fbpx
Wikipedia

Košice

Košice (UK: /ˈkɒʃɪtsə/ KOSH-it-sə,[3] Slovak: [ˈkɔʂitse] )[a] is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest city in Slovakia, after the capital Bratislava.

Košice
Top: Cathedral of St. Elizabeth and St Michael Chapel
Center: General Aerial View
Bottom (left to right): State Theater; Center of Hlavná street; Coat of Arms Statue
Superimposed: Coat of Arms
Nickname: 
City of Tolerance[1]
Košice
Location in Slovakia
Košice
Location in Košice Region
Coordinates: 48°43′N 21°15′E / 48.717°N 21.250°E / 48.717; 21.250
Country Slovakia
RegionKošice Self-governing Region
DistrictKošice I, Košice II, Košice III, Košice IV
First mentioned1230
Government
 • MayorJaroslav Polaček
Area
 • Total243.7 km2 (94.1 sq mi)
Elevation
206 m (676 ft)
Population
 (2021-07-01[2])
 • Total228,249
 • Density940/km2 (2,400/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
040 00
Area code+421-55
Car plateKE
GDP2017
 – TotalNominal: €18 billion
PPP: $21 billion
 – Per capitaNominal: €18,100
PPP: $16,300
Websitehttps://www.kosice.sk

Being the economic and cultural centre of eastern Slovakia, Košice is the seat of the Košice Region and Košice Self-governing Region, and is home to the Slovak Constitutional Court, three universities, various dioceses, and many museums, galleries, and theatres. In 2013 Košice was the European Capital of Culture, together with Marseille, France. Košice is an important industrial centre of Slovakia, and the U.S. Steel Košice steel mill is the largest employer in the city. The town has extensive railway connections and an international airport.

The city has a preserved historical centre which is the largest among Slovak towns. There are heritage protected buildings in Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Art Nouveau styles with Slovakia's largest church: the Cathedral of St. Elizabeth. The long main street, rimmed with aristocratic palaces, Catholic churches, and townsfolk's houses, is a thriving pedestrian zone with boutiques, cafés, and restaurants. The city is known as the first settlement in Europe to be granted its own coat-of-arms.[4]

Etymology edit

The first written mention of the city was in 1230 as "Villa Cassa".[5] The name probably comes from the Slavic personal name Koš, KošaKošici (Koš'people) → Košice (1382–1383) with the patronymic Slavic suffix "-ice" through a natural development in Slovak (similar place names are also known from other Slavic countries).[6][7] In Hungarian KošaKasa, Kassa with a vowel mutation typical for the borrowing of old Slavic names in the region (Vojkovce → Vajkócz, Sokoľ → Szakalya, Szakál, Hodkovce → Hatkóc, etc.).[8] The Latinized form Cassovia became common in the 15th century.[7]

Another theory is a derivation from Old Slovak kosa, "clearing", related to modern Slovak kosiť, "to reap".[9] Though according to other sources the city name may derive from an old Hungarian[10] the first name which begins with "Ko".[11]

Historically, the city has been known as Kaschau in German, Kassa in Hungarian, Kaşa in Turkish, Cassovia in Latin, Cassovie in French, Cașovia in Romanian, Кошице (Košice) in Russian, Ukrainian and Rusyn, Koszyce in Polish and קאשוי Kashoy in Yiddish (see here for more names). Below is a chronology of the various names:[12][13][14][15]

Year Name Year Name
1230 Villa Cassa 1420 Caschowia
1257 Cassa 1441 Cassovia, Kassa, Kaschau, Košice
1261 Cassa, Cassa-Superior 1613–1684 Cassovia, Kassa, Kaşa, Kossicze
1282 Kossa 1773 Cassovia, Kassa, Kaschau, Kossicze
1300 Cossa 1786 Cassovia, Kascha, Kaschau, Kossice
1307 Cascha 1808 Cassovia, Kaschau, Kassa, Kossice
1324 Casschaw 1863–1913 Kassa
1342 Kassa 1918–1938 Košice
1388 Cassa-Cassouia 1938–1945 Kassa
1394 Cassow 1945– Košice

History edit

Historical affiliations

  Kingdom of Hungary 1000 – 1526
  John Zápolya's Eastern Hungarian Kingdom 1526 – 1551 (Ottoman vassal)
  Hajduk rebels of István Bocskai 1604 – 1606 (Ottoman-backed)
  Principality of Transylvania (Ottoman vassal) 1619 – 1629, 1644 – 1648
  Kuruc rebellion 1672 – 1682 (Ottoman-backed)
  Imre Thököly's Principality of Upper Hungary (Ottoman vassal) 1682 – 1686
  Francis II Rákóczi's insurrection 1703 – 1711
  Kingdom of Hungary (crownland of the Austrian Empire) 1804 – 1867
  Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867 – 1918
  Czechoslovakia 1918–1938
  Kingdom of Hungary 1938 – 1945
  Czechoslovakia 1945–1992
  Slovakia 1993–present

 
Eastern Hungarian Kingdom around 1550, including Košice shown as 'Kassa'
 
Part of the Ottoman Empire in 1683, including the Principality of Upper Hungary, based around Košice shown as 'Kassa'

The first evidence of habitation can be traced back to the end of the Paleolithic era. The first written reference to the Hungarian town of Košice (as the royal village of Villa Cassa) comes from 1230. After the Mongol invasion in 1241, King Béla IV of Hungary invited German colonists (see Zipser Germans, Germans of Hungary) to fill the gaps in population. The city was in the historic Abauj County of the Kingdom of Hungary.

There were two independent settlements, Lower Kassa and Upper Kassa, which were amalgamated in the 13th century around the long lens-shaped ring, of today's Main Street. The first known town privileges come from 1290.[16] The town proliferated because of its strategic location on an international trade route from agriculturally rich central Hungary to central Poland, itself part of a longer route connecting the Balkans and the Adriatic and Aegean seas to the Baltic Sea. The privileges given by the king were helpful in developing crafts, business, increasing importance (seat of the royal chamber[clarification needed] for Upper Hungary), and for building its strong fortifications.[5] In 1307, the first guild regulations were registered here; they were the oldest in the Kingdom of Hungary.[17]

As a Hungarian free royal town, Košice reinforced the king's troops at the crucial moment of the bloody Battle of Rozgony in 1312 against the strong aristocratic Palatine Amadé Aba (family).[18][19] In 1347, it became the second-placed city in the hierarchy of the Hungarian free royal towns, with the same rights as the capital Buda. In 1369, it was granted its own coat of arms by Louis I of Hungary.[16] The Diet convened by Louis I in Košice decided that women could inherit the Hungarian throne.

 
"Cassovia: Superioris Hungariae Civitas Primaria",[20] the prospect from Civitates orbis terrarum. Cassovia (Slovak: Košice, German: Kaschau, Hungarian: Kassa), the "capital" of Upper Hungary in 1617.
 
The military base in Košice at the end of the 18th century
 
National Theater built in 1899
 
Main Street – 1902

The significance and wealth of the city at the end of the 14th century were mirrored by the decision to build an entirely new church on the grounds of the previously destroyed smaller St. Elisabeth Church. The construction of St. Elisabeth Cathedral, the biggest cathedral in the Kingdom of Hungary, was supported by Emperor Sigismund, and by the apostolic see itself. From the beginning of the 15th century, the city played a leading role in the Pentapolitana – the league of the five most important cities in Upper Hungary (Bardejov, Levoča, Košice, Prešov, and Sabinov). During the reign of King Matthias Corvinus the town reached its medieval population peak. With an estimated 10,000 inhabitants, it was among the largest medieval cities in Europe.[21]

The history of Košice was heavily influenced by the dynastic disputes over the Hungarian throne which, together with the decline of the continental trade, brought the city into stagnation. Vladislaus III of Varna failed to capture the city in 1441. John Jiskra's mercenaries from Bohemia defeated Tamás Székely's Hungarian army in 1449. John I Albert, Prince of Poland, failed to capture the city during a six-month-long siege in 1491. In 1526, the city paid homage to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. John Zápolya captured the town in 1536, but Ferdinand I reconquered it in 1551.[22] In 1554, the settlement became the seat of the Captaincy of Upper Hungary.

17th century edit

In 1604, Catholics seized the Lutheran church in Košice.[23] The Calvinist Stephen Bocskay then occupied Košice during his Protestant insurrection against the Habsburg dynasty, with the backing of the Ottomans. The future George I Rákóczi joined him as a military commander there. Giorgio Basta, commander of the Habsburg forces, failed in his attempt to recapture the city. At the Treaty of Vienna (1606), in return for giving back territory that included Košice, the rebels won from the Habsburgs a concession of religious toleration for the Magyar nobility and brokered an Austrian-Turkish peace treaty. Stephen Bocskay died in Košice on December 29, 1606, and was interred there.

For some decades during the 17th century Košice was part of the Principality of Transylvania, and consequently a part of the Ottoman Empire and was referred to as Kaşa in Turkish.[15] On September 5, 1619, the prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen captured Košice with the assistance of the future George I Rákóczi in another anti-Habsburg insurrection. By the Peace of Nikolsburg in 1621, the Habsburgs restored the religious toleration agreement of 1606 and recognized Transylvanian rule over the seven Partium counties: Ugocsa County, Bereg County, Zemplén County, Borsod County, Szabolcs County, Szatmár County and Abaúj County (including Košice).[24] Bethlen married Catherine von Hohenzollern, of Johann Sigismund Kurfürst von Brandenburg, in Košice in 1626.[25]

After Bethlen's death in 1629, Košice and the rest of the Partium was returned to the Habsburgs.[24]

On January 18, 1644, the Diet in Košice elected George I Rákóczi the prince of Hungary. He took the whole of Upper Hungary and joined the Swedish army besieging Brno for a projected march against Vienna. However, his nominal overlord, the Ottoman Sultan, ordered him to end the campaign, though he did so with gains. In the Treaty of Linz (1645), Košice returned to Transylvania again as the Habsburgs recognized George's rule over the seven counties of the Partium.[24] He died in 1648, and Košice was returned to the Habsburgs once more.[26]

Subsequently, Košice became a centre of the Counter-Reformation. In 1657, a printing house and university were founded by the Jesuits, funded by Emperor Leopold I. The 1664 Peace of Vasvár at the end of the Austro-Turkish War (1663-1664) awarded Szabolcs and Szatmár counties to the Habsburgs,[27] which put once more positioned Košice further inside the borders of Royal Hungary. In the 1670s the Habsburgs built a modern pentagonal fortress (citadel) south of the city. Also in the 1670s, the city was besieged by Kuruc armies several times, and it again rebelled against the Habsburgs. The rebel leaders were massacred by the Emperor's soldiers on November 26, 1677.

Another rebel leader, Imre Thököly captured the city in 1682, making Kaşa once again a vassal territory of the Ottoman Empire under the Principality of Upper Hungary until 1686. The Austrian field marshal Aeneas de Caprara took Košice back from the Ottomans in late 1685. In 1704–1711 Prince of Transylvania Francis II Rákóczi made Košice the main base in his War for Independence. By 1713 the fortress had been demolished.

