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91-553: Tourist attractions nearby include the medieval town of Levoča , Spiš Castle and the Slovak Paradise National Park. A biennial music festival, Divertimento musicale , is held here, attracting amateur music ensembles from all over Slovakia. The town originated by merging an older Slavic settlement Iglov and a more recent settlement of German colonists ( Latin : Villa Nova , German : Neudorf , Slovak : Nová Ves - literally New Village). Iglov

182-624: A chalice by Jan Kolbenhayer (1795) and a rare bronze baptismal font (second half 13th century). The Calvary Group (1520) is another masterpiece from the workshop of the Master Paul of Levoča. The church vaulted ceiling contains early renaissance paintings with the Evangelists and four angels playing on musical instruments. The Evangelical church, standing next to the town hall, was built in Classicist style between 1790 and 1796. It has

273-643: A cross-shaped ground plan. Inside is an altar piece of Christ on the Mount of Olives, painted by Danish painter Stunder. The water well is decorated with an alabaster relief of Christ with the Good Samaritan . Another valuable architectural monument is the Province House, now housing the Spiš museum. It has a baroque façade , but the basement dates from the 13th century. This house was the town hall from

364-406: A heavy bar or rod for the hammer handle. Punching is not limited to depressions and holes. It also includes cutting, slitting, and drifting—all done with a chisel. The five basic forging processes are often combined to produce and refine the shapes necessary for finished products. For example, to fashion a cross-peen hammer head, a smith would start with a bar roughly the diameter of the hammer face:

455-426: A magnificently carved and painted wooden Gothic altar , the tallest in the world, (18.62 m (61.09  ft )), created by Master Paul around 1520. The square is very well-preserved (despite one or two modern incursions) and contains a number of striking buildings which were the townhouses of the local nobility in the late Middle Ages. Also notable in the square is the wrought iron “Cage of Shame”, dating back to

546-412: A means of payment. There were charcoal burners and even resin pickers who collected resin from trees to produce tar for greasing wagons. There were wheelwrights , coopers , weavers , joiners , gunsmiths , basketmakers, bakers, furriers , tanners , cooks and millers , hunters, fishermen and beekeepers. There were many Germans living in Spiš and through their influence the town became Lutheran in

637-635: A school and a ritual bath, known as a mikveh, were constructed nearby. Following Slovakia's attainment of autonomy in October 1938, the Jewish population began to face increasing discrimination. On 4 November 1938, 55 Jewish individuals from Levoča, who lacked citizenship, were forcefully relocated to an unclaimed region along the Slovakia-Hungary border, near Plešivec . Held for several weeks without adequate shelter and under challenging conditions,

728-449: A school in Levoča. The bookseller Brewer from Wittenberg transformed his bookstore into a prolific printing plant, that lasted for 150 years. Finally, one of the best-known medieval woodcarvers Master Pavol of Levoča settled here. The town kept this cultural and economic status until the end of the 16th century, in spite of two damaging fires : the first in 1550 destroyed nearly all of

819-818: A small number of Jews remained in the district, some possessing exemption letters or having converted to escape deportation. However, with the German capture of Levoča in September 1944, the remaining Jews faced intensified persecution. Many were deported or executed, while others found refuge in remote areas or joined partisan groups . Despite resistance, the synagogue , mikveh , school building, and cemetery were desecrated, and widespread hunting of Jews and partisans led to further deportations and executions. Post-war, some surviving Jews returned to Levoča, reviving kehila life and repairing public buildings. Zionist activities resumed until most Jews immigrated to Israel in 1949. By

910-481: A transit camp in Žilina . Starting in March 1942, Jews from Levoča were systematically deported to concentration and extermination camps , beginning with a group of young women sent to Auschwitz. Despite escape attempts, further rounds of deportation included families, hospital patients, and psychiatric care patients, with about 80% of the Jewish population being deported by the end of the year. Following this wave,

1001-405: A very low carbon content, and also included up to 5% of glassy iron silicate slag in the form of numerous very fine stringers. This slag content made the iron very tough, gave it considerable resistance to rusting, and allowed it to be more easily "forge welded," a process in which the blacksmith permanently joins two pieces of iron, or a piece of iron and a piece of steel, by heating them nearly to

