Kremnica ( pronunciation ; German : Kremnitz , Hungarian : Körmöcbánya ) is a town in central Slovakia . It has around 5,300 inhabitants. The well-preserved medieval town built above important gold mines is the site of the oldest still-working mint in the world.
95-528: The name is derived from Slovak kremeň , kremenina ( quartz ) with a feminine suffix -ica , functioning to create local names. Kremnica was among the major mining towns of the world during the Middle Ages and in the modern era due to the abundant gold ore deposits in the Kremnica Mountains . However, the first evidence of sub-surface mining activities comes from the 9th century. In
190-446: A "rhythmic law" which forbids two long vowels from following one another within the same word. In such cases the second vowel is shortened. For example, adding the locative plural ending -ách to the root vín- creates vínach , not * vínách . This law also applies to diphthongs; for example, the adjective meaning "white" is biely , not * bielý (compare Czech bílý ). Slovak has final devoicing ; when
285-522: A mint , producing gold and silver coins known as biatecs . The area fell under Roman influence from the 1st to the 4th century A.D. and was made part of the Danubian Limes , a border defence system. The Romans introduced grape growing to the area and began a tradition of winemaking , which survives to the present. The Slavs arrived from the East between the 5th and 6th centuries during
380-527: A double wall containing several bastions and towers. The castle represents a unique example of a very well preserved fortification system in Central Europe. In the 14th century, it developed into a multifunctional complex of buildings and thus became the centre of local administration, religious life, and defense. At the end of the 15th century, the Chamber Count moved to a newly built house with
475-653: A fifth campaign against the Kingdom of Hungary , and besieged Pressburg without success, as the Hungarians sank his supply ships on the Danube river. This strategic position destined the city to be the site of frequent attacks and battles, but also brought it economic development and high political status. It was granted its first known "town privileges" in 1291 by the Hungarian King Andrew III , and
570-560: A unique diamond vault . Thereafter the residence of the Count in the castle was converted into the St. Catherine 's Church. Other sites of interest also include the Museum of Coins and Medals, the Museum of Skiing and a historical main square with a monumental Baroque plague column . The Gothic Church of St. Catherine hosts the popular European Organ Festival. A 20-km long aqueduct , built in
665-415: A voiced consonant ( b, d, ď, g, dz, dž, z, ž, h ) is at the end of a word before a pause, it is devoiced to its voiceless counterpart ( p, t, ť, k, c, č, s, š, ch , respectively). For example, pohyb is pronounced /pɔɦip/ and prípad is pronounced /priːpat/ . Consonant clusters containing both voiced and voiceless elements are entirely voiced if the last consonant is a voiced one, or voiceless if
760-749: A widespread expulsion of ethnic Germans from eastern Europe. After World War II, Slovak Republic lost its so-called independence and was reunified again with the Czech Republic as Czechoslovak Republic , Petržalka (currently part of Bratislava's 5th district ) and Devín (currently part of Bratislava's 4th district ) was returned to Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, after signing the Peace Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1947, three Hungarian villages, namely Horvátjárfalu (Jarovce), Oroszvár (Rusovce), and Dunacsún (Čunovo) situated south of Bratislava were transferred to Czechoslovakia, in order to form
855-493: Is /x/ . Slovak uses the Latin script with small modifications that include the four diacritics ( ˇ, ´, ¨, ˆ ) placed above certain letters ( a-á,ä; c-č; d-ď; dz-dž; e-é; i-í; l-ľ,ĺ; n-ň; o-ó,ô; r-ŕ; s-š; t-ť; u-ú; y-ý; z-ž ) Italic letters are used in loanwords and foreign names. The primary principle of Slovak spelling is the phonemic principle. The secondary principle is the morphological principle: forms derived from
950-529: Is 57th largest city in the European Union and 19th-richest region of the European Union by GDP ( PPP ) per capita. GDP at purchasing power parity is about three times higher than in other Slovak regions. Bratislava receives around one million tourists every year, mostly from the Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria. The city received its contemporary name on 16 March 1919. Until then, it
1045-574: Is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group , written in Latin script . It is part of the Indo-European language family , and is one of the Slavic languages , which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch . Spoken by approximately 5 million people as a native language, primarily ethnic Slovaks , it serves as the official language of Slovakia and one of the 24 official languages of
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#17327804613431140-485: Is a tributary of the Hron River. It is located around 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Banská Bystrica (by line), 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of Martin and around 175 kilometres (109 mi) from Bratislava . The castle built in the 13th through 15th centuries towers over the town. In the first half of the 14th century, it became the residence of the Chamber Count. The town was immediately fortified with