When not under Ottoman suzerainty, Košice was the seat of the Habsburg "Captaincy of Upper Hungary" and the seat of the Chamber of Szepes County (Spiš, Zips), which was a subsidiary of the supreme financial agency in Vienna responsible for Upper Hungary). Due to Ottoman occupation of Eger, Košice was the residence of Eger's archbishop from 1596 to 1700.[28]

From 1657, it was the seat of the historic Royal University of Kassa (Universitas Cassoviensis), founded by Bishop Benedict Kishdy. The university was transformed into a Royal Academy in 1777, then into a Law Academy in the 19th century. It was to cease to exist in the turbulent year 1921. After the end of the anti-Habsburg uprisings in 1711, the victorious Austrian armies drove the Ottoman Army back to the south, and this major territorial change created new trade routes which circumvented Košice. The city began to decline and from a rich medieval town became a provincial town known for its military base and mainly dependent on agriculture.[29]

In 1723, the Immaculata statue was erected on the site of a former gallows at Hlavná ulica (Main Street) to commemorate the plague of 1710–1711.[30] The city also became one of the centers of the Hungarian linguistic revival, including the publication of the first Hungarian-language periodical, called the Magyar Museum, in Hungary in 1788.[31] The city's walls were demolished step by step from the early 19th century to 1856; only the Executioner's Bastion remained among limited parts of the wall. The city became the seat of its own bishopric in 1802. The city's surroundings became a theater of war again during the Revolutions of 1848, when the Imperial cavalry general Franz Schlik defeated the Hungarian army on December 8, 1848, and January 4, 1849. The city was captured by the Hungarian army on February 15, 1849, but the Russian troops drove them back on June 24, 1849.[32]

In 1828, there were three manufacturers and 460 workshops.[33] The first factories were established in the 1840s (sugar and nail factories). The first telegram message arrived in 1856, and the railway connected the city to Miskolc in 1860. In 1873, there were already connections to Prešov, Žilina, and Chop, Ukraine (in today's Ukraine). The city gained a public transit system in 1891 when the track was laid down for a horse-drawn tramway. The traction was electrified in 1914.[33] In 1906, Francis II Rákóczi's house of Rodostó was reproduced in Košice, and his remains were buried in the St. Elisabeth Cathedral.[34]

After World War I and during the gradual break-up of Austria-Hungary, the city at first became a part of the transient "Eastern Slovak Republic", declared on December 11, 1918, in Košice and earlier in Prešov under the protection of Hungary. On December 29, 1918, the Czechoslovak Legions entered the city, making it part of the newly established Czechoslovakia. However, in June 1919, Košice was occupied again, as part of the Slovak Soviet Republic, a proletarian puppet state of Hungary. The Czechoslovak troops secured the city for Czechoslovakia in July 1919,[35] which was later upheld under the terms of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.

Fate of Košice Jews edit

Jews had lived in Košice since the 16th century but were not allowed to settle permanently. There is a document identifying the local coiner in 1524 as a Jew and claiming that his predecessor was a Jew as well. Jews were allowed to enter the city during the town fair, but were forced to leave it by night, and lived mostly in nearby Rozunfaca. In 1840 the ban was removed, and, a few Jews were living in the town, among them a widow who ran a small Kosher restaurant for the Jewish merchants passing through the town.

Košice was ceded to Hungary, by the First Vienna Award, from 1938 until early 1945. The town was bombarded on June 26, 1941, by a still unidentified aircraft,[36] in what became a pretext for the Hungarian government to declare war on the Soviet Union a day later.

The German occupation of Hungary led to the deportation of Košice's entire Jewish population of 12,000 and an additional 2,000 from surrounding areas via cattle cars to the concentration camps.

In 1946, after the war, Košice was the site of an orthodox festival, with a Mizrachi convention and a Bnei Akiva Yeshiva (school) for Jews, which, later that year, moved with its students to Israel.[37]

A memorial plaque in honor to the 12,000 deported Jews from Košice and the surrounding areas in Slovakia was unveiled at the pre-war Košice Orthodox synagogue in 1992.[38]

Soviet occupation edit

The Soviet Union captured the town in January 1945, and for a short time, it became a temporary capital of the restored Czechoslovak Republic until the Red Army had reached Prague. Among other acts, the Košice Government Programme was declared on April 5, 1945.[35]

A large population of ethnic Germans in the area was expelled and sent on foot to Germany or to the Soviet border.[39]

After the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, the city became part of the Eastern Bloc. Several cultural institutions that still exist were founded, and large residential areas around the city were built. The construction and expansion of the East Slovak Ironworks caused the population to grow from 60,700 in 1950 to 235,000 in 1991. Before the breakup of Czechoslovakia (1993), it was the fifth-largest city in the federation.

Under Slovakia edit

Following the Velvet Divorce and creation of the Slovak Republic, Košice became the second-largest city in the country and became a seat of a constitutional court. Since 1995, it has been the seat of the Archdiocese of Košice.

After 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Košice, as a regional metropolitan area, became a major hub for administration, transfer and housing of refugees fleeing from Ukraine.[40][41]

Geography edit

Košice lies at an altitude of 206 metres (676 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 242.77 square kilometres (93.7 sq mi).[42] It is located in eastern Slovakia, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Hungarian, 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the Ukrainian, and 90 kilometres (56 mi) from the Polish borders. It is about 400 kilometres (249 mi) east of Slovakia's capital Bratislava and a chain of villages connects it to Prešov which is about 36 kilometres (22 mi) to the north.

Košice is on the Hornád River in the Košice Basin, at the easternmost reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains. More precisely, it is a subdivision of the Čierna hora mountains in the northwest and Volovské vrchy mountains in the southwest. The basin is met on the east by the Slanské vrchy mountains.

Climate edit

Košice has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb), as the city lies in the north temperate zone. The city has four distinct seasons with long, warm summers with cool nights and long, cold, and snowy winters. Precipitation varies little throughout the year with abundance precipitation that falls during summer and only few during winter. The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of −2.6 °C (27.3 °F), and the hottest month is July, with an average temperature of 19.3 °C (66.7 °F).

Climate data for Košice, Slovakia (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1951−present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 13.2
(55.8)
16.4
(61.5)
25.4
(77.7)
28.7
(83.7)
32.0
(89.6)
36.0
(96.8)
38.5
(101.3)
37.4
(99.3)
34.1
(93.4)
26.6
(79.9)
22.4
(72.3)
13.4
(56.1)
38.5
(101.3)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 1.0
(33.8)
3.7
(38.7)
9.9
(49.8)
16.5
(61.7)
21.2
(70.2)
24.8
(76.6)
26.6
(79.9)
26.8
(80.2)
21.2
(70.2)
14.8
(58.6)
8.2
(46.8)
1.8
(35.2)
14.7
(58.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) −1.9
(28.6)
0.0
(32.0)
4.7
(40.5)
10.9
(51.6)
15.5
(59.9)
19.2
(66.6)
20.8
(69.4)
20.5
(68.9)
15.2
(59.4)
9.7
(49.5)
4.5
(40.1)
−0.7
(30.7)
9.9
(49.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −4.8
(23.4)
−3.6
(25.5)
0.0
(32.0)
5.0
(41.0)
9.6
(49.3)
13.2
(55.8)
14.8
(58.6)
14.6
(58.3)
10.1
(50.2)
5.3
(41.5)
1.2
(34.2)
−3.3
(26.1)
5.2
(41.4)
Record low °C (°F) −26.9
(−16.4)
−22.3
(−8.1)
−17.1
(1.2)
−7.3
(18.9)
−2.6
(27.3)
−0.4
(31.3)
4.2
(39.6)
2.7
(36.9)
−3.4
(25.9)
−8.6
(16.5)
−14.0
(6.8)
−21.3
(−6.3)
−26.9
(−16.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 25.7
(1.01)
26.8
(1.06)
23.6
(0.93)
42.4
(1.67)
69.4
(2.73)
87.5
(3.44)
93.5
(3.68)
66.5
(2.62)
50.1
(1.97)
51.1
(2.01)
40.2
(1.58)
36.1
(1.42)
613.0
(24.13)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 12.7 10.8 9.0 10.8 13.3 13.4 12.9 9.7 10.7 11.0 11.9 14.2 140.4
Average snowy days 14.0 10.9 5.0 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 4.8 12.7 50.4
Average relative humidity (%) 84.5 78.7 68.4 61.7 66.0 66.8 67.0 66.3 71.6 78.1 83.5 86.0 73.2
Mean monthly sunshine hours 57.0 83.9 155.5 200.5 239.9 253.4 258.9 264.7 189.4 131.0 66.7 41.0 1,941.9
Source 1: World Meteorological Organisation[43][44]
Source 2: SHMI (extremes, 1951-present)[45]

Demographics edit

 
Hlavná ulica (Main Street) in historic downtown
 
Statue of Košice's coat of arms, the first municipal coat of arms in Europe

Košice has a population of 228,249 (mid year, 2021). According to the 2021 census, 84% of inhabitants are of Slovak nationality, 2% are each Hungarians and additional 2% Roma. There are also modestly sized Czech, Ruthenian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese communities. In terms of religion, 51% of inhabitants are Catholic and 28% had no religious affiliation, with smaller Protestant denominations also present. [46][47]

Historical demographics edit

According to the researchers the town had a German majority until the mid-16th century,[48] and by 1650, 72.5% of the population may have been Hungarians,[49] 13.2% was German, 14.3% was Slovak or of uncertain origin.[48] The Ottoman Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi mentioned that the city was inhabited by "Hungarians, Germans, Upper Hungarians" in 1661 when the city was under the suzerainty of Ottoman Empire and under Turkish control.[48]

The linguistic makeup of the town's population underwent historical changes that alternated between the growth of the ratio of those who claimed Hungarian and those who claimed Slovak as their language. With a population of 28,884 in 1891, just under half (49.9%) of the inhabitants of Košice declared Hungarian, then the official language, as their main means of communication, 33.6% Slovak, and 13.5% German; 72.2% were Roman Catholics, 11.4% Jews, 7.3% Lutherans, 6.7% Greek Catholics, and 4.3% Calvinists.[50] The results of that census are questioned by some historians[51] by a disputed claim that they were manipulated, to increase the percentage of the Magyars during a period of Magyarization.[citation needed]

By the 1910 census, which is sometimes accused of being manipulated by the ruling Hungarian bureaucracy,[52] 75.4% of the 44,211 inhabitants claimed Hungarian, 14.8% Slovak, 7.2% German and 1.8% Polish.[53] The Jews were split among other groups by the 1910 census, as only the most frequently-used language, not ethnicity, was registered.[54] The population around 1910 was multidenominational and multiethnic, and the differences in the level of education mirror the stratification of society.[55] The town's linguistic balance began to shift towards Slovak after World War I by Slovakization in the newly established Czechoslovakia.[citation needed]

According to the 1930 census, the city had 70,111, with 230 Gypsies (today Roma), 42 245 Czechoslovaks (today Czechs and Slovaks), 11 504 Hungarians, 3 354 Germans, 44 Poles, 14 Romanians, 801 Ruthenians, 27 Serbocroatians (today Serbs and Croatians) and 5 733 Jews.[56]

As a consequence of the First and Second Vienna Awards, Košice was ceded to Hungary. During the German occupation of Hungary towards the end of World War II, approximately 10,000 Jews were deported by the Arrow Cross Party and the Nazis and killed in Auschwitz.[57] The ethnic makeup of the town was dramatically changed by the persecution of the town's large Hungarian majority, population exchanges between Hungary and Slovakia and Slovakization and by mass migration of Slovaks into newly built communist-block-microdistricts, which increased the population of Košice four times by 1989 and made it the fastest growing city in Czechoslovakia.[58]

Culture edit

 
Kasárne Kulturpark
 
Kunsthalle [sk]
 
SPOT Važecká

Performing arts edit

There are several theatres in Košice. The Košice State Theater was founded in 1945 (then under the name of the East Slovak National Theater). It consists of three ensembles: drama, opera, and ballet. Other theatres include the Marionette Theatre and the Old Town Theatre (Staromestské divadlo). The presence of Hungarian and Roma minorities makes it also host the Hungarian "Thália" theatre and the professional Roma theatre "Romathan".[59]

