Bytča ( hu, Nagybiccse) is a town in northwestern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. It is located on the

Váh The Váh (; german: Waag, ; hu, Vág; pl, WagWag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów ...

River near the cities of

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of ...

and

Považská Bystrica Považská Bystrica (; german: Waagbistritz; hu, Vágbeszterce) is a town in northwestern Slovakia. It is located on the Váh river, around 30 km from the city of Žilina. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism. Profile Považská B ...

. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism.

Etymology

The name comes from a Slavic personal name ''Bytek'', ''Bytko'' → ''Bytča''.

History

The town arose in 1946 by a merger of the settlements Malá Bytča (including Beňov and Mikšová), Veľká Bytča and Hliník nad Váhom. The first written reference to the town's main part Veľká Bytča dates from 1234 as ''terra Bycha''. The settlement got its town charter in 1378. It was the seat of a feudal dominion and later a town with many craftsmen. In Hungarian, it was known as Biccse.

Landmarks

The town features a famous castle the Thurzó Castle built as a water castle by Pongrác Szentmiklósi in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 16th century in

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

style by Ferenc Thurzó. The town also houses the Wedding Palace (built by

György Thurzó György Thurzó (german: Georg Thurzo, sk, Juraj Turzo; 2 September 1567 – 24 December 1616) was a powerful Hungarian magnate, who served as the Palatine of Hungary between 1609 and 1616. Biography György Thurzó was born into the richest ...

for his daughters' wedding) from 1601, which is the only building of this kind in Slovakia, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical bourgeoisie houses, an archive, and a museum (in the Wedding Palace).

Demographics

According to the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, the town had 11,150 inhabitants. 98.27% of inhabitants were Slovaks and 0.58%

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, ...

. The religious make-up was 90.87% Roman Catholics, 4.35% people with no religious affiliation and 1.51%

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

Economy

Today, the town is home to machine (Kinex), textile,

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wood pro ...

(sports equipment), and food (brewery) industries. The brewery closed in the 2010s.

Boroughs

Bytča includes the following former villages: Psurnovice, Hrabove, Horne Hlboke, Dolne Hlboke, Hlboke nad Vahom, Benov, Miksova, Hlinik nad Vahom, Velka Bytca, Mala Bytca. Current boroughs (year of merger in brackets): *Beňov (c. 1899 with Malá Bytča, probably Hungarian name was Banya) *Hliník nad Váhom (1946, hu, Hlinik; also called Vágagyagos between 1899 and 1919) * Hrabové (1971; hu, Hrabova; also called Rabó between 1899 and 1919) *Malá Bytča (1946; hu, Kisbiccse, german: Klein-Bitsch; also called Miksofalva from 1907 to 1919) *Mikšová (1907 with Malá Bytča, hu, Miksófalvá) *Pšurnovice (1971; hu, Psurnovicz; also called Legelővölgy between 1899 and 1919) *Veľká Bytča (1946; hu, Nagybiccse, german: Groß-Bitsch)

Twin towns — sister cities

Bytča is twinned with: * Karolinka, Czech Republic *

Opoczno Opoczno ) is a town in south-central Poland, in eastern part of Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship (1975–1998). It has a long and rich history, and in the past it used to be one of the most importa ...

, Poland

Notable people

Adolf Neubauer Adolf Neubauer (11 March 1831 in Bittse, Hungary – 6 April 1907, London) was at the Bodleian Library and reader in Rabbinic Hebrew at Oxford University. Biography He was born in Bittse (Nagybiccse), Upper Hungary (now Bytča in Slovaki ...

, Jewish scholar *

Jozef Tiso Jozef Gašpar Tiso (; hu, Tiszó József; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovak politician and Roman Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, from 1939 to 194 ...

(1887–1947), Slovak priest, politician and leader of the First Slovak Republic (1939–1945) executed for war crimes