1235-410: Is associated with one or more grammatical cases. The noun governed by a preposition must agree with the preposition in the given context. The preposition od always calls for the genitive case, but some prepositions such as po can call for different cases depending on the intended sense of the preposition. Slovak is a descendant of Proto-Slavic , itself a descendant of Proto-Indo-European . It
1330-482: Is classified as temperate oceanic climate under Trewartha climate classification (DOak), It is in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7b with a mean annual temperature of around 11.1 °C (52.0 °F), an average temperature of 22.0 °C (71.6 °F) in the warmest month and 0.3 °C (32.5 °F) in the coldest month, four distinct seasons and precipitation spread rather evenly throughout
1425-620: Is closely related to the other West Slavic languages , primarily to Czech and Polish . Czech also influenced the language in its later development. The highest number of borrowings in the old Slovak vocabulary come from Latin , German , Czech, Hungarian , Polish and Greek (in that order). Recently, it is also influenced by English. Although most dialects of Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible (see Comparison of Slovak and Czech ), eastern Slovak dialects are less intelligible to speakers of Czech and closer to Polish and East Slavic , and contact between speakers of Czech and speakers of
1520-463: Is currently undergoing changes due to contact with surrounding languages (Serbo-Croatian, Romanian, and Hungarian) and long-time geographical separation from Slovakia (see the studies in Zborník Spolku vojvodinských slovakistov , e.g. Dudok, 1993). The dialect groups differ mostly in phonology, vocabulary, and tonal inflection. Syntactic differences are minor. Central Slovak forms the basis of
1615-688: Is defined by an Act of Parliament on the State Language of the Slovak Republic (language law). According to this law, the Ministry of Culture approves and publishes the codified form of Slovak based on the judgment of specialised Slovak linguistic institutes and specialists in the area of the state language. This is traditionally the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics , which is part of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In practice,
1710-435: Is in one of the warmest and driest parts of Slovakia. Recently, the transitions from winter to summer and summer to winter have been rapid, with short autumn and spring periods. Snow occurs less frequently than previously. Extreme temperatures (1981–2013) – record high: 39.4 °C (102.9 °F), record low: −24.6 °C (−12.3 °F). Some areas, particularly Devín and Devínska Nová Ves , are vulnerable to floods from
1805-771: Is present when, for example, the basic singular form and plural form of masculine adjectives are written differently with no difference in pronunciation (e.g. pekný = nice – singular versus pekní = nice – plural). Such spellings are most often remnants of differences in pronunciation that were present in Proto-Slavic (in Polish, where the vowel merger did not occur, piękny and piękni and in Czech pěkný and pěkní are pronounced differently). Most loanwords from foreign languages are respelt using Slovak principles either immediately or later. For example, "weekend"
1900-445: Is sometimes attributed to Bratislava, but the actual location of Brezalauspurc is under scholarly debate . The city's modern name is credited to Pavol Jozef Šafárik 's misinterpretation of Braslav as Bratislav in his analysis of medieval sources, which led him to invent the term Břetislaw , which later became Bratislav . During the revolution of 1918–1919, the name 'Wilsonov' or 'Wilsonstadt' (after US President Woodrow Wilson )
1995-438: Is spelled víkend , "software" – softvér , "gay" – gej (both not exclusively) , and "quality" is spelled kvalita . Personal and geographical names from other languages using Latin alphabets keep their original spelling unless a fully Slovak form of the name exists (e.g. Londýn for " London "). Slovak features some heterophonic homographs (words with identical spelling but different pronunciation and meaning),
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#17327804613432090-658: Is the capital and largest city of the Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all cities on the River Danube . Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, some sources estimate it to be more than 660,000—approximately 140% of the official figures. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia at the foot of the Little Carpathians , occupying both banks of the River Danube and
2185-594: Is the plural genitive (e.g. päť domov = five houses or stodva žien = one hundred two women), while the plural form of the noun when counting the amounts of 2–4, etc., is usually the nominative form without counting (e.g. dva domy = two houses or dve ženy = two women) but gender rules do apply in many cases. Verbs have three major conjugations. Three persons and two numbers (singular and plural) are distinguished. Subject personal pronouns are omitted unless they are emphatic. Several conjugation paradigms exist as follows: Adverbs are formed by replacing