Košice is the home of the State Philharmonic Košice (Štátna filharmónia Košice), established in 1968 as the second professional symphonic orchestra in Slovakia. It organizes festivals such as the Košice Music Spring Festival, the International Organ Music Festival, and the Festival of Contemporary art.[60]

Museums and galleries edit

Some of the museums and galleries based in the city include the East Slovak Museum (Vychodoslovenské múzeum), originally established in 1872 under the name of the Upper Hungarian Museum. The Slovak Technical Museum (Slovenské technické múzeum) with a planetarium, established in 1947, is the only museum in the technical category in Slovakia that specializes in the history and traditions of science and technology.[61] The East Slovak Gallery (Východoslovenská galéria) was established in 1951 as the first regional gallery with the aim to document artistic life in present-day eastern Slovakia.[62]

European Capital of Culture edit

In 2008 Košice won the competition among Slovak cities to hold the prestigious title European Capital of Culture 2013. Project Interface aims at the transformation of Košice from a centre of heavy industry to a postindustrial city with creative potential and new cultural infrastructure. Project authors bring Košice a concept of the creative economy – merging of economy and industry with arts, where transformed urban space encourages development of certain fields of creative industry (design, media, architecture, music and film production, IT technologies, creative tourism). The artistic and cultural program stems from a conception of sustained maintainable activities with long-lasting effects on cultural life in Košice and its region. The main project venues are:

  • Kasárne Kulturpark – 19th-century military barracks turned into new urban space with a centre of contemporary art, exhibition and concert halls and workshops for the creative industry.[63]
  • Kunsthalle Košice – a 1960s disused swimming pool turned into the first Kunsthalle in Slovakia.[64]
  • SPOTs – the 1970s and 1980s disused heat exchangers turned into cultural "spots" in Communist-Era-block-of-flats districts.[65]
  • City park, Park Komenského and Mojzesova – revitalisation of urban spaces.
  • Castle of Košice, Amfiteáter, Mansion of Krásna, Handicrafts Street – reconstruction.
  • Tabačka – a 19th-century tobacco factory turned into a centre of independent culture. The Tabačka Kulturfabrik, DIG gallery, Kotolňa and several artistic residents are located in the area of the former tobacco factory.

Media edit

The first and the oldest international festival of local TV broadcasters (founded in 1995) – The Golden Beggar, takes place every year in June in Košice.

The oldest evening newspaper is the Košický večer. The daily paper in Košice is Korzár. Recently, the daily paper Košice:Dnes (Košice: Today) came into existence.

TV stations based in Košice: TV Naša, TV Region and public TV broadcaster RTVS Televízne štúdio Košice.

Radio stations based in Košice: Rádio Košice, Dobré rádio, Rádio Kiss, Rádio Šport, and the public broadcaster RTVS Rádio Regina Košice

Economy edit

 
Aupark Shopping Centre

Košice is the economic hub of eastern Slovakia. It accounts for about 9% of the Slovak gross domestic product.[citation needed] The steel mill, U.S. Steel Košice with 13,500 employees, is the largest employer in the city and the largest private employer in the country.[66] The second-largest employer in the east of the country is Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia. It was established and has been based in Košice since 2006. Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia had 4,545 employees in Košice in Q4 of 2020, which makes it the second-largest shared service center in Slovakia and one of the top fifteen largest employers in Slovakia. As part of the growing ICT field, Košice IT Valley association was established in 2007 as a joint initiative of educational institutions, government and leading IT companies. In 2012 it was transformed into the cluster. In 2018 the cluster was for the second time certified for “Cluster Management Excellence Label GOLD” as the first in central Europe and is one of three certified clusters in the area of information and communication technologies. Volvo Cars has invested $1.2 billion euros ($1.25 billion USD) in a new plant which is set to start construction in 2023, for opening in 2026. Other major sectors include mechanical engineering, food industry, services, and trade.[67] GDP per capita in 2001 was €4,004, which was below Slovakia's average of €4,400.[67] The unemployment rate was 8.32% in November 2015, which was below the country's average 10.77% at that time.[68]

The city has a balanced budget of 224 million euros, as of 2019).[69]

Sights edit

 
The Cathedral of St. Elizabeth in Košice is Slovakia's largest church

The city centre, and most historical monuments, are located in or around the Main Street (Hlavná ulica) and the town has the largest number of protected historical monuments in Slovakia.[70] The most dominant historical monument of the city is Slovakia's largest church, the 14th century Gothic Cathedral of St. Elizabeth; it is the easternmost cathedral of western-style Gothic architecture in Central Europe,[70] and is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Košice. In addition to St. Elizabeth, there is the 14th century St. Michael Chapel, the St. Urban Tower, and the Neo-baroque State Theater in the center of town.

The Executioner's Bastion and the Mill Bastion are the remains of the city's previous fortification system. The Church of the Virgin Mary's Birth is the cathedral for the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Košice. Other monuments and buildings of cultural and historical interest are; the old Town Hall, the Old University, the Captain's Palace, Liberation Square, as well as a number of galleries (the East Slovak Gallery) and museums (the East Slovak Museum). There is a Municipal Park located between the historical city centre and the main railway station. The city also has a zoo located northwest of the city, within the borough of Kavečany.

Places of worship edit

 
Late Renaissance, early Baroque Jesuits Church
 
Empire style Pongrác-Forgács Palace
 
Historicism style Jakab's Palace
 
Neo-Renaissance Andrássy Palace
 
Art Nouveau style coffeehouse Slávia

Government edit

 
Divizia – seat of the Košice Self-Governing Region
 
The seat of the Slovak Constitutional Court

Košice is the seat of the Košice Region, and since 2002 it is the seat of the autonomous Košice Self-governing Region. Additionally, it is the seat of the Slovak Constitutional Court. The city hosts a regional branch of the National Bank of Slovakia (Národná banka Slovenska) and consulates of Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Russia, Spain and Turkey.

The local government is composed of a mayor (Slovak: primátor), a city council (mestské zastupiteľstvo), a city board (mestská rada), city commissions (Komisie mestského zastupiteľstva), and a city magistrate's office (magistrát). The directly elected mayor is the head and chief executive of the city. The term of office is four years. The previous mayor, František Knapík, was nominated in 2006 by a coalition of four political parties KDH, SMK, and SDKÚ-DS. In 2010 he finished his term of office.[71] The present mayor is Ing. Jaroslav Polaček. He was inaugurated on 10 December 2018.[72]

In 2021, the municipality recycled 24.64% of its municipal waste.[73]

Administratively, the city of Košice is divided into four districts: Košice I (covering the center and northern parts), Košice II (covering the southwest), Košice III (east), and Košice IV (south) and further into 22 boroughs (wards):

Education edit

Košice is the second university town in Slovakia, after Bratislava. The Technical University of Košice is its largest university, with 16,015 students, including 867 doctoral students.[74] A second major university is the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, with 7,403 students, including 527 doctoral students.[75] Other universities and colleges include the University of Veterinary Medicine in Košice (1,381 students)[76] and the private Security Management College in Košice (1,168 students).[77] Additionally, the University of Economics in Bratislava, the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, and the Catholic University in Ružomberok each have a branch based in the city.

There are 38 public elementary schools, six private elementary schools, three religious elementary schools, and one International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) candidate international school.[78] Overall, they enroll 20,158 pupils.[78] The city's system of secondary education (some middle schools and all high schools) consists of 20 gymnasia with 7,692 students,[79] 24 specialized high schools with 8,812 students,[80] and 13 vocational schools with 6,616 students.[81][82]

Kosice International School (KEIS) is the first international primary school in Eastern Slovakia. It will be an International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) international school. Opening in September 2020.[83]

Notable personalities edit

Transport edit

 
Košice International Airport

Public transport in Košice is managed by Dopravný podnik mesta Košice[84] ("Public Transport Company of the City of Košice"). The municipal mass transit system is the oldest one in present-day Slovakia, with the first horse-car line beginning operation in 1891 (electrified in 1914).[33] Today, the city's public transportation system is composed of buses (in use since the 1950s), trams, and trolleybuses (since 1993).

Košice railway station is a rail hub of eastern Slovakia. The city is connected by rail to Prague, Bratislava, Prešov, Čierna nad Tisou, Humenné, Miskolc (Hungary), and Zvolen. There is a broad gauge track from Ukraine, leading to the steel mill southwest of the city. The D1 motorway connects the city to Prešov, and more motorways and roads are planned around the city.[85]

Košice International Airport is located south of the city. Regular direct flights from the airport are available to London Luton and Stansted (from April 2020), Vienna, Warsaw, Düsseldorf and Prague.[86] Regular flights are provided by Czech Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, LOT Polish Airlines and Wizz Air and in code-share by Air France-KLM and Lufthansa. At its peak in the year 2008, it served 590,919 passengers, but the number has since declined.[87]

Sports edit

 
Steel Aréna

The Košice Peace Marathon (founded in 1924) is the oldest annual marathon in Europe and the third oldest in the entire world, after the Boston Marathon and the Yonkers Marathon. It is run in the historic part of the city and is organized every year on the first Sunday of October.

Ice hockey club HC Košice is one of the most successful Slovak hockey clubs. It plays in Slovakia's highest league, the Extraliga, and has won eight titles in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015; and two titles (1986 and 1988) in the former Czechoslovak Extraliga. Since 2006, their home is the Steel Aréna which has a capacity of 8,343 spectators. Košice was once home to football club MFK Košice until it folded due to bankruptcy. It was the first club from Slovakia reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and won the domestic league twice (1998 and 1999). Another football club FC Košice is currently in the first league, with a new home stadium known as the Košická futbalová Arena (KFA).

Košice, along with Bratislava hosted the 2011 and 2019 IIHF World Championship in ice hockey.

Košice became the 2016 European City of Sport[88] by the European Capitals of Sports Association (ACES Europe). The sporting events in 2016 included "the International Peace Marathon, several urban runs, a swimming relay contest, the Košice-Tatry- Košice cycling race, the dancesport world championships, the Basketball Euroleague, Volleyball World League and Water Polo World League".[89]

Twin towns – sister cities edit

 
The Tree of Partnership on Hlavná Street

Košice is twinned with:[90]

Former twin cities edit

As a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the City Council had terminated cooperation with the following cities:[91]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ German: Kaschau [ˈkaʃaʊ] ; Hungarian: Kassa [ˈkɒʃʃɒ] ; Polish: Коszyce [kɔˈʂɨt͡sɛ]; Rusyn and Russian: Кошице, romanizedKoshitse; Ukrainian: Кошиці, romanizedKoshytsi.

