Rožňava (, ,

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

: ''Rosnavia'') is a town in

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 ...

, approximately by road 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 ...

in the

Košice Region The Košice Region (, ; ; ) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. The region was first established in 1923 and its present borders were established in 1996. It consists of 11 districts ( okresy) and 440 municipalities, 17 of which ...

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

History

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

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, and

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

. Mining activities stagnated from the 16th century (when territories to the south of the town were conquered by

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...

). Mining - this time mainly of iron ore - was renewed around 1800 and was present in the town throughout the 20th century. It was ruled by

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

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

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 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 ...

, and again from 1938 to 1945. 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 ...

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

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

4th Army, acting as a part 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 ...

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943, the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. In mid-May 1944 Malinovsky took over the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During t ...

. On 13 September 2003, Rožňava was visited by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

Noteworthy buildings

* an important

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

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

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

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

plague column Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), (commonly referred to as bubonic plague or black death), caused by infectious bacteria ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or a ...

in front of the building * a town hall (Classical, 1711) * an Evangelic Lutheran church (Classical, 1786) * a Reformed church (neo-Gothic, 1905)

Demographics

According to the 2001

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, the town had 19,261 inhabitants. 69.27% 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 ...

, 26.80%

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 ...

, 1.59%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

and 0.69%

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 ...

. The religious make-up was 41.08%

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 32.34% people with no religious affiliation, 12.03%

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 ...

and 1.33%

Greek Catholics 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 ...

. According to the 2021 census, its inhabitants were 70.36% Slovak, 18.77% Hungarian, 0.95% Roma and 0.36% Czech; the remaining 9.56% inhabitants were of other groups.

Notable citizens

* Haviva Reik (1914 – 1944), Jewish resistance fighter * Vladimir Oravsky (born 1947), writer, director * Martin Simon (born 1975), composer and guitarist * Stanislav Stolárik (born 1955), Bishop of Rožňava (since 2015) *

Adam Szentpétery Szentpétery Ádám (; born 24 February 1956) is a Hungarian artist in Slovakia and the Department Head/Professor of the Studio of Contemporary Image at the Faculty of Arts at the Technical University of Košice, Slovakia. He is known primarily ...

(born 1956), artist. * Dana Velďáková (born 1981), triple jumper * Jana Velďáková (born 1981), long jumper *

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

(born 1986), gold medal winner at the 2010 Winter Paralympics and at 2014 Sochi Paralympics * Ladislav Orosz (born 1959), politician and jurist

Parts of the town

* Nadabula * Rožňavská Baňa (Rožňava Mine)

Twin towns — sister cities

Rožňava is twinned with: *

Bačka Topola Bačka Topola ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка Топола, ; , ) is a town and municipality located in the North Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The municipality is composed of 23 local communities and, according to the 202 ...

, Serbia *

Český Těšín Český Těšín (; ; ) is a town in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. Český Těšín lies on the west bank of the Olza (river), Olza river, in the heart of the historical ...

, Czech Republic *

Cieszyn Cieszyn ( , ; ; ) is a border town in southern Poland on the east bank of the Olza River, and the administrative seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship. The town has 33,500 inhabitants ( and lies opposite Český Těšín in the Czech Repu ...

, Poland * Lipótváros (Budapest), Hungary * Szerencs, Hungary *Baia Sprie, Romania

References

;Notes

External links

* *
Rožňava

(with photo of the main square)
Medial information site about life in Rožňava
(in Slovak) {{DEFAULTSORT:Roznava Cities and towns in Slovakia Geography of Košice Region Gemer (region) First Vienna Award Municipalities in Slovakia where Hungarian is an official language Mining communities in the Slovak Republic