2280-626: Is used to create numerals 20, 30 and 40; for numerals 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90, desiat is used. Compound numerals (21, 1054) are combinations of these words formed in the same order as their mathematical symbol is written (e.g. 21 = dvadsaťjeden , literally "twenty-one"). The numerals are as follows: Some higher numbers: (200) dv e sto , (300) tristo , (900) deväťsto , (1,000) tisíc , (1,100) tisícsto , (2,000) dv e tisíc , (100,000) stotisíc , (200,000) dv e stotisíc , (1,000,000) milión , (1,000,000,000) miliarda . Counted nouns have two forms. The most common form
2375-579: The Carpathian Germans , who played a very important role in the medieval history of the town. The religious makeup was 64.9% Roman Catholics , 22.6% people with no religious affiliation, and 5.8% Lutherans . Kremnica is twinned with: Slovak language [REDACTED] Croatia Slovak ( / ˈ s l oʊ v æ k , - v ɑː k / SLOH -va(h)k ; endonym : slovenčina [ˈslɔʋent͡ʂina] or slovenský jazyk [ˈslɔʋenskiː ˈjazik] ),
2470-547: The Habsburg monarchy and marking the beginning of a new era. The city became a coronation town and the seat of kings, archbishops (1543), the nobility and all major organisations and offices. Between 1536 and 1830, eleven Hungarian kings and queens were crowned at St. Martin's Cathedral . The 17th century was marked by anti-Habsburg uprisings, fighting with the Ottomans, floods, plagues and other disasters, which diminished
2565-640: The Hungarian Reform Era (such as the abolition of serfdom and the foundation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ) was enacted there. The historic centre is characterized by many baroque palaces. The Grassalkovich Palace , built around 1760, is now the residence of the Slovak president, and the Slovak government now has its seat in the former Archiepiscopal Palace . In 1805, diplomats of emperors Napoleon and Francis II signed
2660-609: The Keglevich Palace . The city started to lose its importance under the reign of Maria Theresa's son Joseph II , especially after the crown jewels were taken to Vienna in 1783 in an attempt to strengthen the relations between Austria and Hungary. Many central offices subsequently moved to Buda , followed by a large segment of the nobility. The first newspapers in Hungarian and Slovak were published here: Magyar hírmondó in 1780, and Presspurske Nowiny in 1783. In
2755-543: The Little Carpathians ( Malé Karpaty ). The Záhorie and Danubian lowlands stretch into Bratislava. The city's lowest point is at the Danube's surface at 126 metres (413 ft) above mean sea level , and the highest point is Devínska Kobyla at 514 metres (1,686 ft). The average altitude is 140 metres (460 ft). Bratislava has recently shifted into the humid subtropical climate under Köppen–Geiger climate classification ( Cfa ), closely bordering on Dfb , and
2850-600: The Migration Period . As a response to onslaughts by Avars , the local Slavic tribes rebelled and established Samo 's Empire (623–658), the first known Slavic political entity. In the 9th century, the castles at Bratislava (Brezalauspurk) and Devín (Dowina) were important centres of the Slavic states: the Principality of Nitra and Great Moravia . Scholars have debated the identification as fortresses of
2945-621: The Petržalka or Dúbravka borough, were built. The Communist government also built several new grandiose buildings, such as the Slovak Radio Building , Slavín or Kamzík TV Tower . A quarter of Bratislava’s Old Town was demolished in the late 1960s for a single project: the bridge of the Slovak National Uprising . To make space for this development, much of the city’s centuries-old, historical Jewish quarter
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3040-626: The Soviet Red Army 2nd Ukrainian Front during the Bratislava–Brno offensive . The Czechoslovak government and president Edvard Beneš then moved to Bratislava on 8 May. At the end of World War II, most of Bratislava's ethnic Germans were evacuated by the German authorities. A few returned after the war, but were soon expelled without their properties under the Beneš decrees , part of
3135-509: The United Kingdom , Australia , Austria , Ukraine , Norway , and other countries to a lesser extent. Slovak language is one of the official languages of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina . There are many Slovak dialects, which are divided into the following four basic groups: The fourth group of dialects is often not considered a separate group, but a subgroup of Central and Western Slovak dialects (see e.g. Štolc, 1968), but it
3230-704: The high medieval period, and the standardization of Czech and Slovak within the Czech–Slovak dialect continuum emerged in the early modern period. In the later mid-19th century, the modern Slovak alphabet and written standard became codified by Ľudovít Štúr and reformed by Martin Hattala . The Moravian dialects spoken in the western part of the country along the border with the Czech Republic are also sometimes classified as Slovak, although some of their western variants are closer to Czech; they nonetheless form
3325-580: The holocaust . A curiosity is the underground (formerly ground-level) restored portion of the Jewish cemetery where 19th-century Rabbi Moses Sofer is buried, located at the base of the castle hill near the entrance to a tram tunnel. The only military cemetery in Bratislava is Slavín , unveiled in 1960 in honour of Soviet Army soldiers who fell during the liberation of Bratislava in April 1945. It offers