References edit

  1. ^ Združenie Feman (2009). "Feman – Európsky festival kultúry národov a národností".
  2. ^ "Population and migration". Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  3. ^ "Košice". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.[dead link]
  4. ^ Lucinda Mallows: Slovakia: The Bradt Travel Guide, Globe Pequot Press, Connecticut, 2007
  5. ^ a b City of Košice (2005). . Archived from the original on October 24, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  6. ^ (in Slovak). City of Košice. 2005. Archived from the original on June 27, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  7. ^ a b Štefánik, Martin; Lukačka, Ján, eds. (2010). [Lexicon of Medieval Towns in Slovakia] (PDF) (in Slovak and English). Bratislava: Historický ústav SAV. p. 194. ISBN 978-80-89396-11-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 2, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
  8. ^ Varsik, Branislav (1964). Osídlenie Košickej kotliny I. (in Slovak). Bratislava: Veda, Vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied. p. 193. ISBN 978-80-89396-11-5.
  9. ^ Room, Adrian (December 31, 2003). Placenames of the world: origins and... – Google Books. ISBN 9780786418145. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
  10. ^ "Old Hungarian names" (PDF). 2009.
  11. ^ Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság (Society of Hungarian Linguistics), Magyar nyelv, Volume 18, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1922, p. 142, Cited: "Kokos (Kakas), Kolumbán (Kálmán), Kopov (Kopó), Kokot (Kakat hn.) stb. Bármely ilyen Ko- szótagon kezdődő tulajdonnévnek lehet a Kosa a származéka. E Kosa szn. van nézetünk szerint Kassa (régen Kossa -=: Kosa) város nevében is/Kokos (Kakas), Kolumbán (Kálmán), Kopov (Kopó), Kokot (Kakat hn.) etc., any proper nouns that begin with 'Ko' syllable may have Kosa derivative, in the name of Kassa as well (its old form Kossa, Kosa)"
  12. ^ Vlastivedný Slovník Obcí na Slovensku, VEDA, vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied, Bratislava 1978.
  13. ^ Milan Majtán (1998), Názvy Obcí Slovenskej republiky (Vývin v rokoch 1773–1997), VEDA, vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied, Bratislava, ISBN 80-224-0530-2.
  14. ^ Lelkes György (1992), Mayar Helységnév-Azonosító Szótár, Balassi Kiadó, Budapest, ISBN 963-7873-00-7.
  15. ^ a b Papp, Sándor. "Slovakya'nın Tarihi". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. 33: 337. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  16. ^ a b (in Slovak). City of Košice. 2005. Archived from the original on May 10, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  17. ^ (in Slovak). City of Košice. 2005. Archived from the original on June 25, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  18. ^ Rady, Martyn C. (2000). Nobility, land and service in medieval Hungary. University of London. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-333-80085-0.
  19. ^ . De Re Militari, an international scholarly association. Archived from the original on September 17, 2011. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  20. ^ Matica slovenská, Kniha, Matica slovenská, 2008, p. 16
  21. ^ R.O.Halaga: Právny, územný a populačný vývoj mesta Košíc, Košice 1967, p.54
  22. ^ "Pallas Nagy Lexikona" (in Hungarian). City of Kassa. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  23. ^ Mahoney, William (February 18, 2011). The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313363061 – via Google Books.
  24. ^ a b c Hötte, Hans H. A. (December 17, 2014). Atlas of Southeast Europe: Geopolitics and History. Volume One: 1521–1699. BRILL. ISBN 9789004288881 – via Google Books.
  25. ^ (in Hungarian). City of Košice. Archived from the original on July 7, 2007.
  26. ^ a.s., Petit Press. "HISTÓRIA".
  27. ^ "The Treaty of Vasvár: What Was Lost, and What Remained". mek.oszk.hu.
  28. ^ (in Hungarian). City of Košice. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009.
  29. ^ (in Slovak). City of Košice. n.d. Archived from the original on September 25, 2006. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
  30. ^ . City of Košice. 2005. Archived from the original on September 25, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
  31. ^ (in Hungarian). City of Košice. Archived from the original on February 19, 2009.
  32. ^ "MEK (Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár)" (in Hungarian). City of Košice.
  33. ^ a b c (in Slovak). City of Košice. n.d. Archived from the original on May 15, 2007. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
  34. ^ . various. February 24, 2006. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved March 3, 2008.
  35. ^ a b (in Slovak). City of Košice. 2005. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
  36. ^ Dreisziger, Nándor F. (1972). "New Twist to an Old Riddle: The Bombing of Kassa (Košice), June 26, 1941". Journal of Modern History. 44 (2): 232–42. doi:10.1086/240751. S2CID 143124708.
  37. ^ "ארכיון בית העדות - תוצאות חיפוש". www.catalog-beit-haedut.org.il.[permanent dead link]
  38. ^ "Memorial plaque in the synagogue of Košice". Holocaust Memorials: Monuments, Museums and Institutions in Commemoration of Nazi Victims. Berlin, Germany: Stiftung Topographie des Terrors. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  39. ^ Forgotten Voices page 97
  40. ^ a.s, Petit Press (March 1, 2022). "Station in Košice full of refugees, mostly students from Africa". spectator.sme.sk. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  41. ^ Florkiewicz, Pawel; Komuves, Anita (February 26, 2022). "Refugees flee Ukraine across EU borders as Russia renews assault". Reuters. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  42. ^ . Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved May 3, 2007.
  43. ^ . World Meteorological Organization. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  44. ^ . World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
  45. ^ (in Italian). Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute [sk]. Archived from the original on August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  46. ^ "Údaje o obyvateľoch" (PDF). Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  47. ^ "Základná charakteristika - demografické údaje :: Oficiálne stránky mesta Košice". www.kosice.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  48. ^ a b c Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsisné Hodosi, Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin, Simon Publications LLC, 1998, p. 46-47 [1][permanent dead link]
  49. ^ Kocsis, Karoly; Kocsis-Hodosi, Eszter (April 1, 2001). Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin. Simon Publications, Incorporated. ISBN 9781931313759 – via Google Books.[permanent dead link]
  50. ^ "A Pallas nagy lexikona; Az összes ismeretek enciklopédiája". X, Kacs−Közellátás (1 ed.). Budapest: Pallas Irodalmi és Nyomdai Részvénytársaság. 1895. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  51. ^ Murad, Anatol (1968). Franz Joseph I of Austria and His Empire – Google Knihy. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  52. ^ Teich, Mikuláš; Dušan Kováč; Martin D. Brown (2011). Slovakia in History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139494946. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  53. ^ Atlas and Gazetteer of Historic Hungary 1914, Talma Kiadó January 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
  54. ^ "Abaúj-Torna County". Retrieved January 26, 2008.[permanent dead link]
  55. ^ Karády, Viktor; Nagy, Péter Tibor (January 10, 2006). Educational inequalities and denominations, 1910 : Vol. 2. Database for Eastern-Slovakia and North-Eastern Hungary. In the course of research : Sociology of religion. J. Wesley Publ. ISBN 9789638718198.
  56. ^ Encyklopedie branné moci Republiky Československé. 2006 J. Fidler, V. Sluka
  57. ^ "Židia v Košiciach" (in Slovak). Retrieved January 26, 2008.
  58. ^ KOROTNOKY, Ľudovít (ed.). Košice : sprievodca. Košice : Východoslovenské tlačiarne, 1989. 166 s. ISBN 80-85174-40-5.
  59. ^ "Košice – metropola východného Slovenska" (in Slovak). Košice.info. 2008. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  60. ^ . The Slovak State Philharmonic, Košice. n.d. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009.
  61. ^ "Slovenské technické múzeum – História múzea" (in Slovak). n.d. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  62. ^ "Východoslovenská galéria" (in Slovak). cassovia.sk. n.d. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  63. ^ "Kasárne Kulturpark", Wikipédia (in Slovak), April 29, 2022, retrieved June 12, 2022
  64. ^ "Kunsthalle Košice", Wikipédia (in Slovak), February 5, 2021, retrieved June 12, 2022
  65. ^ s.r.o, Adsulting. "EN". Výmenníky (in Slovak). Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  66. ^ . Trend (in Slovak). Archived from the original on January 25, 2008. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  67. ^ a b . Archived from the original on November 9, 2011. Retrieved January 24, 2008.
  68. ^ "Nezamestnanosť – mesačné štatistiky" (in Slovak). Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family. 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  69. ^ "Uznesenie z II. rokovania Mestského zastupiteľstva v Košiciach, zo dňa 22. februára 2007" (RTF) (in Slovak). City of Košice. 2007. Retrieved January 25, 2008.
  70. ^ a b . Slovak Tourist Board. 2007. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
  71. ^ . Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
  72. ^ a.s, Petit Press. "Nový košický primátor sľúbil návrat trolejbusov aj protikorupčný audit". kosice.korzar.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  73. ^ "Komunálny odpad :: Oficiálne stránky mesta Košice". www.kosice.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  74. ^ (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  75. ^ (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  76. ^ "Univerzita veterinárneho lekárstva" (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Retrieved February 14, 2008.[dead link]
  77. ^ (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  78. ^ a b (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  79. ^ (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  80. ^ (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  81. ^ (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  82. ^ (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2008.
  83. ^ "Kosice International School" (in English and Slovak). KEIS. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  84. ^ "Dopravný podnik mesta Košice, a.s. – DPMK". www.dpmk.sk.
  85. ^ Ján Gana (2007). . Archived from the original on February 1, 2008. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  86. ^ . Košice International Airport. 2010. Archived from the original on July 6, 2007. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
  87. ^ . Košice International Airport. 2010. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
  88. ^ "EMS Košice - PZP". EMS Košice.
  89. ^ "Kosice 2016 International City of Sport". Kosice International Airtport. bart.sk. 2012.
  90. ^ "Twin cities of the City of Košice". Košice. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  91. ^ "Tlačová agentúra Slovenskej republiky - TASR.sk". www.tasr.sk. Retrieved January 25, 2023.

Bibliography edit

  • Dreisziger, Nándor F. (1972). "New Twist to an Old Riddle: The Bombing of Kassa (Košice), June 26, 1941". Journal of Modern History. 44 (2): 232–42. doi:10.1086/240751. S2CID 143124708.
  • Kinselbaum, Stanislav J. (2006). The A to Z of Slovakia. A to Z Guide Series, 236. Toronto, Canada: The Scarecrow Press.

External links edit

Listen to this article (28 minutes)
 
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 1 May 2009 (2009-05-01), and does not reflect subsequent edits.

Official sites edit

  •   Media related to Košice at Wikimedia Commons
  • Official Tourism and Travel Guide to Košice
  • DPMK – Public Transport Office Site

Tourism and living information edit

  •   Košice travel guide from Wikivoyage
  • Tourist guide
  • Cassovia Digitalis The Digital City Library (German/Slovak/Hungarian/English)
  • Košice at funiq.eu

