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24-513: The mountain range is situated east of the town of Kremnica , which gave it its name. It is bordered by Veľká Fatra and Turiec Basin in the north, Zvolen Basin in the east, Žiar Basin and Štiavnica Mountains in the south, and Vtáčnik in the west. The highest mountain is Flochová at 1,317 m. The Kremnica Mountains are divided into five subdivisions: 48°40′N 19°00′E  /  48.667°N 19.000°E  / 48.667; 19.000 This Slovak geography article

48-527: 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

72-537: 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 the 13th century the inhabitants of this area were affected by the invasion of

96-769: A third of the city’s total area, much of it forested. Buda's landmarks include the Royal Palace , Matthias Church , the Citadella , Gellért Baths , the Buda Hills , the Carmelite Monastery of Buda , and the residence of the President of Hungary , Sándor Palace . According to a legend recorded in chronicles from the Middle Ages , the name "Buda" comes from the name of Bleda ( Hungarian : Buda ), brother of Hunnic ruler Attila . Attila went in

120-560: 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

144-434: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kremnica 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. The name is derived from Slovak kremeň , kremenina ( quartz ) with

168-485: 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

192-476: 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: Buda Buda ( Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbudɒ] , German : Ofen ) is the part of Budapest , the capital city of Hungary , that lies on

216-557: 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

240-491: 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

264-621: The Hungarian Royal Treasury, it had a Hungarian majority with a sizeable German minority in 1495. In 1432, Bertrandon de la Broquière wrote that Buda "is governed by Germans, as well in respect to police as commerce, and what regards the different professions". He noted a significant Jewish population in the city, proficient in French, many of whom were descendants of Jews previously expelled from France. Buda became part of Ottoman -ruled central Hungary from 1541 to 1686. It

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288-565: The Hungarian language is now called Budavár [Buda Castle] and by the Germans Etzelburg [Attila Castle] The Buda fortress and palace were built by King Béla IV of Hungary in 1247, and were the nucleus around which the town of Buda was built, which soon gained great importance, and became in 1361 the capital of Hungary. While Pest was mostly Hungarian in the 15th century, Buda had a German majority; however according to

312-534: 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 the town dates back to 1328, when it was granted royal town privileges by King Charles I of Hungary . The town's mint

336-518: 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 the deputies of the town occupied the second place in the Hungarian Diet (the first place

360-640: The city of Sicambria in Pannonia, where he killed Buda , his brother, and he threw his corpse into the Danube . For while Attila was in the west, his brother crossed the boundaries in his reign, because he named Sicambria after his own name Buda's Castle. And though King Attila forbade the Huns and the other peoples to call that city Buda's Castle, but he called it Attila's Capital, the Germans who were terrified by

384-421: 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

408-480: The most renowned and mighty King Attila descended, who, in the 451st year of Our Lord’s birth, coming down from Scythia , entered Pannonia with a mighty force and, putting the Romans to flight, took the realm and made a royal residence for himself beside the Danube above the hot springs, and he ordered all the old buildings that he found there to be restored and he built them in a circular and very strong wall that in

432-504: The prohibition named the city as Eccylburg, which means Attila Castle, however, the Hungarians did not care about the ban and call it Óbuda [Old Buda] and call it to this day. The Scythians are certainly an ancient people and the strength of Scythia lies in the east, as we said above. And the first king of Scythia was Magog, son of Japhet, and his people were called Magyars [Hungarians] after their King Magog, from whose royal line

456-533: 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 the mines and mints in twelve counties of the kingdom in the Middle Ages. At the end of the 14th century, Kremnica became

480-684: The western bank of the Danube . Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill ( Hungarian : Várhegy ), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and 1249 and subsequently served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1361 to 1873. In 1873, Buda was administratively unified with Pest and Óbuda to form modern Budapest. Royal Buda is called the Várnegyed ( lit.   ' Castle Quarter ' ) today, while “Buda” pars pro toto denotes Budapest’s I., II., III., XI., XII. and XXII. districts. This colloquial definition thus includes medieval Óbuda and amounts to

504-525: 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 was the most important mint, and later the only one, in the Kingdom of Hungary , in Czechoslovakia and nowadays in Slovakia;

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528-539: 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

552-513: Was the capital of the province of Budin during the Ottoman era. By the middle of the seventeenth century Buda had become majority Muslim , largely resulting from an influx of Balkan Muslims. In 1686, two years after the unsuccessful siege of Buda, a renewed European campaign was started to enter Buda, which was formerly the capital of medieval Hungary. This time, the Holy League 's army

576-472: Was twice as large, containing over 74,000 men, including German , Dutch , Hungarian , English , Spanish , Czech , French , Croat , Burgundian , Danish and Swedish soldiers, along with other Europeans as volunteers, artillerymen, and officers, the Christian forces reconquered Buda (see Siege of Buda ). After the reconquest of Buda, bourgeoisie from different parts of southern Germany moved into

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