3420-635: The only national capital that borders two countries . It is only 18 kilometres (11.2 mi) from the border with Hungary and only 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) from the Austrian capital Vienna . The city has a total area of 367.58 square kilometres (141.9 sq mi), making it the second-largest city in Slovakia by area (after the township of Vysoké Tatry ). Bratislava straddles the Danube River, along which it had developed and for centuries
3515-491: The 13th century the inhabitants of this area were affected by the invasion of the Mongols . Following that difficult period, Hungarian kings invited new colonists from present-day Germany (more specifically Carpathian Germans / Zipser Germans ) to settle in the region to help replenish the decimated population. Their innovative technology and knowledge restored the mining activities in the town. The first written reference to
3610-649: The 14th–15th centuries and now hosts the Bratislava City Museum . Michael's Gate is the only gate that has been preserved from the medieval fortifications , and it ranks among the oldest of the town's buildings; the narrowest house in Europe is nearby. The University Library building, erected in 1756, was used by the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1802 to 1848. Much of the significant legislation of
3705-557: The 15th century, is still working, supplying three hydroelectric power plants (one of them located 245 m below the ground). Forested mountains around the town offer plenty of opportunities for hiking and cross-country skiing . The geographical centre of Europe is claimed to be in the nearby village of Krahule . Kremnica has a population of 5,528 (as of December 31, 2013). According to the 2001 census , 95.8% of inhabitants were Slovaks and 1.2% Germans . However, even among those identifying themselves as Slovaks many are descendants of
3800-491: The 16th century, the town was a major centre of production of (mostly religious) medals, especially by Joachim Deschler . At the same time however, the miners had to dig deeper and deeper to reach new deposits and the mining conditions deteriorated because of underground water in the shafts. The cost of mining increased and the mining was becoming less profitable. The last gold was extracted in Kremnica in 1970, at which time all
3895-643: The 17th century until the Hungarian Reform Era , and the city has been home to many Hungarian, German and Slovak historical figures. Today, Bratislava is the political , cultural and economic centre of Slovakia. It is the seat of the Slovak president , the parliament and the Slovak Executive . It has several universities, and many museums, theatres, galleries and other cultural and educational institutions. Many of Slovakia's large businesses and financial institutions have headquarters there. Bratislava
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3990-693: The Czech invasion. The Slovak National Assembly meanwhile called it a "defensive action of the Slovaks themselves, to end the anarchy caused by the flight of the Hungarians." The Allies of World War I drew a provisional demarcation line, this was revealed to the Hungarian government on December 23, in the document known as the Vix Note . The Czechoslovak Legion arrived from Italy, began to advance on 30 December and by 2 January 1919, all important civil and military buildings were in Czechoslovak hands. It
4085-621: The Czech language fulfills the requirement of fundamental intelligibility with the state language"; the state language is Slovak and the Minority Language Act basically refers to municipalities with more than 20% ethnic minority population (no such Czech municipalities are found in Slovakia). Since 1 September 2009 (due to an amendment to the State Language Act 270/1995 Z.z.) a language "fundamentally intelligible with
4180-465: The Danube and Morava rivers. New flood protection has been built on both banks. The cityscape of Bratislava is characterized by medieval towers and grandiose 20th-century buildings, but it underwent profound changes in a construction boom at the start of the 21st century. Most historical buildings are concentrated in the Old Town . Bratislava's Town Hall is a complex of three buildings erected in
4275-500: The European Union . Slovak is closely related to Czech , to the point of very high mutual intelligibility , as well as Polish . Like other Slavic languages, Slovak is a fusional language with a complex system of morphology and relatively flexible word order . Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German , as well as other Slavic languages . The Czech–Slovak group developed within West Slavic in
4370-588: The Hungarian population of Bratislava had decreased to 15.8% (see the Demographics of Bratislava article for more details). In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed neighbouring Austria in the Anschluss ; on 10 October 1938 on the basis of the Munich Agreement it also annexed (still-separate from Bratislava) Petržalka and Devín boroughs on ethnic grounds, as these had many ethnic Germans. Petržalka
4465-569: The Kingdom of Hungary between 1563 and 1830. The Franciscan Church , dating to the 13th century, has been a place of knighting ceremonies and is the oldest preserved sacral building in the city. The Church of St. Elizabeth , better known as the Blue Church due to its colour, is built entirely in the Hungarian Secessionist style. Bratislava has one surviving functioning synagogue , out of the three major ones existing before