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1092-436: A white heat and hammering them together. Forge welding is more difficult with modern mild steel, because it welds in a narrower temperature band. The fibrous nature of wrought iron required knowledge and skill to properly form any tool which would be subject to stress. Modern steel is produced using either the blast furnace or arc furnaces. Wrought iron was produced by a labor-intensive process called puddling , so this material

1183-430: Is smelted into usable metal, a certain amount of carbon is usually alloyed with the iron. (Charcoal is almost pure carbon.) The amount of carbon significantly affects the properties of the metal. If the carbon content is over 2%, the metal is called cast iron , because it has a relatively low melting point and is easily cast. It is quite brittle, however, and cannot be forged so therefore not used for blacksmithing. If

1274-521: Is twinned with: Levo%C4%8Da Levoča ( pronunciation ; Hungarian : Lőcse ; Rusyn : Левоча ) 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 the world, carved by Master Pavol of Levoča , and many other Renaissance buildings. On 28 June 2009, Levoča

1365-485: Is a junction between the Košice–Žilina railway , which is part of Slovakia's main east-west rail corridor, and a 12 km (7.5 mi) spur line to Levoča . Regular passenger services on the spur line have been suspended since 2003. Public transport is provided by the eurobus, a.s. company and consists of 15 bus lines. Tickets can be bought from the driver and the fare is 0,60€ or 0,30€ reduced fare. Spišská Nová Ves

1456-575: Is a cultural, administrative and business centre of the Spiš region, and is rich in art and historical monuments. Foremost is the three-naved Gothic church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary standing in the centre of the town. Its construction dates back to the 14th century and its architecture has been partly preserved. The bas-relief of the Virgin Mary's Coronation on the Gothic tympanum on

1547-459: Is a heroic blacksmith in Germanic mythology. The Poetic Edda states that he forged beautiful gold rings set with wonderful gems. He was captured by king Níðuðr , who cruelly hamstrung him and imprisoned him on an island. Völundr eventually had his revenge by killing Níðuðr's sons and fashioning goblets from their skulls, jewels from their eyes and a brooch from their teeth. He then raped

1638-472: Is an alloy of copper and zinc . Each material responds differently under the hammer and must be separately studied by the blacksmith. Steel with less than 0.6% carbon content cannot be hardened enough by simple heat-treatment to make useful hardened-steel tools. Hence, in what follows, wrought-iron, low-carbon-steel, and other soft unhardenable iron varieties are referred to indiscriminately as just iron . In Hindu mythology, Tvastar also known as Vishvakarma

1729-433: Is important for indicating the temperature and workability of the metal. As iron heats to higher temperatures, it first glows red, then orange, yellow, and finally white. The ideal heat for most forging is the bright yellow-orange color that indicates forging heat . Because they must be able to see the glowing color of the metal, some blacksmiths work in dim, low-light conditions, but most work in well-lit conditions. The key

1820-475: Is lavishly decorated with pilasters and sgraffito with motifs of drapery alternating with the city coat-of-arms. The theatre building "Reduta" was built in art-nouveau style between 1899 and 1902 by the Budapest architect Koloman Gerster. He divided its northern and southern part by a risalith (a projection jutting out of the façade). He accentuated the corners of the building by four turrets. He prolongated

1911-488: Is lengthened or "drawn out." As an example of drawing, a smith making a chisel might flatten a square bar of steel, lengthening the metal, reducing its depth but keeping its width consistent. Drawing does not have to be uniform. A taper can result as in making a wedge or a woodworking chisel blade. If tapered in two dimensions, a point results. Drawing can be accomplished with a variety of tools and methods. Two typical methods using only hammer and anvil would be hammering on

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2002-439: Is likely to have them crack and break apart. This is a problem for some blade-making steels, which must be worked carefully to avoid developing hidden cracks that would cause failure in the future. Though rarely hand-worked, titanium is notably hot short. Even such common smithing processes as decoratively twisting a bar are impossible with it. Upsetting is the process of making metal thicker in one dimension through shortening in

2093-430: Is now a difficult-to-find specialty product. Modern blacksmiths generally substitute mild steel for making objects traditionally of wrought iron. Sometimes they use electrolytic-process pure iron. Many blacksmiths also incorporate materials such as bronze , copper , or brass in artistic products. Aluminum and titanium may also be forged by the blacksmith's process. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin , while brass