Photographs edit

  • (in Slovak)

košice, kosice, redirects, here, other, uses, kosice, disambiguation, kosh, slovak, ˈkɔʂitse, largest, city, eastern, slovakia, situated, river, hornád, eastern, reaches, slovak, mountains, near, border, with, hungary, with, population, approximately, second, . Kosice redirects here For other uses see Kosice disambiguation Kosice UK ˈ k ɒ ʃ ɪ t s e KOSH it se 3 Slovak ˈkɔʂitse a is the largest city in eastern Slovakia It is situated on the river Hornad at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains near the border with Hungary With a population of approximately 230 000 Kosice is the second largest city in Slovakia after the capital Bratislava KosiceCityTop Cathedral of St Elizabeth and St Michael ChapelCenter General Aerial ViewBottom left to right State Theater Center of Hlavna street Coat of Arms StatueSuperimposed Coat of ArmsFlagCoat of armsLogoNickname City of Tolerance 1 KosiceLocation in SlovakiaShow map of SlovakiaKosiceLocation in Kosice RegionShow map of Kosice RegionCoordinates 48 43 N 21 15 E 48 717 N 21 250 E 48 717 21 250Country SlovakiaRegionKosice Self governing RegionDistrictKosice I Kosice II Kosice III Kosice IVFirst mentioned1230Government MayorJaroslav PolacekArea Total243 7 km2 94 1 sq mi Elevation206 m 676 ft Population 2021 07 01 2 Total228 249 Density940 km2 2 400 sq mi Time zoneUTC 1 CET Summer DST UTC 2 CEST Postal code040 00Area code 421 55Car plateKEGDP2017 TotalNominal 18 billionPPP 21 billion Per capitaNominal 18 100PPP 16 300Websitehttps www kosice skBeing the economic and cultural centre of eastern Slovakia Kosice is the seat of the Kosice Region and Kosice Self governing Region and is home to the Slovak Constitutional Court three universities various dioceses and many museums galleries and theatres In 2013 Kosice was the European Capital of Culture together with Marseille France Kosice is an important industrial centre of Slovakia and the U S Steel Kosice steel mill is the largest employer in the city The town has extensive railway connections and an international airport The city has a preserved historical centre which is the largest among Slovak towns There are heritage protected buildings in Gothic Renaissance Baroque and Art Nouveau styles with Slovakia s largest church the Cathedral of St Elizabeth The long main street rimmed with aristocratic palaces Catholic churches and townsfolk s houses is a thriving pedestrian zone with boutiques cafes and restaurants The city is known as the first settlement in Europe to be granted its own coat of arms 4 Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 17th century 2 2 Fate of Kosice Jews 2 3 Soviet occupation 2 4 Under Slovakia 3 Geography 4 Climate 5 Demographics 5 1 Historical demographics 6 Culture 6 1 Performing arts 6 2 Museums and galleries 6 3 European Capital of Culture 6 4 Media 7 Economy 8 Sights 8 1 Places of worship 9 Government 10 Education 11 Notable personalities 12 Transport 13 Sports 14 Twin towns sister cities 14 1 Former twin cities 15 See also 16 Notes 17 References 17 1 Bibliography 18 External links 18 1 Official sites 18 2 Tourism and living information 18 3 PhotographsEtymology editThe first written mention of the city was in 1230 as Villa Cassa 5 The name probably comes from the Slavic personal name Kos Kosa Kosici Kos people Kosice 1382 1383 with the patronymic Slavic suffix ice through a natural development in Slovak similar place names are also known from other Slavic countries 6 7 In Hungarian Kosa Kasa Kassa with a vowel mutation typical for the borrowing of old Slavic names in the region Vojkovce Vajkocz Sokoľ Szakalya Szakal Hodkovce Hatkoc etc 8 The Latinized form Cassovia became common in the 15th century 7 Another theory is a derivation from Old Slovak kosa clearing related to modern Slovak kosit to reap 9 Though according to other sources the city name may derive from an old Hungarian 10 the first name which begins with Ko 11 Historically the city has been known as Kaschau in German Kassa in Hungarian Kasa in Turkish Cassovia in Latin Cassovie in French Cașovia in Romanian Koshice Kosice in Russian Ukrainian and Rusyn Koszyce in Polish and קאשוי Kashoy in Yiddish see here for more names Below is a chronology of the various names 12 13 14 15 Year Name Year Name1230 Villa Cassa 1420 Caschowia1257 Cassa 1441 Cassovia Kassa Kaschau Kosice1261 Cassa Cassa Superior 1613 1684 Cassovia Kassa Kasa Kossicze1282 Kossa 1773 Cassovia Kassa Kaschau Kossicze1300 Cossa 1786 Cassovia Kascha Kaschau Kossice1307 Cascha 1808 Cassovia Kaschau Kassa Kossice1324 Casschaw 1863 1913 Kassa1342 Kassa 1918 1938 Kosice1388 Cassa Cassouia 1938 1945 Kassa1394 Cassow 1945 KosiceHistory editHistorical affiliations nbsp Kingdom of Hungary 1000 1526 nbsp John Zapolya s Eastern Hungarian Kingdom 1526 1551 Ottoman vassal nbsp Hajduk rebels of Istvan Bocskai 1604 1606 Ottoman backed nbsp Principality of Transylvania Ottoman vassal 1619 1629 1644 1648 nbsp Kuruc rebellion 1672 1682 Ottoman backed nbsp Imre Thokoly s Principality of Upper Hungary Ottoman vassal 1682 1686 nbsp Francis II Rakoczi s insurrection 1703 1711 nbsp Kingdom of Hungary crownland of the Austrian Empire 1804 1867 nbsp Austro Hungarian Empire 1867 1918 nbsp Czechoslovakia 1918 1938 nbsp Kingdom of Hungary 1938 1945 nbsp Czechoslovakia 1945 1992 nbsp Slovakia 1993 present nbsp Eastern Hungarian Kingdom around 1550 including Kosice shown as Kassa nbsp Part of the Ottoman Empire in 1683 including the Principality of Upper Hungary based around Kosice shown as Kassa The first evidence of habitation can be traced back to the end of the Paleolithic era The first written reference to the Hungarian town of Kosice as the royal village of Villa Cassa comes from 1230 After the Mongol invasion in 1241 King Bela IV of Hungary invited German colonists see Zipser Germans Germans of Hungary to fill the gaps in population The city was in the historic Abauj County of the Kingdom of Hungary There were two independent settlements Lower Kassa and Upper Kassa which were amalgamated in the 13th century around the long lens shaped ring of today s Main Street The first known town privileges come from 1290 16 The town proliferated because of its strategic location on an international trade route from agriculturally rich central Hungary to central Poland itself part of a longer route connecting the Balkans and the Adriatic and Aegean seas to the Baltic Sea The privileges given by the king were helpful in developing crafts business increasing importance seat of the royal chamber clarification needed for Upper Hungary and for building its strong fortifications 5 In 1307 the first guild regulations were registered here they were the oldest in the Kingdom of Hungary 17 As a Hungarian free royal town Kosice reinforced the king s troops at the crucial moment of the bloody Battle of Rozgony in 1312 against the strong aristocratic Palatine Amade Aba family 18 19 In 1347 it became the second placed city in the hierarchy of the Hungarian free royal towns with the same rights as the capital Buda In 1369 it was granted its own coat of arms by Louis I of Hungary 16 The Diet convened by Louis I in Kosice decided that women could inherit the Hungarian throne nbsp Cassovia Superioris Hungariae Civitas Primaria 20 the prospect from Civitates orbis terrarum Cassovia Slovak Kosice German Kaschau Hungarian Kassa the capital of Upper Hungary in 1617 nbsp The military base in Kosice at the end of the 18th century nbsp National Theater built in 1899 nbsp Main Street 1902The significance and wealth of the city at the end of the 14th century were mirrored by the decision to build an entirely new church on the grounds of the previously destroyed smaller St Elisabeth Church The construction of St Elisabeth Cathedral the biggest cathedral in the Kingdom of Hungary was supported by Emperor Sigismund and by the apostolic see itself From the beginning of the 15th century the city played a leading role in the Pentapolitana the league of the five most important cities in Upper Hungary Bardejov Levoca Kosice Presov and Sabinov During the reign of King Matthias Corvinus the town reached its medieval population peak With an estimated 10 000 inhabitants it was among the largest medieval cities in Europe 21 The history of Kosice was heavily influenced by the dynastic disputes over the Hungarian throne which together with the decline of the continental trade brought the city into stagnation Vladislaus III of Varna failed to capture the city in 1441 John Jiskra s mercenaries from Bohemia defeated Tamas Szekely s Hungarian army in 1449 John I Albert Prince of Poland failed to capture the city during a six month long siege in 1491 In 1526 the city paid homage to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I John Zapolya captured the town in 1536 but Ferdinand I reconquered it in 1551 22 In 1554 the settlement became the seat of the Captaincy of Upper Hungary 17th century edit In 1604 Catholics seized the Lutheran church in Kosice 23 The Calvinist Stephen Bocskay then occupied Kosice during his Protestant insurrection against the Habsburg dynasty with the backing of the Ottomans The future George I Rakoczi joined him as a military commander there Giorgio Basta commander of the Habsburg forces failed in his attempt to recapture the city At the Treaty of Vienna 1606 in return for giving back territory that included Kosice the rebels won from the Habsburgs a concession of religious toleration for the Magyar nobility and brokered an Austrian Turkish peace treaty Stephen Bocskay died in Kosice on December 29 1606 and was interred there For some decades during the 17th century Kosice was part of the Principality of Transylvania and consequently a part of the Ottoman Empire and was referred to as Kasa in Turkish 15 On September 5 1619 the prince of Transylvania Gabriel Bethlen captured Kosice with the assistance of the future George I Rakoczi in another anti Habsburg insurrection By the Peace of Nikolsburg in 1621 the Habsburgs restored the religious toleration agreement of 1606 and recognized Transylvanian rule over the seven Partium counties Ugocsa County Bereg County Zemplen County Borsod County Szabolcs County Szatmar County and Abauj County including Kosice 24 Bethlen married Catherine von Hohenzollern of Johann Sigismund Kurfurst von Brandenburg in Kosice in 1626 25 After Bethlen s death in 1629 Kosice and the rest of the Partium was returned to the Habsburgs 24 On January 18 1644 the Diet in Kosice elected George I Rakoczi the prince of Hungary He took the whole of Upper Hungary and joined the Swedish army besieging Brno for a projected march against Vienna However his nominal overlord the Ottoman Sultan ordered him to end the campaign though he did so with gains In the Treaty of Linz 1645 Kosice returned to Transylvania again as the Habsburgs recognized George s rule over the seven counties of the Partium 24 He died in 1648 and Kosice was returned to the Habsburgs once more 26 Subsequently Kosice became a centre of the Counter Reformation In 1657 a printing house and university were founded by the Jesuits funded by Emperor Leopold I The 1664 Peace of Vasvar at the end of the Austro Turkish War 1663 1664 awarded Szabolcs and Szatmar counties to the Habsburgs 27 which put once more positioned Kosice further inside the borders of Royal Hungary In the 1670s the Habsburgs built a modern pentagonal fortress citadel south of the city Also in the 1670s the city was besieged by Kuruc armies several times and it again rebelled against the Habsburgs The rebel leaders were massacred by the Emperor s soldiers on November 26 1677 Another rebel leader Imre Thokoly captured the city in 1682 making Kasa once again a vassal territory of the Ottoman Empire under the Principality of Upper Hungary until 1686 The Austrian field marshal Aeneas de Caprara took Kosice back from the Ottomans in late 1685 In 1704 1711 Prince of Transylvania Francis II Rakoczi made Kosice the main base in his War for Independence By 1713 the fortress had been demolished When not under Ottoman suzerainty Kosice was the seat of the Habsburg Captaincy of Upper Hungary and the seat of the Chamber of Szepes County Spis Zips which was a subsidiary of the supreme financial agency in Vienna responsible for Upper Hungary Due to Ottoman occupation of Eger Kosice was the residence of Eger s archbishop from 1596 to 1700 28 From 1657 it was the seat of the historic Royal University of Kassa Universitas Cassoviensis founded by Bishop Benedict Kishdy The university was transformed into a Royal Academy in 