Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern

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

at the foot of the

High Tatra Mountains The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains (; ; ,'' Vysoki Tatry''; ; ), are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains ...

, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the

Spiš Spiš ( ; or ; ) is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland (more specifically encompassing 14 former Slovak villages). Spiš is an informal designation of the territory, but it is also the name of one ...

region and the largest of all towns in the vicinity of the High Tatra Mountains in both Slovakia and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, Poprad is the tenth largest city in Slovakia, with a population of approximately 50,000. The

Poprad-Tatry Airport Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

is an international airport located just outside the city. Poprad is also the starting point of the

Tatra Electric Railway The Tatra Electric Railway (), colloquially Tatra Railway, is an electrified (1500 V direct current, DC) single track narrow gauge railway in the Slovak part of the Tatra mountains. It consists of two connected lines: * Poprad-Tatry railway sta ...

(known in Slovak as ''Tatranská elektrická železnica''), a set of special narrow-gauge trains (trams) connecting the resorts in the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains (; ; ,'' Vysoki Tatry''; ; ), are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains ...

with each other and with Poprad. Main line trains link Poprad to other destinations in Slovakia and beyond; in particular, there are through trains running from Poprad to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

History

The territory was since the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

inhabited by

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

settlers. The first written record dates from 16 March 1256 in the deed of donation of the Hungarian King Bela IV. After the

Mongol invasions 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 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

in the 13th century it was colonized by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

settlers and became the largely German town ''Deutschendorf'' meaning 'Germans' village'. From 1412 to 1770, as one of the Spis towns, Poprad was pawned by the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

, resulting in a strong Polish influence on the city's further development. In the 17th century, the number of Germans began to decline. Since 1918 this territory was placed under the control of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Poprad itself was for 690 years (up until 1946) just one of several neighbouring settlements, which currently make up the modern city. The other parts of the current municipality are ''Matejovce'' (German: ''Matzdorf''; Hungarian: ''Mateóc'', first reference 1251), ''Spišská Sobota'' (German: ''Georgenberg''; Hungarian: ''Szepesszombat'', 1256), ''Veľká'' (German/Hungarian: ''Felka'', 1268), and ''Stráže pod Tatrami'' (German: ''Michelsdorf''; Hungarian: ''Strázsa'', 1276). The most significant of these original towns was Georgenberg, now

Spišská Sobota Spišská Sobota (; ) is a historic Slovak town that was absorbed in 1946 as a borough of the city of Poprad. It is located in the northeastern part of the city above the Poprad (river), Poprad river. The population of Spišská Sobota was 2,9 ...

, which preserved its dominant position in the area until the late 19th century. Poprad gained importance at the expense of Spišská Sobota after the construction of the

Košice–Bohumín Railway The Košice–Bohumín Railway (, , , , ) can refer to: *originally: A private railway company established in 1869 in Austria-Hungary. In 1924 the company was nationalised and put under the Czechoslovak State Railways. *nowadays: The main track of ...

in 1871. In the following years, further railway lines were built: Poprad - Kežmarok in 1892 and

in 1908. In 1942, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, most of the transports of Jews to ghettos and concentration camps in German-occupied Poland were sent from the Poprad railway station. The first transport of about 1,000 Jewish girls and young women left Poprad on 25 March 1942 for

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

. By the end of 1942, when the deportations stopped, over 58,000 Jews had been deported from Slovakia to German-occupied Poland via Poprad. Poprad was liberated on 28 January 1945 by troops of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

18th Army. The German population was expelled afterwards. After the war, the neighbouring settlements were incorporated into Poprad: Spišská Sobota and Veľká in 1945, Stráže pod Tatry in 1960 and Matejovce in 1974. At that time, with the development of winter sports, Poprad became the starting point for expeditions to the

. In 1999, Poprad put in a bid to host the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

, but lost to

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Italy.

Geography

Poprad lies at an altitude of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

and covers an area of . It is located in northeastern Slovakia, about from

Košice Košice 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 approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

and from

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

(by road). Poprad is situated on the

Poprad River The Poprad (, ) is a river in northern Slovakia and southern Poland, and a tributary of the Dunajec River near Stary Sącz, Poland. It has a length of 170 kilometres (63 km of which are within the Polish borders) and a basin area of 2,0 ...

in the Sub-Tatra Basin, and is a gateway to the

. Mountain ranges around the city include the

Levoča Hills Levoča (; ; ) is the principal town of Levoča District in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia, with a population of 14,256. The town has a historic center with a well-preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the tallest wooden altar in t ...