2184-898: Is probably derived from a Slavic word igla (Proto-Slavic igъla , jьgъla , modern Slovak ihla ) - a needle. Šimon Ondruš explains the name from Slavic jug - the south, a light, Juglava/Iglava/Iglov - a light place, a glade. The name was adopted by the Hungarians as Igló . [REDACTED] Kingdom of Hungary 1268–1412 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Poland 1412–1569 [REDACTED] Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1769 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Hungary 1769–1867 [REDACTED]   Austria-Hungary 1867–1918 [REDACTED]   Czechoslovakia 1918–1939 [REDACTED] Slovak Republic 1939–1945 [REDACTED]   Czechoslovakia 1945–1990 [REDACTED] Czech and Slovak Federative Republic 1990–1992 [REDACTED]   Slovak Republic 1993–present Settlement in

2275-400: Is sufficiently corrosion-resistant that artifacts of bronze may last thousands of years relatively unscathed. Accordingly, museums frequently preserve more examples of Bronze Age metal-work than examples of artifacts from the much younger Iron Age . Buried iron artifacts may completely rust away in less than 100 years. Examples of ancient iron work still extant are very much the exception to

2366-509: Is the blacksmith of the devas . The earliest references of Tvastar can be found in the Rigveda . Hephaestus (Latin: Vulcan ) was the blacksmith of the gods in Greek and Roman mythology . A supremely skilled artisan whose forge was a volcano, he constructed most of the weapons of the gods, as well as beautiful assistants for his smithy and a metal fishing-net of astonishing intricacy. He

2457-510: Is to have consistent lighting, but not too bright. Direct sunlight obscures the colors. The techniques of smithing can be roughly divided into forging (sometimes called "sculpting"), welding, heat-treating, and finishing. Forging —the process smiths use to shape metal by hammering—differs from machining in that forging does not remove material. Instead, the smith hammers the iron into shape. Even punching and cutting operations (except when trimming waste) by smiths usually re-arrange metal around

2548-533: The Gothic architecture and another in 1599. In this period of prosperity, several churches were built, and the town had a school, library, pharmacy, and physicians. There was a printing press as early as 1624. Levoča was a center of the Protestant Reformation . The town started to decline during the anti- Habsburg uprisings in the 17th century. In a lurid sequence of events in 1700, the mayor of

2639-531: The Hungarian Army from Levoča and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia. It is part of independent Slovakia since 1993. On July 3, 1995, Levoča was visited by Pope John Paul II . He celebrated a Mass for 650,000 worshippers at the traditional pilgrim site of Mariánska hora , a hill about 2 kilometres (1 mile) north of Levoča with views of the town. The old town is picturesquely sited and still surrounded by most of its ancient walls. In associating

2730-661: The Mongol invasions of 1241/1242, the area was also settled by Germans (later known as Zipser Germans ). The town became the capital of the Association of Spiš Germans, with a form of self-rule within the Kingdom of Hungary. The oldest written reference to the city of Levoča dates back to 1249. In 1317, Levoča (at that time generally known by the German name of Leutschau - see Chronology below for lists of changing names) received

2821-595: The Proto-Germanic *smiþaz meaning "skilled worker". Blacksmiths work by heating pieces of wrought iron or steel until the metal becomes soft enough for shaping with hand tools, such as a hammer, an anvil and a chisel . Heating generally takes place in a forge fueled by propane, natural gas, coal, charcoal, coke , or oil. Some modern blacksmiths may also employ an oxyacetylene or similar blowtorch for more localized heating. Induction heating methods are gaining popularity among modern blacksmiths. Color

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2912-455: The 1540s. Between 1569 and 1674 Catholic services were forbidden in the pawned towns. There were many contacts with Poland and this helped to stimulate the national consciousness of the Slovak people. The pawned towns were returned to the Kingdom of Hungary in 1772. In 1778 Spišská Nová Ves became the capital of the "Province of 16 Spiš towns". In the 19th century the manufacture of stoneware

3003-470: The 17th century, used for public punishment of miscreants. A plaque on one of the houses records the printing and publication in the town of the most famous work of Comenius , the Orbis Pictus . Other buildings on the square house a historical museum and a museum dedicated to the work of Master Paul. Behind the square on Kláštorská Street are the 14th-century church and remains of the old monastery of