4560-699: The Latin forms Bratislavia, Wratislavia etc., which refer to Wrocław (Breslau), Poland, not Bratislava. The Polish city has a similar etymology despite spelling differences. The first known permanent settlement of the area began with the Linear Pottery Culture , around 5000 B.C. in the Neolithic era. About 200 B.C., the Celtic Boii tribe founded the first significant settlement, a fortified town known as an oppidum . They also established
4655-555: The Ministry of Culture publishes a document that specifies authoritative reference books for standard Slovak usage, which is called the codification handbook ( kodifikačná príručka ). The current regulations were published on 15 March 2021. There are four such publications: Slovak speakers are also found in the Slovak diaspora in the United States , the Czech Republic , Argentina , Serbia , Ireland , Romania , Poland , Canada , Hungary , Germany , Croatia , Israel ,
4750-431: The Slovak Republic. (2) The use of languages other than the official language in official communication shall be laid down by law. Constitution of Slovakia , Article 6. Beside that, national minorities and ethnic groups also have explicit permission to use their distinct languages. Slovakia is a country with established Language policy concerning its official language . Standard Slovak ( spisovná slovenčina )
4845-399: The adjectival ending with the ending - o or - e / - y . Sometimes both - o and - e are possible. Examples include the following: The comparative of adverbs is formed by replacing the adjectival ending with a comparative/superlative ending - (ej)ší or - (ej)šie , whence the superlative is formed with the prefix naj-. Examples include the following: Each preposition
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#17327804613434940-472: The area to Czechoslovakia with the aim of creating a bridgehead for the newly created Czechoslovak state for controlling the Danube. Left without any protection after the retreat of the Hungarian army, many Hungarians were expelled or fled. Czechs and Slovaks moved their households to Bratislava. Education in Hungarian and German was radically reduced in the city. By the 1930 Czechoslovak census ,
5035-434: The attacks of the Hungarians. The exact location of the battle remains unknown, and some interpretations place it west of Lake Balaton . In the 10th century, the territory of Pressburg (what would later become Pozsony county ) became part of Hungary (called the " Kingdom of Hungary " from 1000). It developed as a key economic and administrative centre on the kingdom's frontier. In 1052, German Emperor Henry III undertook
5130-521: The basis of the lowland dialects (see above). The western dialects contain features common with the Moravian dialects in the Czech Republic, the southern central dialects contain a few features common with South Slavic languages, and the eastern dialects a few features common with Polish and the East Slavonic languages (cf. Štolc, 1994). Lowland dialects share some words and areal features with
5225-531: The borders for the strategic reasons, mainly to secure the port and to prevent a potential attack of the Hungarian Army on the town. On the night of 14 August 1919 barefoot Czechoslovak soldiers silently climbed to the Hungarian side of the Starý most (Old Bridge), captured the guards and annexed Petržalka (currently part of Bratislava's 5th district ) without a fight. The Paris Peace Conference assigned
5320-410: The bridge dialects between the two languages. Slovak language is primarily spoken in Slovakia. The country's constitution declared it the official language of the state (štátny jazyk): (1) Na území Slovenskej republiky je štátnym jazykom slovenský jazyk. (2) Používanie iných jazykov než štátneho jazyka v úradnom styku ustanoví zákon. (1) The Slovak language is the official language on the territory of
5415-638: The chief transportation route to other areas. The river passes through the city from the west to the southeast. The Middle Danube basin begins at Devín Gate in western Bratislava. Other rivers are the Morava River , which forms the northwestern border of the city and enters the Danube at Devín, the Little Danube , and the Vydrica , which enters the Danube in the borough of Karlova Ves . The Carpathian mountain range begins in city territory with
5510-538: The city's ethnic composition at 36% German, 33% Slovak and 29% Hungarian but this may have reflected changing self-identification, rather than an exchange of peoples. Many people were bi- or trilingual and multicultural. After World War I , the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire began. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson and the United States played a major role in the establishment of
5605-454: The course of the 18th century, the city became a centre for the Slovak national movement . The city's 19th-century history was closely tied to the major events in Europe. The Peace of Pressburg between the Austrian Empire and French Empire was signed here in 1805. Devín Castle was ruined by Napoleon 's French troops during an invasion of 1809. In 1825 the Hungarian National Learned Society (the present Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