1777 then into a Law Academy in the 19th century It was to cease to exist in the turbulent year 1921 After the end of the anti Habsburg uprisings in 1711 the victorious Austrian armies drove the Ottoman Army back to the south and this major territorial change created new trade routes which circumvented Kosice The city began to decline and from a rich medieval town became a provincial town known for its military base and mainly dependent on agriculture 29 In 1723 the Immaculata statue was erected on the site of a former gallows at Hlavna ulica Main Street to commemorate the plague of 1710 1711 30 The city also became one of the centers of the Hungarian linguistic revival including the publication of the first Hungarian language periodical called the Magyar Museum in Hungary in 1788 31 The city s walls were demolished step by step from the early 19th century to 1856 only the Executioner s Bastion remained among limited parts of the wall The city became the seat of its own bishopric in 1802 The city s surroundings became a theater of war again during the Revolutions of 1848 when the Imperial cavalry general Franz Schlik defeated the Hungarian army on December 8 1848 and January 4 1849 The city was captured by the Hungarian army on February 15 1849 but the Russian troops drove them back on June 24 1849 32 In 1828 there were three manufacturers and 460 workshops 33 The first factories were established in the 1840s sugar and nail factories The first telegram message arrived in 1856 and the railway connected the city to Miskolc in 1860 In 1873 there were already connections to Presov Zilina and Chop Ukraine in today s Ukraine The city gained a public transit system in 1891 when the track was laid down for a horse drawn tramway The traction was electrified in 1914 33 In 1906 Francis II Rakoczi s house of Rodosto was reproduced in Kosice and his remains were buried in the St Elisabeth Cathedral 34 After World War I and during the gradual break up of Austria Hungary the city at first became a part of the transient Eastern Slovak Republic declared on December 11 1918 in Kosice and earlier in Presov under the protection of Hungary On December 29 1918 the Czechoslovak Legions entered the city making it part of the newly established Czechoslovakia However in June 1919 Kosice was occupied again as part of the Slovak Soviet Republic a proletarian puppet state of Hungary The Czechoslovak troops secured the city for Czechoslovakia in July 1919 35 which was later upheld under the terms of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 Fate of Kosice Jews edit Further information History of the Jews in Slovakia and History of the Jews in Hungary Jews had lived in Kosice since the 16th century but were not allowed to settle permanently There is a document identifying the local coiner in 1524 as a Jew and claiming that his predecessor was a Jew as well Jews were allowed to enter the city during the town fair but were forced to leave it by night and lived mostly in nearby Rozunfaca In 1840 the ban was removed and a few Jews were living in the town among them a widow who ran a small Kosher restaurant for the Jewish merchants passing through the town Kosice was ceded to Hungary by the First Vienna Award from 1938 until early 1945 The town was bombarded on June 26 1941 by a still unidentified aircraft 36 in what became a pretext for the Hungarian government to declare war on the Soviet Union a day later The German occupation of Hungary led to the deportation of Kosice s entire Jewish population of 12 000 and an additional 2 000 from surrounding areas via cattle cars to the concentration camps In 1946 after the war Kosice was the site of an orthodox festival with a Mizrachi convention and a Bnei Akiva Yeshiva school for Jews which later that year moved with its students to Israel 37 A memorial plaque in honor to the 12 000 deported Jews from Kosice and the surrounding areas in Slovakia was unveiled at the pre war Kosice Orthodox synagogue in 1992 38 Soviet occupation edit The Soviet Union captured the town in January 1945 and for a short time it became a temporary capital of the restored Czechoslovak Republic until the Red Army had reached Prague Among other acts the Kosice Government Programme was declared on April 5 1945 35 A large population of ethnic Germans in the area was expelled and sent on foot to Germany or to the Soviet border 39 After the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948 the city became part of the Eastern Bloc Several cultural institutions that still exist were founded and large residential areas around the city were built The construction and expansion of the East Slovak Ironworks caused the population to grow from 60 700 in 1950 to 235 000 in 1991 Before the breakup of Czechoslovakia 1993 it was the fifth largest city in the federation Under Slovakia edit Following the Velvet Divorce and creation of the Slovak Republic Kosice became the second largest city in the country and became a seat of a constitutional court Since 1995 it has been the seat of the Archdiocese of Kosice After 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Kosice as a regional metropolitan area became a major hub for administration transfer and housing of refugees fleeing from Ukraine 40 41 Geography editKosice lies at an altitude of 206 metres 676 ft above sea level and covers an area of 242 77 square kilometres 93 7 sq mi 42 It is located in eastern Slovakia about 20 kilometres 12 mi from the Hungarian 80 kilometres 50 mi from the Ukrainian and 90 kilometres 56 mi from the Polish borders It is about 400 kilometres 249 mi east of Slovakia s capital Bratislava and a chain of villages connects it to Presov which is about 36 kilometres 22 mi to the north Kosice is on the Hornad River in the Kosice Basin at the easternmost reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains More precisely it is a subdivision of the Cierna hora mountains in the northwest and Volovske vrchy mountains in the southwest The basin is met on the east by the Slanske vrchy mountains Climate editKosice has a humid continental climate Koppen Dfb as the city lies in the north temperate zone The city has four distinct seasons with long warm summers with cool nights and long cold and snowy winters Precipitation varies little throughout the year with abundance precipitation that falls during summer and only few during winter The coldest month is January with an average temperature of 2 6 C 27 3 F and the hottest month is July with an average temperature of 19 3 C 66 7 F Climate data for Kosice Slovakia 1991 2020 normals extremes 1951 present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 13 2 55 8 16 4 61 5 25 4 77 7 28 7 83 7 32 0 89 6 36 0 96 8 38 5 101 3 37 4 99 3 34 1 93 4 26 6 79 9 22 4 72 3 13 4 56 1 38 5 101 3 Mean daily maximum C F 1 0 33 8 3 7 38 7 9 9 49 8 16 5 61 7 21 2 70 2 24 8 76 6 26 6 79 9 26 8 80 2 21 2 70 2 14 8 58 6 8 2 46 8 1 8 35 2 14 7 58 5 Daily mean C F 1 9 28 6 0 0 32 0 4 7 40 5 10 9 51 6 15 5 59 9 19 2 66 6 20 8 69 4 20 5 68 9 15 2 59 4 9 7 49 5 4 5 40 1 0 7 30 7 9 9 49 8 Mean daily minimum C F 4 8 23 4 3 6 25 5 0 0 32 0 5 0 41 0 9 6 49 3 13 2 55 8 14 8 58 6 14 6 58 3 10 1 50 2 5 3 41 5 1 2 34 2 3 3 26 1 5 2 41 4 Record low C F 26 9 16 4 22 3 8 1 17 1 1 2 7 3 18 9 2 6 27 3 0 4 31 3 4 2 39 6 2 7 36 9 3 4 25 9 8 6 16 5 14 0 6 8 21 3 6 3 26 9 16 4 Average precipitation mm inches 25 7 1 01 26 8 1 06 23 6 0 93 42 4 1 67 69 4 2 73 87 5 3 44 93 5 3 68 66 5 2 62 50 1 1 97 51 1 2 01 40 2 1 58 36 1 1 42 613 0 24 13 Average precipitation days 1 0 mm 12 7 10 8 9 0 10 8 13 3 13 4 12 9 9 7 10 7 11 0 11 9 14 2 140 4Average snowy days 14 0 10 9 5 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 8 12 7 50 4Average relative humidity 84 5 78 7 68 4 61 7 66 0 66 8 67 0 66 3 71 6 78 1 83 5 86 0 73 2Mean monthly sunshine hours 57 0 83 9 155 5 200 5 239 9 253 4 258 9 264 7 189 4 131 0 66 7 41 0 1 941 9Source 1 World Meteorological Organisation 43 44 Source 2 SHMI extremes 1951 present 45 Demographics edit nbsp Hlavna ulica Main Street in historic downtown nbsp Statue of Kosice s coat of arms the first municipal coat of arms in EuropeKosice has a population of 228 249 mid year 2021 According to the 2021 census 84 of inhabitants are of Slovak nationality 2 are each Hungarians and additional 2 Roma There are also modestly sized Czech Ruthenian Ukrainian and Vietnamese communities In terms of religion 51 of inhabitants are Catholic and 28 had no religious affiliation with smaller Protestant denominations also present 46 47 Historical demographics edit According to the researchers the town had a German majority until the mid 16th century 48 and by 1650 72 5 of the population may have been Hungarians 49 13 2 was German 14 3 was Slovak or of uncertain origin 48 The Ottoman Turkish traveller Evliya Celebi mentioned that the city was inhabited by Hungarians Germans Upper Hungarians in 1661 when the city was under the suzerainty of Ottoman Empire and under Turkish control 48 The linguistic makeup of the town s population underwent historical changes that alternated between the growth of the ratio of those who claimed Hungarian and those who claimed Slovak as their language With a population of 28 884 in 1891 just under half 49 9 of the inhabitants of Kosice declared Hungarian then the official language as their main means of communication 33 6 Slovak and 13 5 German 72 2 were Roman Catholics 11 4 Jews 7 3 Lutherans 6 7 Greek Catholics and 4 3 Calvinists 50 The results of that census are questioned by some historians 51 by a disputed claim that they were manipulated to increase the percentage of the Magyars during a period of Magyarization citation needed By the 1910 census which is sometimes accused of being manipulated by the ruling Hungarian bureaucracy 52 75 4 of the 44 211 inhabitants claimed Hungarian 14 8 Slovak 7 2 German and 1 8 Polish 53 The Jews were split among other groups by the 1910 census as only the most frequently used language not ethnicity was registered 54 The population around 1910 was multidenominational and multiethnic and the differences in the level of education mirror the stratification of society 55 The town s linguistic balance began to shift towards Slovak after World War I by Slovakization in the newly established Czechoslovakia citation needed According to the 1930 census the city had 70 111 with 230 Gypsies today Roma 42 245 Czechoslovaks today Czechs and Slovaks 11 504 Hungarians 3 354 Germans 44 Poles 14 Romanians 801 Ruthenians 27 Serbocroatians today Serbs and Croatians and 5 733 Jews 56 As a consequence of the First and Second Vienna Awards Kosice was ceded to Hungary During the German occupation of Hungary towards the end of World War II approximately 10 000 Jews were deported by the Arrow Cross Party and the Nazis and killed in Auschwitz 57 The ethnic makeup of the town was dramatically changed by the persecution of the town s large Hungarian majority population exchanges between Hungary and Slovakia and Slovakization and by mass migration of Slovaks into newly built communist block microdistricts which increased the population of Kosice four times by 1989 and made it the fastest growing city in Czechoslovakia 58 Culture edit nbsp Kasarne Kulturpark nbsp Kunsthalle sk nbsp SPOT Vazecka nbsp State Theatre Kosice Performing arts edit There are several theatres in Kosice The Kosice State Theater was founded in 1945 then under the name of the East Slovak National Theater It consists of three ensembles drama opera and ballet Other theatres include the Marionette Theatre and the Old Town Theatre Staromestske divadlo The presence of Hungarian and Roma minorities makes it also host the Hungarian Thalia theatre and the professional Roma theatre Romathan 59 Kosice is the home of the State Philharmonic Kosice Statna filharmonia Kosice established in 1968 as the second professional symphonic orchestra in Slovakia It organizes festivals such as the Kosice Music Spring Festival the International Organ Music Festival and the Festival of Contemporary art 60 Museums and galleries edit Some of the museums and galleries based in the city include the East Slovak Museum Vychodoslovenske muzeum originally established in 1872 under the name of the Upper Hungarian Museum The Slovak Technical Museum Slovenske technicke muzeum with a planetarium established in 1947 is the only museum in the technical category in Slovakia that specializes in the history and traditions of science and technology 61 The East Slovak Gallery Vychodoslovenska galeria was established in 1951 as the first regional gallery with