in the east,

Kozie chrbty The Kozie chrbty (In Slovak language, Slovak, literally "goat ridges") are a mountainous area in Slovakia, part of the Fatra-Tatra Area of the Inner Western Carpathians, where uranium ore may be found. The place was previously known as Vikartovs ...

in the south, and the

Low Tatras The Low Tatras or Low Tatra (; ) is a mountain range of the Inner Western Carpathians in central Slovakia. It is located south of the Tatras proper, from which it is separated by the valleys of the Váh and Poprad rivers (the Liptov-Spiš ...

in the southwest. The drainage divide between the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

and

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

lies a bit to the west, near the village of

Štrba Štrba (, ) is a village in the Poprad District, Prešov Region, northern Slovakia. It is situated in the Sub-Tatra Basin, which separates the High Tatras and Low Tatras at the European continental divide between the Baltic and the Black Sea ...

Climate

Poprad lies in the

north temperate zone In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

and 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 cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb'') with four distinct seasons. It is characterized by a significant variation between warm summers and cold winters.

Demographics

Poprad has a population of 55,158 (as of 31 December 2005). According to the 2001 census, 94.1% of inhabitants were

Slovaks The Slovaks ( (historical Sloveni ), singular: ''Slovák'' (historical: ''Sloven'' ), feminine: ''Slovenka'' , plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history ...

, 2.1%

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

, 1%

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

, 0.2%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, 0.2%

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, 0.1%

Rusyns Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Rus', Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn language, Rusyn, an East Slavic lan ...

, 0.1%

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

, and 0.1%

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

Religion

The oldest churches here are the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (

lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

). It also operates here: the

Greek Catholic Church Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...

and

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church, the second-largest Christian church in the world * Oriental Orthodox Churches, a branch of Eastern Christianity * Orthodox Presbyterian Church, a confessional Presbyterian denomination loc ...

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

, the Apostolic Church,

Seventh-day Adventists The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabba ...

, the Pentecostal Charismatic Church, and

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

. Poprad * Concathedral of Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic) * Church of st. Giles (Roman Catholic) * Church of st. Cyril and Methodius (Roman Catholic) * Church of Holy Trinity (Lutheran) * Pentecostal Church * Church of st. Peter and Paul (Greek Catholic) * *Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness *Church of Holy Cross (Orthodox) * Veľká * Church of st. John (Roman Catholic - Salesians) * Church of Holy Trinity (Lutheran) * Baptist church * Church of Seventh-day Adventists Spišská Sobota * Church of st. George (Roman Catholic) * Lutheran church Matejovce * Church of st. Stephen (Roman Catholic) * Lutheran church Stráže pod Tatrami * Church of st. John (Roman Catholic) * Lutheran church Kvetnica * Church of st. Helen (Roman Catholic)

Landmarks

The historical centre is concentrated around the St. Giles square (''Námestie svätého Egídia''), which is rimmed with houses predominantly from the 18th and 19th centuries. Churches in the city include the early-Gothic Catholic Church of St. Giles from the late 13th century and the classicist Luheran Church of Holy Trinity from the 19th century. Another historical area in Poprad is in

, which was declared in 1953 to be a Town Monument Reserve. A significant landmark there is the Church of St. George, with five late-Gothic side altars and a main altar from the workshop of

Master Paul of Levoča Master Paul of Levoča (German: ''Paul von Leutschau'', ; ) was a medieval carver and sculptor of the 15th and 16th century, active mostly in then Carpathian-German town of Levoča, Slovakia (, ). History Most documents about him seem to have ...

. Modern places of interest include the Poprad-Tatry railway station and the AquaCity Poprad

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming ...

. File:Poprad centrum 01.JPG, St. Giles Square with the Lutheran Church of Holy Trinity File:Square of Poprad 3.jpg, Church of St. Giles File:Square of Spisska Sobota 6.jpg, Main Square in

File:SK-Spisska Sobota-Georgenkirche-1.jpg, Church in Spišská Sobota File:I10 327 Bf Poprad-Tatry.jpg, Poprad-Tatry railway station

Government

Between 2003 and 2014, the mayor of Poprad was Anton Danko (former international ice-hockey referee). In the November 2014 municipal elections, he lost to Jozef Švagerko (KDH – Christian democrats).

Territorial division

The city is divided into six boroughs for the purpose of municipal administrative division: # Staré Mesto Old Town"#

# Stráže # Veľká # Matejovce # Kvetnica

Sport

Poprad currently has one ice hockey club,

HK Poprad HK Poprad is a professional ice hockey team in the Slovak Extraliga, the top ice hockey league in Slovakia. It plays its games in Poprad, Slovakia. The squad's greatest successes include 2nd place in the Slovak Extraliga in 2006, 2011 and 2021. Th ...

who play at the

Poprad Ice Stadium Poprad Ice Stadium (Slovak: ''Zimný štadión mesta Poprad'') is an arena in Poprad, Slovakia. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home ice of HK Poprad (playing in the Slovak Extraliga). It has a capacity of 4,500 people and was bui ...