3094-550: The 1960s, a small kehila of about 60 people remained, with the once-desecrated cemetery left neglected. As of 1990, only a few Jewish families resided in Levoča. In 2016, the historic Jewish cemetery was cleared of rubbish and tidied up thanks to the collaborative efforts of local Catholic youth organization Spoločenstvo Pavol, the Slovak Association of Christian Youth Movements, the Union of Slovak Jewish Communities, and

3185-689: The Holy Spirit and the New Minorite Monastery ( c.  1750 ). The town square ( Námestie Majstra Pavla - Master Paul's Square) boasts three major monuments; the quaint Old Town Hall (15th-17th century) which now contains a museum, the domed Evangelical Lutheran Church (1837) and the 14th century of Basilica of St. James (in Slovak : Bazilika svätého Jakuba , often mistakenly referred to in English as St. Jacob's). It houses

3276-919: The Middle Ages until 1777. The peace treaty between John Jiskra of Brandýs and the Hungarian king Vladislav was signed here in 1443. Its façade includes the underpass "Levoca gate" with in the middle of its arch the crest of the Province of XVI Spiš towns. The upper part of the façade is decorated with rococo stucco motives (rocaille) representing in Latin the moral qualities required of a town official : (from left to right) PONDERE SOLO (According to importance only), UTQUIS MERETUR (as one deserves), SUUM CUIQUE (give everyone his due), DIE NOCTUQUE (day and night), IN SOMNIS CUSTOS (guardian during sleep), HINC OCULOS NUSQUAM (not turning his eyes away). The Town Hall

3367-542: The Minorites, now incorporated into a Church grammar school. Nearby is the town's Polish Gate , a Gothic construction of the 15th century. From the 16th century to the end of 1922, Levoča was the administrative center of the province of Szepes (Spiš). Between 1806 – 1826, the Hungarian architect from Eger Antal Povolny built a grandiose administration building, the Large Provincial House, as the seat of

3458-537: The Town of Levoča. Levoča is twinned with: Blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel , but sometimes from other metals , by forging the metal , using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith ). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. There

3549-520: The adjective lěva (left, a left tributary); the linguist Rudolf Krajčovič has also suggested as an origin the word lěvoča meaning "regularly flooded area”. Levoča is located in the historical region of Spiš , which was inhabited as early as the Stone Age . In the 11th century, this region was conquered and, subsequently, became part of the Kingdom of Hungary and remained such until 1918. After

3640-475: The anvil horn, and hammering on the anvil face using the cross peen of a hammer. Another method for drawing is to use a tool called a fuller , or the peen of the hammer, to hasten the drawing out of a thick piece of metal. (The technique is called fullering from the tool.) Fullering consists of hammering a series of indentations with corresponding ridges, perpendicular to the long section of the piece being drawn. The resulting effect looks somewhat like waves along

3731-418: The appearance of the piece. An experienced smith selects the finish based on the metal and on the intended use of the item. Finishes include (among others): paint, varnish, bluing , browning , oil, and wax. A blacksmith's striker is an assistant (frequently an apprentice ) whose job is to swing a large sledgehammer in heavy forging operations, as directed by the blacksmith. In practice, the blacksmith holds

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3822-460: The blacksmith had a general knowledge of how to make and repair many things, from the most complex of weapons and armor to simple things like nails or lengths of chain. The "black" in "blacksmith" refers to the black firescale , a layer of oxides that forms on the surface of the metal during heating. The origin of smith is the Old English word smið meaning "blacksmith", originating from

3913-418: The carbon content is between 0.25% and 2%, the resulting metal is tool steel , which can be heat treated as discussed above. When the carbon content is below 0.25%, the metal is either " wrought iron (wrought iron is not smelted and cannot come from this process) " or "mild steel." The terms are never interchangeable. In preindustrial times, the material of choice for blacksmiths was wrought iron. This iron had

4004-447: The center of the weld connects first and the connection spreads outward under the hammer blows, pushing out the flux (if used) and foreign material. The dressed metal goes back in the fire, is brought near to welding heat, removed from the fire, and brushed. Flux is sometimes applied, which prevents oxygen from reaching and burning the metal during forging, and it is returned to the fire. The smith now watches carefully to avoid overheating

4095-596: The copper used by the Mediterranean World came from the island of Cyprus . Most of the tin came from the Cornwall region of the island of Great Britain , transported by sea-borne Phoenician and Greek traders. Copper and bronze cannot be hardened by heat-treatment, they can only be hardened by cold working . To accomplish this, a piece of bronze is lightly hammered for a long period of time. The localized stress-cycling causes work hardening by changing

