
*
Ostrava
Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four ri ...
, Czech Republic (2001)
*
Plovdiv
Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...
, Bulgaria (2000)
*
Raahe
Raahe (; sv, Brahestad; ) is a town and municipality of Finland. Founded by Swedish statesman and Governor General of Finland Count Per Brahe the Younger in 1649, it is one of 10 historic wooden towns (or town centers) remaining in Finland. Exam ...
, Finland (1987)
*
Rzeszów
Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian Vo ...
, Poland (1991)
*
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia (1995)
*
Uzhhorod
Uzhhorod ( uk, У́жгород, , ; ) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and the ...
, Ukraine (1993)
*
Vysoké Tatry
Vysoké Tatry (; hu, Magastátra, ; german: Höhe Tatra, ; pl, Wysokie Tatry, ; cs, Vysoké Tatry, ), formally Mesto Vysoké Tatry () is a town at the feet of the Slovak part of High Tatras in Slovakia including all the major resorts in that ...
, Slovakia (2006)
*
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; "'' Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...
, Germany (1980)
Cooperation and friendship
Košice also cooperates with:
*
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary (1997)
*
Da Nang
Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is o ...
, Vietnam (2015)
*
Ho Chi Minh City
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, Vietnam (2016)
*
Vitebsk
Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest ci ...
, Belarus (2015)
*
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...
, China (2012)
See also
*
Košice Peace Marathon
The Košice Peace Marathon (Slovak: Medzinárodný maratón mieru) is an annual road marathon held in Košice, Slovakia, since 1924. It is the oldest marathon in Europe and the third-oldest in the world (after the Boston Marathon, first held ...
*
List of people from Košice
This is a list of notable people from Košice, Slovakia
B
* Frigyes Bán, Hungarian film director
* János Batsányi, poet and Hungarian language regenerate, worked and lived in Košice
* Gyula Benczúr, painter, started to learn in secondary s ...
*
List of municipalities and towns in Slovakia
This is an alphabetical list of the 2,891 obcí (singular ''obec'', "municipality") in Slovakia.Zlaty dukat
Zlaty Dukat is a building in the historical pedestrian zone in the heart of Košice, Kosice city, Slovakia. In the near surrounding of the building, there are situated the most significant memorials of the city. The history of the building reaches ...
Notes
2. Kinselbaum, Stanislav J. (2006). ''The A to Z of Slovakia.'' A to Z Guide Series, No. 236. Toronto, Canada: The Scarecrow Press.