. Lev Poprad was another ice hockey club in Poprad, who used to play in the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

for one season but was moved to the Czech capital, Prague, in 2012. Despite successful 2013/2014 seasons, club has ended due to financial problems. There is a number of former and current ice hockey players in

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

who were born in Poprad. The city also hosted the

1994 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships The 1994 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 58th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Teams representing 35 countries participated in several levels of competition, with an additional two national te ...

1999 European Youth Olympic Winter Days The 1999 Winter European Youth Olympic Winter Days was an international multi-sport event held between 6 and 12 March 1999, in Poprad-Tatra Mountains, Tatry, Slovakia. Sports Medalists Alpine skiing Biathlon Cross-country skiing Figure ...

2017 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2017 IIHF U18 World Championship was the 19th IIHF World U18 Championship and was hosted by Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia. The tournament was played from 13 to 23 April 2017. Finland entered the tournament as the defending champions ...

and

1999 Winter Universiade The 1999 Winter Universiade, the XIX Winter Universiade, took place in Poprad Tatry, Slovakia between January 22 and January 30. Medal table Sports * * * * * * * * * References 1999 1999 was designated as the Int ...

. Every year the ice hockey

Tatra Cup The Tatra Cup () is an annual ice hockey tournament held in Poprad, Slovakia. It is the second oldest club tournament in Europe, after the Spengler Cup. The first installment of the Tatra Cup took place in 1929 in Starý Smokovec. Between the ye ...

is held. There was also an unsuccessful bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics. There are many

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

stadiums in Poprad, however the main one is

NTC Poprad National Training Centre Poprad () is a football (soccer), football stadium in Poprad, Slovakia. It serves as home stadium for football club FK Poprad and Slovakia national under-21 football team, Slovak national football youth teams. NTC is also ...

, home of

FK Poprad FK Poprad is a Slovakia, Slovak association football, football team, based in the town of Poprad. The club was founded in 1906. The team plays in the 3. Liga (Slovakia), 3 . liga, the third tier of Slovak football, after promotion from the 4. ...

founded in 1906 and the Slovakia national youth teams. The local women's basketball club is Basketbalová Akadémia Mládeže Poprad (BAMP). Their matches are played in

Aréna Poprad Aréna Poprad is an indoor sporting arena located in Poprad, Slovakia. The arena was built in 2006. The capacity of the arena is 1,968 people. The 2010 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for Women was the 27th edition of the FIBA Europe Under- ...

. The arena also was one of the venues at the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

editions of the

FIVB Volleyball World League The FIVB Volleyball World League was an annual international men's volleyball competition. Created in 1990, it was the longest and richest of all the international events organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The wome ...

Education

The city's system of primary education consists of 12 public schools, and one religious primary school, enrolling in total 5,464 pupils. Secondary education is represented by four grammar schools with 1,800 students, three specialized high schools with 1,566 students, and four vocational schools with 2,045 students (data as of 2007). The city also hosted the 3rd

International Biology Olympiad The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is a biological olympiad for pre-university students under the age 20, and is one of the most well-known International Science Olympiads. The first IBO was held in Czechoslovakia in 1990, and it has since ...

in 1993.

Transport

Poprad is a gateway to the

High Tatra The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains (; ; ,'' Vysoki Tatry''; ; ), are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains ...

mountain range, which is a popular tourist destination. The city lies on the main road ( E 50) and railway connecting western and eastern Slovakia. Poprad-Tatry railway station links Poprad with other major destinations on Slovakia's

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

rail network, and with the mountains via the

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

. The direct trains SuperCity

Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian language, Italian "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of high-speed tilting trains (and non-tilting) used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, ...

connects Poprad with

. International

Poprad–Tatry Airport Poprad–Tatry Airport () is an airport in the Slovak ski resort town of Poprad. The airport has one of the highest elevations in Central Europe, at 718 m, which is 150 m higher than Innsbruck Airport in Austria, but 989 m lower than Samedan A ...

from 1938, is an airport with the highest elevation in Central Europe. It also offers scheduled flights to London.

Bus transport

Lines: , , , , , , ,

Rail transport

Lines: ,

Notable people

SK-Spisska Sobota-Ring-21a-Brokoff-Haus-

Daniela Hantuchová Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Open, defeating Martin ...

