Divina ( hu, Nagydivény) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Žilina District Žilina District ( sk, Okres Žilina) is an '' okres'' (district) of the Žilina Region in north-western Slovakia. The district was first established in 1923. Its present borders date from 1996. The heart of the district is the Váh and Rajec rive ...

in the

Žilina Region The Žilina Region ( sk, Žilinský kraj; pl, Kraj żyliński; hu, Zsolnai kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts ( okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region ...

of northern

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 ...

History

In historical records the

was first mentioned in 1325. File:Divina, pečať.jpg, Oldest seal of Divina village File:Lúky, pečať.JPG, Oldest seal of Lúky village, part of Divina

Geography

The

lies at an

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

between 355 – 910 metres (center of the village 550 meters) and covers an

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

of 21.881 km². It has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of about 2384 people.

Monuments and Memorials

Church of St. Andrew

Late baroque church, built between 1773 and 1779 by John Nepomuk Szunyogh. The church is registered in the Central List of the Slovak Memorial Fund under the number 1333/1.

Statue of St. John of Nepomuk in Divina

The Statue of St. John of Nepomuk is registered in the Central List of the Slovak Memorial Fund under the number 1334/2. It is a sandstone sculpture from 1796 standing on a stone base. The project of restoration of St. John of Nepomuk statue was initiated by architect Marek Sobola and was started in 2016, was completed in June 2017. Partners, who were addressed to cooperate have either some connection to St. John of Nepomuk or to Slovakia and was from:

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Vatican and

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The project was carried out under auspices of the

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

of the Federal Republic of Germany in Slovakia. Exceptional realization of the restoration project of the statie has gained a Honorable recognition by Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic, Ľubica Laššáková on the 13th edition of the competition Phoenix – National Cultural Monument of the Year 2017. File:Divina Kostol sv. Ondreja.jpg, Church of St. Andrew in Divina File:Ľudový dom.JPG, Typical folk house from Divina, built 1907

Monument of Divina Meteorite

Meteorit from Divina (official name Gross-Divina) fell into the center of the village on July 24, 1837. From the mineralogical point of view it is a

chondrite A chondrite is a stony (non-metallic) meteorite that has not been modified, by either melting or differentiation of the parent body. They are formed when various types of dust and small grains in the early Solar System accreted to form primi ...

. The weight was 10.5 kg. The memorial was designed by architect Marek Sobola, native of Divina. Architect used a

corten steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable rus ...

for the construction. The memorial contains a precise 3D copy of the meteorite. The original is in the Hungarian Natural History Museum as well as the

Natural History Museum Vienna The Natural History Museum Vienna (german: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the most important natural history museums worldwide. The NHM Vienna is one of the largest museum ...

. File:Pamätník divinského meteoritu, Divina.jpg, Monument of Divina Meteorite File:Divina John of Nepomuk Overall view.jpg, Statue of St. John of Nepomuk in Divina File:Štefan Závodník.jpg, Štefan Závodník

Personalities and natives

* Štefan Závodník (*2. 9. 1813,

Horná Poruba Horná Poruba ( hu, Felsőtölgyes) is a village and municipality in Ilava District in the Trenčín Region of north-western Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1335. Geography The municipality lies at a ...

– † 12. 2. 1885,

Pružina Pružina ( hu, Barossháza) is a village and municipality in Považská Bystrica District in the Trenčín Region of north-western Slovakia. Pružina is also a surname that comes from the village of Pružina and is very uncommon. History Several ...

) was a Roman Catholic priest, pedagogue, important personality of Slovak national past and pioneer of

bee-keeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

. He was also the organizer of the first Upper Hungarian societies. In the years 1836 – 1841 he worked as a chaplain in Divina and between 1841 – 1850 he was a Roman Catholic priest in Divina. * Marek Sobola (*3. 7. 1981, Žilina) is a Slovak authorised garden and landscape architect, professional gardener, designer and

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

artist. He is a member of the

Slovak Chamber of Architects The Slovak Chamber of Architects ( sk, Slovenská komora architektov, ) is a self-governing, state-owned legal entity of non-business nature based in Bratislava. It was established on 1 June 1992 by the Act of the Slovak National Council no. 138/199 ...

and Czech Chamber of Architects. His specialization is an Ecclesiastical heraldry in

Missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

countries.

Genealogical resources

The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Štátny archív v Žiline so sídlom v Bytči". * Roman Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1771-1898 (parish A).