5700-515: The deputies of the town occupied the second place in the Hungarian Diet (the first place was reserved for the representatives of Buda , the capital of the Kingdom). Gold mining and coin production in Kremnica culminated in the 14th and 15th centuries. As one of the most important centers of Protestant Reformation in the country, the town belonged to the Protestant "League of Seven Mining Towns" together with Banská Belá , Banská Bystrica , Banská Štiavnica , Ľubietová , Nová Baňa , and Pukanec . In
5795-408: The eastern dialects is limited. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia it has been permitted to use Czech in TV broadcasting and during court proceedings (Administration Procedure Act 99/1963 Zb.). From 1999 to August 2009, the Minority Language Act 184/1999 Z.z., in its section (§) 6, contained the variously interpreted unclear provision saying that "When applying this act, it holds that the use of
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#17327804613435890-402: The end of the war in the Holocaust . Bratislava, occupied by German troops, was many times bombarded by the Allies . Major air raid included the bombing of Bratislava and its refinery Apollo on June 16, 1944 by American B-24 bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force with 181 victims Bombardment group attacked in four waves with overall 158 planes. On 4 April 1945, Bratislava was liberated by
5985-414: The first bank in present-day Slovakia was founded in 1842. The city's first permanent bridge over the Danube, Starý most (Old Bridge), was built in 1891. Between the years 1867-1918, the territory of Pressburg became part of Austro-Hungarian Empire . Before World War I , the city had a population that was 42% German, 41% Hungarian and 15% Slovak (1910 census). The first post war census in 1919 declared
6080-404: The fourth Peace of Pressburg in the Primate's Palace , after Napoleon's victory in the Battle of Austerlitz . Some smaller houses are historically significant; composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel was born in an 18th-century house in the Old Town. Notable cathedrals and churches include the Gothic St. Martin's Cathedral built in the 13th–16th centuries, which served as the coronation church of
6175-422: The languages surrounding them (Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, and Romanian). Slovak contains 15 vowel phonemes (11 monophthongs and four diphthongs) and 29 consonants. The phoneme /æ/ is marginal and often merges with /e/; the two are normally only distinguished in higher registers. Vowel length is phonemic in Slovak and both short and long vowels have the same quality. In addition, Slovak, unlike Czech, employs
6270-410: The largest and most important town in the Kingdom of Hungary . The population tripled; many new palaces, monasteries, mansions, and streets were built, and the city was the centre of social and cultural life of the region. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert in 1762 in the Pálffy Palace . Joseph Haydn performed in 1784 in the Grassalkovich Palace . Ludwig van Beethoven was a guest in 1796 in
6365-419: The last consonant is voiceless. For example, otázka is pronounced /ɔtaːska/ and vzchopiť sa is pronounced /fsxɔpitsːa/ . This rule applies also over the word boundary. For example, prísť domov [priːzɟ dɔmɔw] (to come home) and viac jahôd [ʋɪɐdz jaɦʊɔt] (more strawberries). The voiced counterpart of " ch " /x/ is [ɣ] , and the unvoiced counterpart of " h " /ɦ/
6460-577: The left bank of the River Morava . Bordering Austria and Hungary , it is the only national capital to border two sovereign states . The city's history has been influenced by people of many nations and religions, including Austrians , Bulgarians , Croats , Czechs , Germans , Hungarians , Jews and Slovaks . It was the coronation site and legislative center and capital of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1563 to 1783; eleven Hungarian kings and eight queens were crowned in St Martin's Cathedral . Most Hungarian parliament assemblies were held here from
6555-436: The mines and mints in twelve counties of the kingdom in the Middle Ages. At the end of the 14th century, Kremnica became the capital of the mining towns in central Upper Hungary . The steady annual production of gold and silver guaranteed the prosperous development of the town. In the 15th century Kreminca was the second most important city in the Kingdom of Hungary . The town was continuously being granted new privileges and
6650-420: The mines were closed. The German population of the town and its surroundings was expelled in 1945 as the consequential punishment by the former Czechoslovak government after World War II . Kremnica lies at an altitude of 564 metres (1,850 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 43.136 square kilometres (16.7 sq mi). It is located in the Kremnica Mountains on the brook Kremnický potok , which
6745-429: The most common examples being krásne /ˈkraːsnɛ/ (beautiful) versus krásne /ˈkraːsɲɛ/ (beautifully). The main features of Slovak syntax are as follows: Some examples include the following: Word order in Slovak is relatively free, since strong inflection enables the identification of grammatical roles (subject, object, predicate, etc.) regardless of word placement. This relatively free word order allows
