Ostrovany 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 ...
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
Sabinov District
Sabinov District (''okres Sabinov'') is a district in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia. It lies on the highlands of Šarišská vrchovina. The district had been established in 1923 and from 1996 exists in its present borders. Food, pharmace ...
in the
Prešov Region of north-eastern
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
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 ...
was first mentioned in 1248. In 1790 and 1865, two rich finds from the burial of a
Vandalic
Vandalic was the Germanic language spoken by the Vandals during roughly the 3rd to 6th centuries. It was probably closely related to Gothic, and, as such, is traditionally classified as an East Germanic language. Its attestation is very fragm ...
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
were discovered in Ostrovany. The contents of the grave are located at the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
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 ...
and
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
respectively. The Treasure of Osztrópataka is considered to be one of the most important early-historical findings from Slovakia.
In 2010, the town received international media attention when the town council built a wall around part of Ostrovany, essentially making the enclosed part a
gated community, in an attempt to keep out
Roma neighbors.
Because of the apparent poverty of the Roma, at least one source likened the area ''outside'' the walls to a
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...
.
The mayor Cyril Revak stated that the wall was built in order to prevent gardens from theft and vandalism, and that the Roma people had access to the village from other sides.
[Dan Bilefsk]
A Wall in a Slovak Village Sends Message of Segregation
New York Times, 3 April 2010
Demographics
Two-thirds of the population are Roma, and at least some of the Roma are impoverished enough to live in "shacks".
Geography
The
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 ...
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 ...
of 318 metres 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 or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...
of 5.853 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 1620 people.
See also
*
Usti nad Labem
References
External links
www.statistics.sk
Villages and municipalities in Sabinov District
Romani communities in Slovakia
{{Prešov-geo-stub