Malacky (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Malatzka'', Hungarian: ''Malacka'') is a town 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 ...

in 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 ...

around north from capital

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

. From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was part of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. It is one of the centres of the region "

Záhorie Záhorie ( hu, Erdőhát) is a region in western Slovakia between by the Little Carpathians to the east and the Morava River to the west. Although not an administrative region, it is one of the 21 official tourism regions in Slovakia. Záhorie ...

", between 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 east and

Morava River Morava may refer to: Rivers * Great Morava (''Velika Morava''; or only Morava), a river in central Serbia, and its tributaries: ** South Morava (''Južna Morava'') *** Binač Morava (''Binačka Morava'') ** West Morava (''Zapadna Morava'') * Mo ...

in the west and a cultural and economic hub for nearby villages such as

Gajary Gajary (german: Gayring; hu, Gajar) is a village and municipality in western Slovakia close to the town of Malacky in the Bratislava region. It lies around 40 km (25 statute miles) north-west of Slovakia's capital Bratislava close to t ...

, Kostolište,

Veľké Leváre Veľké Leváre ( hu, Nagylévárd, Nagy-Lévárd, german: Gross-Schützen, Großschützen) is a village and municipality in western Slovakia in Malacky District in the Bratislava region. The first written notice about the village has its origins ...

and Jakubov. The town is located on the large Prague-Brno-Bratislava highway, and many residents commute daily to Bratislava. The

mountain range with its network of signposted trails provides excellent opportunities for mountain biking.

Etymology

The origin of the name is uncertain. According to the first theory, the name refers to the Hungarian word ''malacka'' which means "piglet" in Hungarian and because the town seal features a pig. A drawback of this theory is that the Hungarian ''malacka'' is only a later borrowing from

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

and the name is older than the borrowing ( Slovene ''mladec'' – a young man, in wide meaning also a young animal; Slovak equivalent is ''mládenec''). Other theories derive the name from Slovak ''mláky'' (fens, swamps), ''mlátiť'' (to flail, to smash, thus a placename derived from ''mlátiť'' was ''Mlaky'' > ''Malacky'') or from the name of the Malina creek (recorded as ''Maliscapotoca'').

History

The name of the city was first mentioned in writing in 1206. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Malacky was captured on 5 April 1945 by troops of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front (2-й Украинский фронт), was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943 the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During the Second Jassy–Kishinev O ...

Famous Buildings and Sites

The most prominent sites in Malacky include the Franciscan church of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the so-called "Palffy Palace" and the renovated synagogue. The church includes a precise from 1653 of the so-called Holy Stairs (

Scala Sancta The ( en, Holy Stairs, it, Scala Santa) are a set of 28 white marble steps that are Roman Catholic relics located in an edifice on extraterritorial property of the Holy See in Rome, Italy proximate to the Archbasilica of Saint John in Lateran ...

) that Christ ascended to the Pretorium of Pilate. The Palffy Palace until recently was used as a hospital and is currently unoccupied. It has recently been acquired by the local municipality. Located in the center of Malacky is also a large renovated synagogue built in 1886 in

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

style which is now being used a cultural center. Adjacent to it there is sport arena "MALINA" containing two indoor swimming pools (25m and 12m) and a multifunctional hall used for handball, basketball, volleyball and indoor football.

Economy

Swedspan, a subsidiary of

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...

, operates a large lumber plant just south of the city. Additionally the Kuchyňa airbase, which is occasionally used by the US Air Force and other NATO air forces for training purposes, is located approximately east of the city. In September 2008,

Slovak National Party The Slovak National Party ( sk, Slovenská národná strana, SNS) is a nationalist political party in Slovakia. The party characterizes itself as a nationalist party based on both social and the European Christian values. Since 1990 SNS has won ...

(SNS) President

Ján Slota Ján Slota (born 14 September 1953) is the co-founder and former president of the Slovak National Party,Slovak cross near Malacky as a demonstration of Slovak nationalism.

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 incl ...

, the town had 18,063 inhabitants. 96.68% 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 ...

, 1.02%

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 ...

and 0.51%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

. The religious makeup was 70.35%

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 ...

, 19.48% people with no religious affiliation, and 1.98%

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 ...

. According to the 1910 census 75% were slovaks.

People

István Friedrich István Friedrich (anglicised as Stephen Frederick; 1 July 1883 – 25 November 1951) was a Hungarian politician, footballer and factory owner who served as prime minister of Hungary for three months between August and November in 1919. His ten ...

, prime minister of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

for three months in 1919, was born here. * Ernst Wiesner, modern architect who designed buildings in Brno, was born here. *

Martin Benka Martin Benka (21 September 1888, in Kostolište – 28 June 1971, in Malacky) was a Slovak painter and illustrator. He is regarded as the founder of Modernist 20th century Slovak painting. He was given the title ''National Artist.'' He is bu ...

, a Slovak painter and illustrator, was born near here and died here in 1971. * Ádám Liszt, the father of composer and pianist

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, was born here in 1776. *

Ivan Dérer Ivan Dérer (2 March 1884 in Malacka, Kingdom of Hungary – 10 March 1973 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) was a prominent Slovak politician, lawyer, journalist and regional chairman of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers' Party in Slovakia. S ...

, a Slovak politician, lawyer and journalist, was born here in 1884. *

Ludwig Angerer Ludwig Angerer (August 15, 1827 – May 12, 1879) was an Austrian photographer who founded the first photo studio in Vienna and was appointed k.k. court photographer by Emperor Franz Joseph I. He is also known for taking some of the earliest ph ...

, an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

photographer, was born here in 1827. * Karol Machata, a Slovak actor, was born here in 1928. * Štefan Lux, a Slovak Jewish journalist, was born here in 1888. * Samuel Mráz, (born 1997) footballer * František Lukovský, small business owner, who committed a suicide in 2002 in front of the tax office using self-made guillotine.

Twin towns — sister cities

Malacky is twinned with: *

Veselí nad Moravou Veselí nad Moravou (, german: Wessely/Wesseli (an der March)) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument z ...

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 ...

Żnin Żnin (german: Znin, 1941-45: Dietfurt) is a town in north-central Poland with a population of 14,181 (June 2014). It is in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (previously Bydgoszcz Voivodeship) and is the capital of Żnin County. The historical t ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

''(since 2001)'' *

Albertirsa Albertirsa (formerly ''Alberti-Irsa'', sk, Irša) is a town in '' Ceglédi kistérség'', ''Pest megye'', and the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain. History Initially Albertirsa was two separate inhabitations: ''Alberti'' and ''Irsa'', havin ...

''(since 2000)'' *

Szarvas Szarvas (; sk, Sarvaš; german: Sarwasch) is a town in Békés County, Hungary. Name Placename Szarvas originated from the old Hungarian word ''szarvas'', which means deer. Deer also can be found in the coat of arms of the town. Locati ...

Gänserndorf Gänserndorf () is a town on the Marchfeld, Lower Austria, Austria and the capital of Bezirk Gänserndorf. It is about 20 km northeast of Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , p ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

References

External links

Municipal website

Map of Malacky
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Slovakia Villages and municipalities in Malacky District