6840-521: The new Czechoslovak state . American Slovaks proposed rename the city “Wilsonovo mesto” (Wilson City), after Woodrow Wilson. On 28 October 1918, Czechoslovakia was proclaimed, but its borders were not settled for several months. The dominant Hungarian and German population tried to prevent annexation of the city to Czechoslovakia and declared it a free city , while the Hungarian Prime Minister Károlyi protested against
6935-533: The noun in situations where definiteness must be made explicit. Slovak nouns are inflected for case and number . There are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, and instrumental. The vocative is purely optional and most of the time unmarked. It is used mainly in spoken language and in some fixed expressions: mama mum (nominative) vs. mami mum! (vocative), tato , oco dad (N) vs. tati , oci dad! (V), pán Mr., sir vs. pane sir (when addressing someone e.g. in
7030-434: The population. Great epidemics were spreading in Bratislava in 1541–1542, 1552–1553, 1660–1665 and 1678–1681. A terrible outbreak of 1678–1681 left approximately 11,000 casualties among Bratislava’s residents (city population was in that time around 30,000 people). The last plague outbreak of Bratislava was between the years 1712–1713. Pressburg flourished during the 18th-century reign of Queen Maria Theresa , becoming
7125-457: The present-day standard language. Not all dialects are fully mutually intelligible. It may be difficult for an inhabitant of the western Slovakia to understand a dialect from eastern Slovakia and the other way around. The dialects are fragmented geographically, separated by numerous mountain ranges. The first three groups already existed in the 10th century. All of them are spoken by the Slovaks outside Slovakia, and central and western dialects form
7220-414: The same stem are written in the same way even if they are pronounced differently. An example of this principle is the assimilation rule (see below). The tertiary principle is the etymological principle, which can be seen in the use of i after certain consonants and of y after other consonants, although both i and y are usually pronounced the same way. Finally, the rarely applied grammatical principle
7315-668: The so-called " Bratislava bridgehead " (currently all three of them are part of Bratislava's 5th district ). After the Communist Party seized power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, the city became part of the Eastern Bloc . The city annexed new land, and the population rose significantly, becoming 90% Slovak. Large residential areas consisting of high-rise prefabricated panel buildings , such as those in
7410-457: The state language" (i.e. the Czech language) may be used in contact with state offices and bodies by its native speakers, and documents written in it and issued by bodies in the Czech Republic are officially accepted. Regardless of its official status, Czech is used commonly both in Slovak mass media and in daily communication by Czech natives as an equal language. Bratislava Bratislava , historically known as Pozsony and Pressburg ,
7505-414: The street). There are two numbers: singular and plural. Nouns have inherent gender . There are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Adjectives and pronouns must agree with nouns in case, number, and gender. The numerals 0–10 have unique forms, with numerals 1–4 requiring specific gendered representations. Numerals 11–19 are formed by adding násť to the end of each numeral. The suffix dsať
7600-527: The surname Božan, likely a prince who owned the castle before 950. Although the Latin name was also based on the same surname, according to research by the lexicologist Milan Majtán, the Hungarian version is not found in any official records from the time in which the prince would have lived. All three versions, however, were related to those found in Slovak, Czech and German: Vratislaburgum (905), Braslavespurch, and Preslavasburc (both 907). The medieval settlement Brezalauspurc (literally, ' Braslav 's castle')
7695-401: The town dates back to 1328, when it was granted royal town privileges by King Charles I of Hungary . The town's mint was already in existence at the time of the granting of royal privileges. Starting in 1335 the mint produced golden florins and later the famous "Kremnica ducats ", which were used as an international means of payment as a result of their consistently high purity of gold. It
7790-602: The two castles built in Great Moravia, based on linguistic arguments and because of the absence of convincing archaeological evidence. The first written reference to a settlement named "Brezalauspurc" dates to 907 and is related to the Battle of Pressburg , during which a Bavarian army was defeated by the Hungarians . It is connected to the fall of Great Moravia, already weakened by its own inner decline and under
7885-619: The two states of the federalized Czechoslovakia . Bratislava's dissidents anticipated the fall of Communism with the Bratislava candle demonstration in 1988, and the city became one of the foremost centres of the anti-Communist Velvet Revolution in 1989. The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989 was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states . Czechoslovak Socialist Republic renamed as Czech and Slovak Federative Republic ,