the aim to document artistic life in present day eastern Slovakia 62 European Capital of Culture edit In 2008 Kosice won the competition among Slovak cities to hold the prestigious title European Capital of Culture 2013 Project Interface aims at the transformation of Kosice from a centre of heavy industry to a postindustrial city with creative potential and new cultural infrastructure Project authors bring Kosice a concept of the creative economy merging of economy and industry with arts where transformed urban space encourages development of certain fields of creative industry design media architecture music and film production IT technologies creative tourism The artistic and cultural program stems from a conception of sustained maintainable activities with long lasting effects on cultural life in Kosice and its region The main project venues are Kasarne Kulturpark 19th century military barracks turned into new urban space with a centre of contemporary art exhibition and concert halls and workshops for the creative industry 63 Kunsthalle Kosice a 1960s disused swimming pool turned into the first Kunsthalle in Slovakia 64 SPOTs the 1970s and 1980s disused heat exchangers turned into cultural spots in Communist Era block of flats districts 65 City park Park Komenskeho and Mojzesova revitalisation of urban spaces Castle of Kosice Amfiteater Mansion of Krasna Handicrafts Street reconstruction Tabacka a 19th century tobacco factory turned into a centre of independent culture The Tabacka Kulturfabrik DIG gallery Kotolna and several artistic residents are located in the area of the former tobacco factory Media edit The first and the oldest international festival of local TV broadcasters founded in 1995 The Golden Beggar takes place every year in June in Kosice The oldest evening newspaper is the Kosicky vecer The daily paper in Kosice is Korzar Recently the daily paper Kosice Dnes Kosice Today came into existence TV stations based in Kosice TV Nasa TV Region and public TV broadcaster RTVS Televizne studio Kosice Radio stations based in Kosice Radio Kosice Dobre radio Radio Kiss Radio Sport and the public broadcaster RTVS Radio Regina KosiceEconomy edit nbsp Aupark Shopping CentreKosice is the economic hub of eastern Slovakia It accounts for about 9 of the Slovak gross domestic product citation needed The steel mill U S Steel Kosice with 13 500 employees is the largest employer in the city and the largest private employer in the country 66 The second largest employer in the east of the country is Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia It was established and has been based in Kosice since 2006 Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia had 4 545 employees in Kosice in Q4 of 2020 which makes it the second largest shared service center in Slovakia and one of the top fifteen largest employers in Slovakia As part of the growing ICT field Kosice IT Valley association was established in 2007 as a joint initiative of educational institutions government and leading IT companies In 2012 it was transformed into the cluster In 2018 the cluster was for the second time certified for Cluster Management Excellence Label GOLD as the first in central Europe and is one of three certified clusters in the area of information and communication technologies Volvo Cars has invested 1 2 billion euros 1 25 billion USD in a new plant which is set to start construction in 2023 for opening in 2026 Other major sectors include mechanical engineering food industry services and trade 67 GDP per capita in 2001 was 4 004 which was below Slovakia s average of 4 400 67 The unemployment rate was 8 32 in November 2015 which was below the country s average 10 77 at that time 68 The city has a balanced budget of 224 million euros as of 2019 update 69 Sights edit nbsp The Cathedral of St Elizabeth in Kosice is Slovakia s largest churchThe city centre and most historical monuments are located in or around the Main Street Hlavna ulica and the town has the largest number of protected historical monuments in Slovakia 70 The most dominant historical monument of the city is Slovakia s largest church the 14th century Gothic Cathedral of St Elizabeth it is the easternmost cathedral of western style Gothic architecture in Central Europe 70 and is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kosice In addition to St Elizabeth there is the 14th century St Michael Chapel the St Urban Tower and the Neo baroque State Theater in the center of town The Executioner s Bastion and the Mill Bastion are the remains of the city s previous fortification system The Church of the Virgin Mary s Birth is the cathedral for the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Kosice Other monuments and buildings of cultural and historical interest are the old Town Hall the Old University the Captain s Palace Liberation Square as well as a number of galleries the East Slovak Gallery and museums the East Slovak Museum There is a Municipal Park located between the historical city centre and the main railway station The city also has a zoo located northwest of the city within the borough of Kavecany Places of worship edit Cathedral of St Elizabeth Dominican Church Franciscan Church Hospital Church of Holy Spirit Plague Chapel of St Rosalie Premonstratensian Church former Jesuit Church Calvinist Church Evangelical Church Synagogue at Puskinova Street nbsp Late Renaissance early Baroque Jesuits Church nbsp Empire style Pongrac Forgacs Palace nbsp Historicism style Jakab s Palace nbsp Neo Renaissance Andrassy Palace nbsp Art Nouveau style coffeehouse SlaviaGovernment edit nbsp Divizia seat of the Kosice Self Governing Region nbsp The seat of the Slovak Constitutional CourtMain article Boroughs and localities of Kosice Kosice is the seat of the Kosice Region and since 2002 it is the seat of the autonomous Kosice Self governing Region Additionally it is the seat of the Slovak Constitutional Court The city hosts a regional branch of the National Bank of Slovakia Narodna banka Slovenska and consulates of Belgium Greece Hungary Russia Spain and Turkey The local government is composed of a mayor Slovak primator a city council mestske zastupiteľstvo a city board mestska rada city commissions Komisie mestskeho zastupiteľstva and a city magistrate s office magistrat The directly elected mayor is the head and chief executive of the city The term of office is four years The previous mayor Frantisek Knapik was nominated in 2006 by a coalition of four political parties KDH SMK and SDKU DS In 2010 he finished his term of office 71 The present mayor is Ing Jaroslav Polacek He was inaugurated on 10 December 2018 72 In 2021 the municipality recycled 24 64 of its municipal waste 73 Administratively the city of Kosice is divided into four districts Kosice I covering the center and northern parts Kosice II covering the southwest Kosice III east and Kosice IV south and further into 22 boroughs wards Administrative division of Kosice District BoroughsKosice I Dzungľa Kavecany Sever Sidlisko Tahanovce Stare Mesto TahanovceKosice II Lorincik Lunik IX Myslava Peres Poľov Sidlisko KVP Saca ZapadKosice III Dargovskych hrdinov Kosicka Nova VesKosice IV Barca Juh Krasna Nad jazerom Sebastovce Vysne OpatskeEducation editKosice is the second university town in Slovakia after Bratislava The Technical University of Kosice is its largest university with 16 015 students including 867 doctoral students 74 A second major university is the Pavol Jozef Safarik University with 7 403 students including 527 doctoral students 75 Other universities and colleges include the University of Veterinary Medicine in Kosice 1 381 students 76 and the private Security Management College in Kosice 1 168 students 77 Additionally the University of Economics in Bratislava the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra and the Catholic University in Ruzomberok each have a branch based in the city There are 38 public elementary schools six private elementary schools three religious elementary schools and one International Baccalaureate IB Primary Years Programme PYP candidate international school 78 Overall they enroll 20 158 pupils 78 The city s system of secondary education some middle schools and all high schools consists of 20 gymnasia with 7 692 students 79 24 specialized high schools with 8 812 students 80 and 13 vocational schools with 6 616 students 81 82 Kosice International School KEIS is the first international primary school in Eastern Slovakia It will be an International Baccalaureate IB Primary Years Programme PYP international school Opening in September 2020 83 Notable personalities editMain article List of people from KosiceTransport editMain article Public Transport in Kosice nbsp Kosice International AirportPublic transport in Kosice is managed by Dopravny podnik mesta Kosice 84 Public Transport Company of the City of Kosice The municipal mass transit system is the oldest one in present day Slovakia with the first horse car line beginning operation in 1891 electrified in 1914 33 Today the city s public transportation system is composed of buses in use since the 1950s trams and trolleybuses since 1993 Kosice railway station is a rail hub of eastern Slovakia The city is connected by rail to Prague Bratislava Presov Cierna nad Tisou Humenne Miskolc Hungary and Zvolen There is a broad gauge track from Ukraine leading to the steel mill southwest of the city The D1 motorway connects the city to Presov and more motorways and roads are planned around the city 85 Kosice International Airport is located south of the city Regular direct flights from the airport are available to London Luton and Stansted from April 2020 Vienna Warsaw Dusseldorf and Prague 86 Regular flights are provided by Czech Airlines Austrian Airlines Eurowings LOT Polish Airlines and Wizz Air and in code share by Air France KLM and Lufthansa At its peak in the year 2008 it served 590 919 passengers but the number has since declined 87 Sports edit nbsp Steel ArenaThe Kosice Peace Marathon founded in 1924 is the oldest annual marathon in Europe and the third oldest in the entire world after the Boston Marathon and the Yonkers Marathon It is run in the historic part of the city and is organized every year on the first Sunday of October Ice hockey club HC Kosice is one of the most successful Slovak hockey clubs It plays in Slovakia s highest league the Extraliga and has won eight titles in 1995 1996 1999 2009 2010 2011 2014 and 2015 and two titles 1986 and 1988 in the former Czechoslovak Extraliga Since 2006 their home is the Steel Arena which has a capacity of 8 343 spectators Kosice was once home to football club MFK Kosice until it folded due to bankruptcy It was the first club from Slovakia reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and won the domestic league twice 1998 and 1999 Another football club FC Kosice is currently in the first league with a new home stadium known as the Kosicka futbalova Arena KFA Kosice along with Bratislava hosted the 2011 and 2019 IIHF World Championship in ice hockey Kosice became the 2016 European City of Sport 88 by the European Capitals of Sports Association ACES Europe The sporting events in 2016 included the International Peace Marathon several urban runs a swimming relay contest the Kosice Tatry Kosice cycling race the dancesport world championships the Basketball Euroleague Volleyball World League and Water Polo World League 89 Twin towns sister cities edit nbsp The Tree of Partnership on Hlavna StreetSee also List of twin towns and sister cities in Slovakia Kosice is twinned with 90 nbsp Abaujszanto Hungary 2007 nbsp Budapest Hungary 1997 nbsp Bursa Turkey 2000 nbsp Cottbus Germany 1992 nbsp Da Nang Vietnam 2015 nbsp Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 2016 nbsp Katowice Poland 1991 nbsp Krosno Poland 1991 nbsp Miskolc Hungary 1997 nbsp Mobile United States 2000 nbsp Nis Serbia 2000 nbsp Ostrava Czech Republic 2001 nbsp Plovdiv Bulgaria 2000 nbsp Raahe Finland 1987 nbsp Rzeszow Poland 1991 nbsp Uzhhorod Ukraine 1993 nbsp Vysoke Tatry Slovakia 2006 nbsp Wuhan China 2012 nbsp Wuppertal Germany 1980 Former twin cities edit As a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the City Council had terminated cooperation with the following cities 91 nbsp Vitebsk Belarus 2015 nbsp Saint Petersburg Russia 1995 See also editKosice Peace Marathon List of people from Kosice List of municipalities and towns in Slovakia Zlaty dukatPortals nbsp Europe nbsp Slovakia nbsp European UnionNotes edit German Kaschau ˈkaʃaʊ Hungarian Kassa ˈkɒʃʃɒ Polish Koszyce kɔˈʂɨt sɛ Rusyn and Russian Koshice romanized Koshitse Ukrainian Koshici romanized Koshytsi References edit Zdruzenie Feman 2009 Feman Europsky festival kultury narodov a narodnosti Population and migration Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic Retrieved June 1 2022 Kosice Lexico UK English Dictionary Oxford University Press dead link Lucinda Mallows Slovakia The Bradt Travel Guide Globe Pequot Press Connecticut 2007 a b City of Kosice 2005 Short History of Kosice Archived from the original on October 24 2007 Retrieved February 10 2008 Z historie Kosic 13 storocie in Slovak City of Kosice 2005 Archived from the original on June 27 2007 Retrieved February 10 2008 a b Stefanik Martin Lukacka Jan eds 2010 Lexikon stredovekych miest na Slovensku Lexicon of Medieval Towns in Slovakia PDF in Slovak and English Bratislava Historicky ustav SAV p 194 ISBN 978 80 89396 11 5 Archived from the original PDF on March 2 2014 Retrieved May 31 2019 Varsik Branislav 1964 Osidlenie Kosickej kotliny I in Slovak Bratislava Veda Vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akademie vied p 193 ISBN 978 80 89396 11 5 Room Adrian December 31 2003 Placenames of the world origins and Google Books ISBN 9780786418145 Retrieved June 2 2011 Old Hungarian names PDF 2009 Magyar Nyelvtudomanyi Tarsasag Society of Hungarian Linguistics Magyar nyelv Volume 18 Akademiai Kiado 1922 p 142 Cited Kokos Kakas Kolumban Kalman Kopov Kopo Kokot Kakat hn stb Barmely ilyen Ko szotagon kezdodo tulajdonnevnek lehet a Kosa a szarmazeka E Kosa szn van nezetunk szerint Kassa regen Kossa Kosa varos neveben is Kokos Kakas Kolumban Kalman Kopov Kopo Kokot Kakat hn etc any proper nouns that begin with Ko syllable may have Kosa derivative in the name of Kassa as well its old form Kossa Kosa Vlastivedny Slovnik Obci na Slovensku VEDA vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akademie vied Bratislava 1978 Milan Majtan 1998 Nazvy Obci Slovenskej republiky Vyvin v rokoch 1773 1997 VEDA vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akademie vied Bratislava ISBN 80 224 0530 2 Lelkes Gyorgy 1992 Mayar Helysegnev Azonosito Szotar Balassi Kiado Budapest ISBN 963 7873 00 7 a b Papp Sandor Slovakya nin Tarihi TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi 33 337 Retrieved April 24 2016 a b Zaujimave letopocty z dejin mesta Kosice 1143 1560 in Slovak City of Kosice 2005 Archived from the original on May 10 2007 Retrieved February 10 2008 Z historie Kosic 14 storocie in Slovak City of Kosice 2005 Archived from the original on June 25 2007 Retrieved February 10 2008 Rady Martyn C 2000 Nobility land and service in medieval Hungary University of London p 51 ISBN 978 0 333 80085 0 Warfare in Fourteenth Century Hungary from the Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum De Re Militari an international scholarly association Archived from the original on September 17 2011 Retrieved September 24 2014 Matica slovenska Kniha Matica slovenska 2008 p 16 R O Halaga Pravny uzemny a populacny vyvoj mesta Kosic Kosice 1967 p 54 Pallas Nagy Lexikona in Hungarian City of Kassa Retrieved February 10 2008 Mahoney William February 18 2011 The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia ABC CLIO ISBN 9780313363061 via Google Books a b c Hotte Hans H A December 17 2014 Atlas of Southeast Europe Geopolitics and History Volume One 1521 1699 BRILL ISBN 9789004288881 via Google Books Tenderlap in Hungarian City of Kosice Archived from the original on July 7 2007 a s Petit Press HISToRIA The Treaty of Vasvar What Was Lost and What Remained mek oszk hu A torteneti Magyarorszag katolikus leveltarai Eger in Hungarian City of Kosice Archived from the original on February 2 2009 Z historie Kosic 18 storocie in Slovak City of Kosice n d Archived from the original on September 25 2006 Retrieved January 23 2007 Immaculata City of Kosice 2005 Archived from the original on September 25 2006 Retrieved February 10 2008 Kazinczy Ferenc in Hungarian City of Kosice Archived from the original on February 19 2009 MEK Magyar Elektronikus Konyvtar in Hungarian City of Kosice a b c Zaujimave letopocty z dejin mesta Kosice 1657 1938 in Slovak City of Kosice n d Archived from the original on May 15 2007 Retrieved January 20 2008 Rakoczi in Kosice 1906 2006 Who was Francis II Rakoczi various February 24 2006 Archived from the original on February 2 2009 Retrieved March 3 2008 a b Z historie Kosic 20 storocie Slovak in Slovak City of Kosice 2005 Archived from the original on February 2 2009 Retrieved January 20 2008 Dreisziger Nandor F 1972 New Twist to an Old Riddle The Bombing of Kassa Kosice June 26 1941 Journal of Modern History 44 2 232 42 doi 10 1086 240751 S2CID 143124708 ארכיון בית העדות תוצאות חיפוש www catalog beit haedut org il permanent dead link Memorial plaque in the synagogue of Kosice Holocaust Memorials Monuments Museums and Institutions in Commemoration of Nazi Victims Berlin Germany Stiftung Topographie des Terrors Retrieved October 20 2019 Forgotten Voices page 97 a s Petit Press March 1 2022 Station in Kosice full of refugees mostly students from Africa spectator sme sk Retrieved March 20 2022 Florkiewicz Pawel Komuves Anita February 26 2022 Refugees flee Ukraine across EU borders as Russia renews assault Reuters Retrieved March 20 2022 Municipal Statistics Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic Archived from the original on December 17 2007 Retrieved May 3 2007 World Weather Information Service Kosice World Meteorological Organization Archived from the original on August 7 2023 Retrieved August 7 2023 Kosice Airport Climate Normals 1991 2020 World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals 1991 2020 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Archived from the original on August 7 2023 Retrieved August 7 2023 Kosice Barca in Italian Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute sk Archived from the original on August 29 2023 Retrieved August 30 2023 Udaje o obyvateľoch PDF Retrieved March 21 2024 Zakladna charakteristika demograficke udaje Oficialne stranky mesta Kosice www kosice sk in Slovak Retrieved March 21 2024 a b c Karoly Kocsis Eszter Kocsisne Hodosi Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin Simon Publications LLC 1998 p 46 47 1 permanent dead link Kocsis Karoly Kocsis Hodosi Eszter April 1 2001 Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin Simon Publications Incorporated ISBN 9781931313759 via Google Books permanent dead link A Pallas nagy lexikona Az osszes ismeretek enciklopediaja X Kacs Kozellatas 1 ed Budapest Pallas Irodalmi es Nyomdai Reszvenytarsasag 1895 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Murad Anatol 1968 Franz Joseph I of Austria and His Empire Google Knihy Retrieved August 13 2012 Teich Mikulas Dusan Kovac Martin D Brown 2011 Slovakia in History Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781139494946 Retrieved September 15 2011 Atlas and Gazetteer of Historic Hungary 1914 Talma Kiado Archived January 14 2017 at the Wayback Machine Abauj Torna County Retrieved January 26 2008 permanent dead link Karady Viktor Nagy Peter Tibor January 10 2006 Educational inequalities and denominations 1910 Vol 2 Database for Eastern Slovakia and North Eastern Hungary In the course of research Sociology of religion J Wesley Publ ISBN 9789638718198 Encyklopedie branne moci Republiky Ceskoslovenske 2006 J Fidler V Sluka Zidia v Kosiciach in Slovak Retrieved January 26 2008 KOROTNOKY Ľudovit ed Kosice sprievodca Kosice Vychodoslovenske tlaciarne 1989 166 s ISBN 80 85174 40 5 Kosice metropola vychodneho Slovenska in Slovak Kosice info 2008 Retrieved January 29 2008 The Slovak State Philharmonic Kosice History The Slovak State Philharmonic Kosice n d Archived from the original on February 2 2009 Slovenske technicke muzeum Historia muzea in Slovak n d Retrieved January 29 2008 Vychodoslovenska galeria in Slovak cassovia sk n d Retrieved January 29 2008 Kasarne Kulturpark Wikipedia in Slovak April 29 2022 retrieved June 12 2022 Kunsthalle Kosice Wikipedia in Slovak February 5 2021 retrieved June 12 2022 s r o Adsulting EN Vymenniky in Slovak Retrieved June 12 2022 Najvacsi zamestnavatelia Slovenska Trend in Slovak Archived from the original on January 25 2008 Retrieved January 24 2008 a b Urban Audit Archived from the original on November 9 2011 Retrieved January 24 2008 Nezamestnanost mesacne statistiky in Slovak Central Office of Labour Social Affairs and Family 2015 Retrieved January 8 2016 Uznesenie z II rokovania Mestskeho zastupiteľstva v Kosiciach zo dna 22 februara 2007 RTF in Slovak City of Kosice 2007 Retrieved January 25 2008 a b Town monument reserve Kosice Slovak Tourist Board 2007 Archived from the original on October 25 2007 Retrieved January 23 2007 Frantisek Knapik Archived from the original on January 20 2012 Retrieved March 19 2011 a s Petit Press Novy kosicky primator sľubil navrat trolejbusov aj protikorupcny audit kosice korzar sme sk in Slovak Retrieved December 10 2018 Komunalny odpad Oficialne stranky mesta Kosice www kosice sk in Slovak Retrieved March 23 2022 Technicka univerzita Kosice PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Archived from the original PDF on February 27 2008 Retrieved February 14 2008 Univerzita Pavla Jozefa Safarika PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Archived from the original PDF on February 27 2008 Retrieved February 14 2008 Univerzita veterinarneho lekarstva PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Retrieved February 14 2008 dead link Vysoka skola bezpecnostneho manazerstva PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Archived from the original PDF on February 27 2008 Retrieved February 14 2008 a b Prehľad zakladnych skol v skolskom roku 2006 2007 PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva 2006 Archived from the original PDF on February 27 2008 Retrieved February 14 2008 Prehľad gymnazii v skolskom roku 2006 2007 PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Archived from the original PDF on February 27 2008 Retrieved February 14 2008 Prehľad strednych odbornych skol v skolskom roku 2006 2007 PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Archived from the original PDF on February 27 2008 Retrieved February 14 2008 Prehľad zdruzenych strednych skol v skolskom roku 2006 2007 PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Archived from the original PDF on July 10 2007 Retrieved February 14 2008 Prehľad strednych odbornych ucilist a ucilist v skolskom roku 2006 2007 PDF in Slovak Ustav informacii a prognoz skolstva Archived from the original PDF on February 27 2008 Retrieved February 14 2008 Kosice International School in English and Slovak KEIS Retrieved March 26 2020 Dopravny podnik mesta Kosice a s DPMK www dpmk sk Jan Gana 2007 Highways and tunnels in Slovakia Archived from the original on February 1 2008 Retrieved January 23 2008 Kosice International Airport Departures Kosice International Airport 2010 Archived from the original on July 6 2007 Retrieved March 22 2010 Kosice International Airport Statistics Kosice International Airport 2010 Archived from the original on October 3 2011 Retrieved March 22 2010 EMS Kosice PZP EMS Kosice Kosice 2016 International City of Sport Kosice International Airtport bart sk 2012 Twin cities of the City of Kosice Kosice Retrieved April 20 2022 Tlacova agentura Slovenskej republiky TASR sk www tasr sk Retrieved January 25 2023 Bibliography edit Dreisziger Nandor F 1972 New Twist to an Old Riddle The Bombing of Kassa Kosice June 26 1941 Journal of Modern History 44 2 232 42 doi 10 1086 240751 S2CID 143124708 Kinselbaum Stanislav J 2006 The A to Z of Slovakia A to Z Guide Series 236 Toronto Canada The Scarecrow Press External links editListen to this article 28 minutes source source nbsp This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 1 May 2009 2009 05 01 and does not reflect subsequent edits Audio help More spoken articles Official sites edit nbsp Media related to Kosice at Wikimedia Commons Official website of the town of Kosice Official Tourism and Travel Guide to Kosice DPMK Public Transport Office SiteTourism and living information edit nbsp Kosice travel guide from Wikivoyage Tourist guide Cassovia Digitalis The Digital City Library German Slovak Hungarian English Kosice at funiq euPhotographs edit Comprehensive photo gallery of Kosice in Slovak Panoramic photo gallery of Kosice Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kosice amp oldid 1215377676, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.