Spišské Podhradie (german: Kirchdrauf, hu, Szepesváralja) 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 ...

Spiš Spiš (Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

in the

Prešov Region The Prešov Region, also Priashiv Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj, ; hu, Eperjesi kerület; uk, Пряшівський край) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 o ...

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 ...

. Its population is around 4,000. Spišské Podhradie is situated at the foot of the hill of

Spiš Castle The ruins of Spiš Castle ( sk, Spišský hrad, ; hu, Szepesi vár; pl, Zamek Spiski; german: Zipser Burg) in eastern Slovakia form one of the largest castle sites in Central Europe. The castle is situated above the town of Spišské Podhra ...

. It had a

Zipser German Zipser German (German: Zipserisch, Zipserdeutsch, Hungarian: ''szepességi szász nyelv'' or ''cipszer nyelv'') is a Germanic dialect which developed in the Upper Zips region of what is now Slovakia among people who settled there from central G ...

settlement, with its own church and priest, in 1174. Just above, and adjacent to, the town is the ecclesiastical settlement of

Spišská Kapitula Spišská Kapitula (german: Zipser Kapitel, hu, Szepeshely or Szepesi Káptalan) (both meaning the "Spiš Chapter house") is an exceptionally well-preserved ecclesiastical town on the outskirts of Spišské Podhradie, Slovakia, and overlooking ...

(hence an old German name ''Kirchdorf'', meaning "church town"). The town contains a number of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

merchants' houses. It also has one of the few remaining

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

buildings (now disused) in the region. The Sivá Brada cold water spring is located nearby.

Twin towns — sister cities

Spišské Podhradie is twinned with: *

Głogów Małopolski Głogów Małopolski is a town in Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland. As of 31 December 2008, it has a population of 5,325. Geographic location Głogów Małopolski lies in southern part of the Sandomierz Basin, and historically ...

, Poland *

Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona Pinetop–Lakeside is a town in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. According to 2020 census, the population of the town is 4,557. It was founded in 1984 when the neighboring towns of Pinetop and Lakeside merged. Pinetop–Lakeside is a pop ...

, United States *

Show Low, Arizona Show Low is a city in Navajo County, Arizona. It lies on the Mogollon Rim in east central Arizona, at an elevation of 6,345 feet (1,934 m). The city was established in 1870 and incorporated in 1953. According to the 2010 census, the population ...

, United States *

Vrbové Vrbové (german: Vrbau (modernized: ''Werbau''); hu, Verbó) is a town in the Trnava Region of Slovakia. It has a population of about 6,000. The town lies around northwest from Piešťany. Characteristics The town features an originally Gothi ...

, Slovakia

Pictures

File:Spišské Podhradie I.jpg, Road in Spišská Kapitula with Spiš Castle above File:Spsynagogue.jpg, Synagogue at Spišské Podhradie File:Spišské Podhradie a hrad.jpg, Town center and Spiš Castle above

References

External links

Official website
Cities and towns in Slovakia Spiš World Heritage Sites in Slovakia {{Prešov-geo-stub