4186-499: The east, Košice 90 km (56 miles) to the southeast and Bratislava 370 km (230 mi) to the southwest. Nearby settlements include: The population of Levoča as of the 2021 census was 14,256. The name is of Slovak origin and belongs to the oldest recorded Slovak settlement names in Spiš . It was originally the name of the stream Lěvoča, a tributary of river Hornád (present-day Levočský potok). The name probably derived from

4277-404: The ends of the stock down into the bend, 'upsetting' it at the point of the bend. They would then dress the bend by drawing the sides of the bend to keep the correct thickness. The hammering would continue—upsetting and then drawing—until the curve had been properly shaped. In the primary operation was the bend, but the drawing and upsetting are done to refine the shape. Welding is the joining of

4368-448: The establishment of the first Jewish households and sparked the formation of a Jewish community ( kehila ). During the 1870s, the kehila saw considerable expansion, leading to the incorporation of additional structures, like a cemetery, in the 1880s. In 1899, the Jewish community inaugurated an expansive synagogue, designed in an Oriental architectural style , situated beyond the city's perimeter. Accompanying this significant structure,

4459-484: The god of blacksmiths, warriors, hunters and others who work with iron is one of the pantheon of Orisha traditionally worshipped by the Yoruba people of Nigeria . Gold , silver , and copper all occur in nature in their native states , as reasonably pure metals – humans probably worked these metals first. These metals are all quite malleable , and humans' initial development of hammering techniques

4550-583: The hammer over the horn or edge of the anvil or by inserting a bending fork into the hardy hole (the square hole in the top of the anvil), placing the work piece between the tines of the fork, and bending the material to the desired angle. Bends can be dressed and tightened, or widened, by hammering them over the appropriately shaped part of the anvil. Some metals are "hot short", meaning they lose their tensile strength when heated. They become like Plasticine : although they may still be manipulated by squeezing, an attempt to stretch them, even by bending or twisting,

4641-450: The handle hole would be punched and drifted (widened by inserting or passing a larger tool through it), the head would be cut (punched, but with a wedge), the peen would be drawn to a wedge, and the face would be dressed by upsetting. As with making a chisel, since it is lengthened by drawing it would also tend to spread in width. A smith would therefore frequently turn the chisel-to-be on its side and hammer it back down—upsetting it—to check

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4732-580: The hero known to the Ossetians as Kurdalægon and the Circassians as Tlepsh is a blacksmith and skilled craftsman whose exploits exhibit shamanic features, sometimes bearing comparison to those of the Scandinavian deity Odin . One of his greatest feats is acting as a type of male midwife to the hero Xamyc , who has been made the carrier of the embryo of his son Batraz by his dying wife

4823-403: The hole, rather than drilling it out as swarf . Forging uses seven basic operations or techniques: These operations generally require at least a hammer and anvil , but smiths also use other tools and techniques to accommodate odd-sized or repetitive jobs. Drawing lengthens the metal by reducing one or both of the other two dimensions. As the depth is reduced, or the width narrowed, the piece

4914-419: The hot iron at the anvil (with tongs) in one hand, and indicates where to strike the iron by tapping it with a small hammer in the other hand. The striker then delivers a heavy blow to the indicated spot with a sledgehammer. During the 20th century and into the 21st century, this role has become increasingly unnecessary and automated through the use of trip hammers or reciprocating power hammers. When iron ore

5005-571: The king's daughter, after drugging her with strong beer, and escaped, laughing, on wings of his own making, boasting that he had fathered a child upon her. Seppo Ilmarinen , the Eternal Hammerer, blacksmith and inventor in the Kalevala , is an archetypal artificer from Finnish mythology. Tubal-Cain is mentioned in the book of Genesis of the Torah as the original smith. Ogun ,

5096-599: The majority were able to return to their homes only through the concerted efforts of Jewish organizations. Upon the formation of the Slovak Republic on March 14, 1939, Jewish homes and businesses were subjected to rampant looting and destruction by the Nazi-aligned German minority. A repeat of these incidents occurred on March 23, with further devastation in August when a Hashomer Hatzair summer camp

5187-532: The metal glows an intense yellow or white. At this temperature the steel is near molten. Any foreign material in the weld, such as the oxides or "scale" that typically form in the fire, can weaken it and cause it to fail. Thus the mating surfaces to be joined must be kept clean. To this end a smith makes sure the fire is a reducing fire: a fire where, at the heart, there is a great deal of heat and very little oxygen. The smith also carefully shapes mating faces so that as they come together foreign material squeezes out as

5278-460: The metal in the fire so he can see it without letting surrounding air contact the surface. (Note that smiths don't always use flux, especially in the UK.) Now the smith moves with rapid purpose, quickly taking the metal from the fire to the anvil and bringing the mating faces together. A few light hammer taps bring the mating faces into complete contact and squeeze out the flux—and finally, the smith returns

5369-412: The metal is joined. To clean the faces, protect them from oxidation, and provide a medium to carry foreign material out of the weld, the smith sometimes uses flux—typically powdered borax, silica sand, or both. The smith first cleans parts to be joined with a wire brush, then puts them in the fire to heat. With a mix of drawing and upsetting the smith shapes the faces so that when finally brought together,

5460-455: The metal. There is some challenge to this because, to see the color of the metal, the smith must remove it from the fire—exposing it to air, which can rapidly oxidize it. So the smith might probe into the fire with a bit of steel wire, prodding lightly at the mating faces. When the end of the wire sticks on to the metal, it is at the right temperature (a small weld forms where the wire touches the mating face, so it sticks). The smith commonly places

5551-463: The nearby town of Spišská Nová Ves. Later, in 1892, only a spur line was built from Spišská Nová Ves railway station to Levoča. Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, Levoča was part of Szepes County within the Kingdom of Hungary . From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the Slovak Republic . On 27 January 1945, the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps dislodged the Wehrmacht and

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5642-622: The norm. Concurrent with the advent of alphabetic characters in the Iron Age , humans became aware of the metal iron . However, in earlier ages, iron's qualities, in contrast to those of bronze, were not generally understood. Iron artifacts , composed of meteoric iron , have the chemical composition containing up to 40% nickel . As this source of this iron is extremely rare and fortuitous, little development of smithing skills peculiar to iron can be assumed to have occurred. That we still possess any such artifacts of meteoric iron may be ascribed to

5733-408: The other. One form is to heat the end of a rod and then hammer on it as one would drive a nail: the rod gets shorter, and the hot part widens. An alternative to hammering on the hot end is to place the hot end on the anvil and hammer on the cold end. Punching may be done to create a decorative pattern, or to make a hole. For example, in preparation for making a hammerhead, a smith would punch a hole in

5824-442: The same or similar kind of metal. A modern blacksmith has a range of options and tools to accomplish this. The basic types of welding commonly employed in a modern workshop include traditional forge welding as well as modern methods, including oxyacetylene and arc welding . In forge welding, the pieces to join are heated to what is generally referred to as welding heat . For mild steel most smiths judge this temperature by color:

5915-454: The size and shape of the metal's crystals . The hardened bronze can then be ground to sharpen it to make edged tools. Clocksmiths as recently as the 19th century used work hardening techniques to harden the teeth of brass gears and ratchets . Tapping on just the teeth produced harder teeth, with superior wear-resistance. By contrast, the rest of the gear was left in a softer and tougher state, more capable of resisting cracking. Bronze

6006-460: The south portal of the church is considered to be amongst the most beautiful in the Spiš region. It contains carvings by Master Paul of Levoča . The side pillars are topped by Gothic pinnacles terminating in crossed rosettes. A rosette with tracery crowns the entrance of the church. The tower is 87m high, the tallest church tower in Slovakia. The neogothic top of the tower dates from 1893 and

6097-468: The southern end of the main square, the Evangelical Church, Levoča was constructed from 1823 onwards, and consecrated in 1832. It replaced an earlier articular church outside the walls of the city. The economic importance of the town was diminished in 1871 when the important new Košice–Bohumín Railway was built just 8 km (5.0 mi) to the south, bypassing Levoča and going through

6188-407: The spread and keep the metal at the correct width. Or, if a smith needed to put a 90-degree bend in a bar and wanted a sharp corner on the outside of the bend, they would begin by hammering an unsupported end to make the curved bend. Then, to "fatten up" the outside radius of the bend, one or both arms of the bend would need to be pushed back to fill the outer radius of the curve. So they would hammer

