Žiar nad Hronom
Encyclopedia
Žiar nad Hronom is a town in Banská Bystrica Region
Banská Bystrica Region
The Banská Bystrica Region is one of the Slovak regions in the country of Slovakia in Europe.-Geography:It is located in the central part of Slovakia and has an area of 9,455 km². The region is prevailingly mountains, with several ranges within the area. The highest of them are the Low Tatras...

, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

.

Geography

It is located in the Žiar Basin, on the Hron
Hron
Hron is a 298 km long left tributary of the Danube and the second longest river in Slovakia. It flows from its source located in the Low Tatra mountains through central and southern Slovakia, pouring into the Danube near Štúrovo and Esztergom...

 river, around 40 km from Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica is a key city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 81,281 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia...

 and 170 km from Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...

. In addition to the main settlement with in 1969 annexed Horné Opatovce village, the town also has "parts" of Šášovské Podhradie (annexed 1971)

History

The first written record about area was in 1075 in a document of Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 abbey in Hronský Beňadik
Hronský Benadik
Hronský Beňadik is a village in central Slovakia...

. A settlement with name Cristur was first mentioned in 1237, which became a town in 1246. The town was renamed from Svätý Kríž nad Hronom to its current name in 1955.

Economy

The main employer is the metallurgy factory company Slovalco
Slovalco
Slovalco is a large Slovak company that produces 160,000 tonnes of aluminium and aluminium products per annum.-History:*December 1985 - approval of project by the CSSR's government in Prague ;...

, formerly called Závody Slovenského národného povstania ("Slovak National Uprising
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...

 Works"), built in the 1950s.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, the town had 19,945 inhabitants. 94.27% of inhabitants were Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...

, 1.97% Roma, 0.95% Czechs
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 and 0.69% Hungarians. The religious make-up was 62.07% Roman Catholics, 25.54% people with no religious affiliation and 3.19% Lutherans.

External links

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