Brezová pod Bradlom (german: Birkenhain; hu, Berezó) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the

Myjava District Myjava District ( sk, okres Myjava, hu, Milavai járás) is a district in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia. It is located in the area of the Myjava Hills. Myjava district belongs to the smaller districts in Slovakia and the population den ...

Trenčín Region The Trenčín Region ( sk, Trenčiansky kraj, ; cs, Trenčínský kraj; hu, Trencséni kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. It consists of 9 districts ('' okresy''). The region was established in 1996: previously it had ...

, western

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 ...

, at the western foothills of the

Little Carpathians The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', sk, Malé Karpaty; german: Kleine Karpaten; hu, Kis-Kárpátok) are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slov ...

, in the Myjavské Kopanice region.

History

The territory of Brezová pod Bradlom appears for the first time in written records in 1262. The village was permanently settled in the 15th century or in the first half of 16th century. It was granted the town status in 1709, confirmed in 1966.

Demographics

Brezová pod Bradlom has a population of around 5,000. 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 incl ...

, 92.2% of inhabitants were

Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...

and 0.8%

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, c ...

. The religious makeup was 38.5%

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 ...

, 24.9%

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and 22.5% people with no religious affiliation.

Sights

The monumental tomb of

Milan Rastislav Štefánik Milan Rastislav Štefánik (; 21 July 1880 – 4 May 1919) was a Slovak politician, diplomat, aviator and astronomer. During World War I, he served at the same time as a general in the French Army and as Minister of War for Czechoslovakia. A ...

is located on the Bradlo hill (543 metres (1,781 ft), approximately three kilometres from the town, on the road to

Košariská Košariská (; hu, Kosaras) is a village and municipality in Myjava District in the Trenčín Region of north-western Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1786. Geography The municipality lies at an al ...

. The monument's construction started in 1924, five years after Štefánik's death and was finished in 1928. The tomb was designed by architect

Dušan Jurkovič Dušan Samo Jurkovič (23 August 1868, Turá Lúka – 21 December 1947, Bratislava) was a Slovak architect, furniture designer, artist and ethnographer. One of the best-known promoters of Slovak art in 20th century Czechoslovakia, he is reme ...

Twin towns — sister cities

Brezová pod Bradlom is twinned with: *

Břeclav Břeclav (; german: Lundenburg) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Town parts of Charvátská Nová Ves and Poštorná are administrative parts of Břeclav. Etymol ...

, Czech Republic * Paulhan, France

History

Demographics

Sights

Twin towns — sister cities

See also