6279-437: The square at nám. Majstra Pavla 60. Compared to other places in the region, Jewish settlement began comparatively late in Levoča. The city's census data from 1768 and 1828 indicated a lack of Jewish presence, suggesting a prohibition against Jewish settlement until around 1840. The 1840s marked the beginning of Jewish migration to Levoča, mainly from Huncovce and other parts of Eastern Slovakia . This wave of migration led to

6370-457: The status of a royal town. In 1321, a wide storing right was granted, enticing merchants, craftsmen and mine owners to settle in this town. In the 15th century, the town, located on an intersection of trade routes between Poland and Hungary, became a rich center of commerce. It exported iron, copper, furs, leather, corn, and wine. At the same time, the town became an important cultural centre. The English humanist Leonard Cox taught around 1520 in

6461-535: The structure of their settlements stabilized and important communication roads were established. It became part of the Principality then Kingdom of Hungary . In the 13th centurty Saxon ( Carpathian German ) miners founded a town next to an earlier Slavic settlement. The settlement suffered greatly from the invading Tatars in the 13th century. After the Tatar invasion King Béla IV invited German colonists from

6552-437: The top of the piece. Then the smith turns the hammer over to use the flat face to hammer the tops of the ridges down level with the bottoms of the indentations. This forces the metal to grow in length (and width if left unchecked) much faster than just hammering with the flat face of the hammer. Heating iron to a "forging heat" allows bending as if it were a soft, ductile metal, like copper or silver. Bending can be done with

6643-408: The town famous in Slovakia. During World War II , Spišská Nova Ves was taken by Soviet troops of the 18th Army on 27 January 1945. Spišská Nová Ves is a tourist destination today, both because of the town itself and because of the natural environment of the nearby Slovak Paradise mountains . The core of the town is a lens-shaped square (a square with bulging sides), typical of medieval towns). It

6734-435: The town of Jihlava and settled them here. They named the new town Iglau after their place of origin, and it first appeared in written sources as "Villa Nova" or "Neudorf", covering the area of the present town. The town received market rights in the 14th century and grew to become an important market town. It became an official mining town in 1380 and had the largest street market in the Kingdom of Hungary . Copper mining

6825-418: The town was accidentally wounded by a local nobleman during a hunt, generating a series of revenge attacks, finally resulting in the murder of the mayor, Karol Kramler, a Saxon magistrate. The mayor's arm was then cut off, embalmed, and preserved in the town hall as a call to further revenge. This became the subject of a Hungarian novel about the town, The Black City , by the writer Kálmán Mikszáth . At

6916-559: The town with Spiš Castle and Žehra in June 2009 as the renamed World Heritage Site of “Levoča, Spišský Hrad, and the Associated Cultural Monuments”, UNESCO cites the town's historic center, its fortifications, and the works of Master Paul of Levoča preserved in the town. The main entrance to the old town is via the monumental Košice Gate (15th century) behind which is located the ornate baroque Church of

7007-415: The town's administration. He adjusted its Classicist style to Levoča's Renaissance character by emphasizing the building's horizontal lines. The House is considered among the most beautiful Provincial Houses in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it is reconstructed and it is a seat of the administration. The State Regional Archives ( Štátny oblastný archív ) are in a tan stone building on the north side of

7098-570: The town's region dates to the Neolithic age. There is evidence of a prosperous society that was familiar with copper mining and processing. When the Celts arrived they brought with them advanced iron technology. Celtic coins have been found in the region. During the 6th century, the period known as the Great Migration , Slavic tribes appeared in the Spiš region. During the 10th century

7189-492: The water-sprite Lady Isp, who spits it between his shoulder blades, where it forms a womb-like cyst. Kurdalaegon prepares a type of tower or scaffold above a quenching bath for Xamyc, and, when the time is right, lances the cyst to liberate the infant hero Batraz as a newborn babe of white-hot steel , whom Kurdalægon then quenches like a newly forged sword. The Anglo-Saxon Wayland Smith , known in Old Norse as Völundr ,

7280-520: The western part into a semicircular vestibule. The stage wall is decorated with murals by the Slovak - local artist Jozef Hanula. Today the building combines a theatre, a richly decorated concert hall and a restaurant. According to the 2021 census, the town had 35,431 inhabitants, down from 39,193 in 2001. 98% of inhabitants are Slovaks . The religious makeup was 58% Roman Catholics , 25% people with no religious affiliation and 3% of each Lutherans and Greek Catholics . Spišská Nová Ves railway station