(born 1983) – tennis player *

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

(born 1986) – ice hockey player *

Jan Brokoff Jan Brokoff, also known as Johann Brokoff, (23 June 1652 – 28 December 1718) was a baroque-era sculpture, sculptor and woodcarver. Brokoff was of Carpathian Germans, Carpathian German origin, born in Spišská Sobota, Georgenberg, Royal Hunga ...

– Baroque-era sculptor and carver (born 1652 in Spišská Sobota – died 1718 in Prague) *

Adolf Burger Adolf Burger (12 August 1917 – 6 December 2016) was a Slovak Jewish typographer, memoir writer, and Holocaust survivor involved in Operation Bernhard. The film ''The Counterfeiters'', based largely on his memoirs, won the 2007 Academy Award fo ...

– author of memoirs on

Operation Bernhard Operation Bernhard was an exercise by Nazi Germany to forge British Banknotes of the pound sterling, bank notes. The initial plan was to drop the notes over Britain to bring about a economic collapse, collapse of the Economy of the United Kingdom ...

filmed as the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-winning '' The Counterfeiters'', grew up and trained in Poprad *

Peter Ihnačák Peter Ihnačák (born May 3, 1957) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey centre. He initially played in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League before defecting during the Cold War and joining the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey ...

– Ice hockey player born in 1957 in Poprad *

Leslie Kish Leslie Kish (born László Kiss, July 27, 1910 – October 7, 2000) was a Hungarian- American statistician and survey methodologist.. Reprint of an obituary from '' International Statistical Institute (ISI) Newsletter'', Volume 25, No. 73. Lif ...

– statistician, was born in Poprad *

Boris Prokopič Boris Prokopič (born 29 March 1988) is a footballer who plays as a midfielder for Brühl in the Swiss third-tier Promotion League. Born in what is now Slovakia, Prokopič was a youth international for Austria. Career Prokopić began his car ...

– Austrian football player *

Miroslav Lajčák Miroslav Lajčák (born 20 March 1963) is a Slovak politician and diplomat, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. In addition, Lajčák also served as President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 72nd session f ...

– diplomat, born in Poprad *

Tibor Sekelj Tibor Sekelj (14 February 1912 – 23 September 1988), also known as ''Székely Tibor'' according to Hungarian orthography, was a Hungarian born polyglot, explorer, author, and 'citizen of the world.' In 1986 he was elected a member of the Acad ...

– explorer, Esperantist, writer and lawyer *

Anton Gavel Anton Gavel (born 24 October 1984) is a Slovak-German professional basketball coach and former player. He is a combo guard who primarily played at the shooting guard position. He is head coach for Brose Bamberg of the Basketball Bundesliga. He ...

– Slovak basketball player *

Andrej Kiska Andrej Kiska (; born 2 February 1963) is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur, writer and philanthropist who served as the fourth president of Slovakia from 2014 to 2019. He ran as an Independent politician, independent candidate in the 2014 Slova ...

(born 1963), politician, President of Slovakia (2014–2019) * Lucia Kurilovská (born 1967), politician *

Tamara Potocká Tamara Potocká (born 15 August 2002) is a Slovak swimmer. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. Biography Tamara Potocká was born on 15 August 2002 in Poprad. On 2 August 2 ...

(born 2002), swimmer *

Kamil Šaško Kamil Šaško (born 5 November 1985) is a Slovak politician. Since 10 October 2024 he has served as the Minister of Health of Slovakia. Šaško was born on 5 November 1985 in Poprad. He studied management at the University of Sussex and finance ...

(born 1985), politician *

Ivan Štefunko Ivan Štefunko (born 4 March 1977) is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur, and co-founder of multiple companies. He served as chairman of Progressive Slovakia from 2018 until 2019. Since 2023, he serves as an MP of the National Council of Slovakia. ...

(born 1977), politician

Twin towns – sister cities

Poprad is twinned with: *

Ústí nad Orlicí Ústí nad Orlicí (; ) is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban monument z ...

, Czech Republic *

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

, Poland *

Vysoké Tatry 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 region. It was created in 1990, and its official name from 1990 to 1999 was ...

, Slovakia *

Szarvas Szarvas (, ; ) is a town in Békés County, Hungary. Name Placename Szarvas originated from the old Hungarian language, Hungarian word ''szarvas'', which means deer. Deer also can be found in the coat of arms of the town. Location Szarv ...

, Hungary *

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

, England, UK *

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

, Finland

References

External links

Official website of Poprad municipality

House of Photography in Poprad

Photos and videos

360° QTVR fullscreen panoramas
of the Poprad city {{Authority control Cities and towns in Slovakia Spiš Villages and municipalities in Poprad District