7980-705: The use of word order to convey topic and emphasis . Some examples are as follows: The unmarked order is subject–verb–object . Variation in word order is generally possible, but word order is not completely free. In the above example, the noun phrase ten veľký muž cannot be split up, so that the following combinations are not possible: And the following sentence is stylistically infelicitous: The regular variants are as follows: Slovak, like every major Slavic language other than Bulgarian and Macedonian , does not have articles. The demonstrative pronoun in masculine form ten (that one) or tá in feminine and to in neuter respectively, may be used in front of
8075-643: The word "socialist" was dropped in the names of the two republics within the federation, the Slovak Socialist Republic renamed as the Slovak Republic . In 1993, Bratislava once again became the capital of the newly formed independent Slovak Republic , following the Velvet Divorce . Bratislava is situated in southwestern Slovakia, within the Bratislava Region . Its location on the borders with Austria and Hungary makes it
8170-425: The year. It is often windy with a marked variation between hot summers and cold, humid winters. There also can sometimes be a significant difference in weather, between the parts of the city. Bratislava, just like any other city, has an urban heat island effect, but there is no weather station directly in the urban core, so the temperature there can be slightly higher than the official weather station reports. The city
8265-532: Was Pozsony, mostly known in English as "Pressburg" (from its German name, Preßburg ), since after 1526, it was dominated mostly by the Habsburg monarchy and the city had a relevant ethnic German population. That is the term from which the pre-1919 Slovak ( Prešporok ) and Czech ( Prešpurk ) names are derived. The linguist Ján Stanislav believed the city's Hungarian name, Pozsony , to be attributed to
8360-515: Was captured by the Austrians in December 1848. Industry developed rapidly in the 19th century. The first horse-drawn railway in the Kingdom of Hungary, from Pressburg to Szentgyörgy ( Svätý Jur ), was built in 1840. A new line to Vienna using steam locomotives was opened in 1848, and a line to Pest in 1850. Many new industrial, financial and other institutions were founded; for example,
8455-494: Was declared a free royal town in 1405 by King Sigismund . In 1436, he authorized the town to use its own coat of arms . The Kingdom of Hungary was defeated by the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Mohács in 1526. The Ottomans besieged and damaged Pressburg, but failed to conquer it. Owing to Ottoman advances into Hungarian territory, the city was designated the new capital of Hungary in 1536, after becoming part of
8550-640: Was founded in Pressburg using a donation from István Széchenyi . In 1843 Hungarian was proclaimed the official language in legislation, public administration, and education by the Diet in the city. As a reaction to the Revolutions of 1848 , Ferdinand V signed the so-called April laws , which included the abolition of serfdom , at the Primate's Palace . The city chose the revolutionary Hungarian side, but
8645-667: Was proposed by American Slovaks, as he supported national self-determination. The name Bratislava , which had been used only by some Slovak patriots, became official in March 1919 with the aim that a Slavic name could support demands for the city to be part of Czechoslovakia. Other alternative names of the city in the past include Greek : Ιστρόπολις , romanized : Istropolis (meaning ' Danube City', also used in Latin), Latin : Posonium , Romanian : Pojon , Croatian : Požun . In older documents, confusion can be caused by
8740-554: Was razed, including the 19th-century Moorish-styled Neolog Synagogue. Communism also brought the practice of public toilets in Bratislava , which remained in practice after the fall of communism. In 1968, after the unsuccessful Czechoslovak attempt to liberalise the Communist regime, the city was occupied by Warsaw Pact troops. Shortly thereafter, it became capital of the Slovak Socialist Republic , one of
8835-485: Was renamed Engerau . The Starý most (Old Bridge) became a border bridge between Czechoslovakia and Nazi Germany. Bratislava was declared the capital of the first independent Slovak Republic on March 14, 1939, but the new state quickly fell under Nazi influence. In 1941–1942 and 1944–1945, the new Slovak government cooperated in deporting most of Bratislava's approximately 15,000 Jews; they were transported to concentration camps , where most were killed or died before
8930-488: Was the beginning of the conflict, which later continued as the Hungarian–Czechoslovak War . The city became the seat of Slovakia's political organs and organizations and became Slovakia's capital on 4 February. On March 27, 1919, the name Bratislava was officially adopted for the first time to replace the previous Slovak name Prešporok. At the beginning of August 1919, Czechoslovakia got permission to correct
9025-420: Was the most important mint, and later the only one, in the Kingdom of Hungary , in Czechoslovakia and nowadays in Slovakia; the prosperity brought to the town led to it being given the nickname "Golden Kremnica". In 1331, Kremnica became the seat of the Chamber Count ( German : Kammergraf ) who was the head of the most important mining and minting chamber of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Count administered all
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