7371-417: The work to the fire. The weld begins with the taps, but often the joint is weak and incomplete, so the smith reheats the joint to welding temperature and works the weld with light blows to "set" the weld and finally to dress it to the shape. Depending on the intended use of the piece, a blacksmith may finish it in a number of ways: A range of treatments and finishes can inhibit oxidation and enhance or change

7462-438: Was a historical distinction between the heavy work of the blacksmith and the more delicate operations of a whitesmith , who usually worked in gold , silver , pewter , or the finishing steps of fine steel. The place where a blacksmith works is variously called a smithy , a forge , or a blacksmith's shop . While there are many professions who work with metal, such as farriers , wheelwrights , and armorers , in former times

7553-555: Was added by UNESCO to its World Heritage List . Levoča lies at an altitude of 570 metres (1,870 feet) above sea level and covers an area of 64.042 square kilometres (24.727 sq mi). It is located in the northern part of the Hornád Basin at the foothills of the Levoča Hills, at the stream Levočský potok , a tributary of Hornád . Poprad is 25 kilometres (16 miles) away to the west, Prešov 50 km (31 miles) to

7644-455: Was an important activity. The metal was processed in furnaces, which were fuelled with wood from the surrounding forests. A Gothic bell foundry was established by Konrád Gaal who made a large hanging bell for Louis I of Hungary , and was consequently knighted in 1357. The bells made by Konrád Gaal are still hanging and form an important conlegacy of European Gothic metal foundry. In 1412 Spišská Nová Ves, along with several other Spiš towns,

7735-504: Was attacked and subsequently dissolved. That same year saw the revocation of licenses for numerous Jewish professionals, the closure of Jewish taverns, and dismissals from community service roles. During World War II, 981 local Jews were deported. The first deportations began in March 1942, at first primarily targeting young women, who were sent to a transit camp in Poprad and then to Auschwitz . More young people were sent to Majdanek , via

7826-492: Was built between 1777-1779 in the Classical style , and was reconstructed in the mid-1990s. The main façade faces south while the main entrance is on the north side. The south façade has three big arched windows situated between four semi-columns under a massive tympanum . Within the tympanum is the city's coat-of-arms between two griffins .The two inner columns have Ionic capitals. The council chamber occupies two floors and

7917-547: Was executed by the architect Imrich Steindl. The neogothic altar dates from the end of the 19th century. The church contains several liturgical treasures : a cross-shaped silver (and partly gilded) reliquary by the Sienese court jeweller Nicolas Gallicus (first half of the 14th century - but the initials NC may also refer to a possible contributor Nicolaus Castellanus), a silver (partly gilded) crucifix and monstrance attributed to Antonio from Košice (early 16th century),

8008-528: Was important in the town. The products all bore a trademark formed from the word "Iglo" with two crossed miners' hammers. Other industrial activities included oil production and a weaving plant as well as agricultural machines. The railway provided an important means of communication from 1870. A power station was built in 1894 and living conditions improved. In July 1929 the Podtatranská výstava (Sub-Tatras Exhibition) showed results of economic growth and made

8099-562: Was pawned as loan security by the Hungarian king Sigmund to the Polish king Vladislaus II Jagiełło . This pledge lasted for 360 years. Blacksmiths were the first local craftsmen to unite into a guild , which was given royal privileges in 1436. They smelted their own ore , or built water-driven forges along the rivers Hornád and Dubnica . Coppersmiths made kettles of a specifically defined weight because kettles were widely used as

8190-635: Was the god of metalworking, fire, and craftsmen. In Celtic mythology , the role of Smith is held by eponymous (their names do mean 'smith') characters : Goibhniu (Irish myths of the Tuatha Dé Danann cycle) or Gofannon (Welsh myths/ the Mabinogion ). Brigid or Brigit, an Irish goddess , is sometimes described as the patroness of blacksmiths. In the Nart mythology of the Caucasus

8281-637: Was undoubtedly applied to these metals. During the Chalcolithic era and the Bronze Age , humans in the Mideast learned how to smelt , melt , cast , rivet , and (to a limited extent) forge copper and bronze. Bronze is an alloy of copper and approximately 10% to 20% Tin . Bronze is superior to just copper, by being harder, being more resistant to corrosion, and by having a lower melting point (thereby requiring less fuel to melt and cast). Much of

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