Stará Lesná or "Old Forest" (German: ''Alt Walddorf'') 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 ...

Kežmarok District Kežmarok District (Slovak: ''okres Kežmarok'') is a district in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia. Its seat, cultural and economic center is Kežmarok, the traditional center of the historic Spiš region. The Kežmarok district was establi ...

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 ...

in north-central

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 ...

. Stará Lesná is located in an area traditionally known as

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 ...

and it is situated within the Slovak Tourism Region of the Tatras.

History

The tourism region of the Tatras encompasses today the northern half (except for a tiny tip lying in Poland) of what used to be Scepusium or

Szepes County Szepes ( sk, Spiš; la, Scepusium, pl, Spisz, german: link=no, Zips) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small are ...

. It was a 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 ...

from the creation of the county in the second half of the 12th century to 1918 when

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

ceased to exist and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

was created. This northern borderland was never really inhabited by Hungarians, but up until the last world war there was a substantial population of

Carpathian Germans Carpathian Germans (german: Karpatendeutsche, Mantaken, hu, kárpátnémetek or ''felvidéki németek'', sk, karpatskí Nemci) are a group of ethnic Germans. The term was coined by the historian Raimund Friedrich Kaindl (1866–1930), originall ...

in Spiš or "Zips", where they began to arrive in the mid-12th century. Stará Lesná was mentioned for the first time in 1294. The village was founded by the Berzeviczys, a family whose forefather Rutkér of Mátray ( Matrei), an

ispán The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. ( hu, ispán, la, comes or comes parochialis, and sk, župan)Kirs ...

, arrived to Spiš County from

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

in the beginning of the 13th century. The village belonged to a German language island. The German population was expelled in 1945.

Geography

The

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 Stará Lesná is about 940. The

lies at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 736 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 A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

of 9.482 km². To the north, Stará Lesná is bordered by the town of

Vysoké Tatry Vysoké Tatry (; hu, Magastátra, ; german: Höhe Tatra, ; pl, Wysokie Tatry, ; cs, Vysoké Tatry, ), formally Mesto Vysoké Tatry () is a town at the feet of the Slovak part of High Tatras in Slovakia including all the major resorts in that ...

and Tatra National Park. Line no. 184 of the

Tatra Electric Railway The Tatra Electric Railway ( sk, Tatranská elektrická železnica), colloquially Tatra Railway, is an electrified (1500 V DC) single track narrow gauge railway in the Slovak part of the Tatra mountains. It consists of two connected lines: * P ...

connects Stará Lesná with Tatranská Lomnica and

Starý Smokovec Starý Smokovec (; german: Altschmecks; hu, Ótátrafüred; pl, Stary Smokowiec) is a part of the town of Vysoké Tatry (town), Vysoké Tatry in northern Slovakia in the Tatras. Its name is pronounced approximately "Star-EE Smoke-oh-vets", mea ...

; the latter is connected to

Štrbské Pleso Štrbské pleso (, german: Tschirmer See, pl, Szczyrbskie jezioro, hu, Csorbató or ) is a picturesque mountain lake of glacial origin and a top tourist destination in the High Tatras, Slovakia. It is the second-largest glacial lake on the Sl ...

and Poprad by line no. 183.

Sights

Selected sights and locations within ~an hour's drive away (distances in kilometers): the Roman Catholic church in Stará Lesná (13th century, rebuilt in the 18th century, belfry ca. 1600) ,

TANAP The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP; az, Trans-Anadolu Təbii Qaz Boru Kəməri, tr, Trans-Anadolu Doğalgaz Boru Hattı) is a natural gas pipeline in Oil and gas in Turkey, Turkey. It is the central part of the Southern Gas Corrid ...

Museum, Tatra Nature Exposition (botanical garden) and cable way to Lomnický Peak in

Tatranská Lomnica Tatranská Lomnica (; hu, Tátralomnic, pl, Tatrzańska Łomnica) is a part of the town of Vysoké Tatry in northern Slovakia in the Tatras The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plura ...

5 , Gerlachov, highest Carpathian peak at 2 655 m ,

8½ and 13 other settlements of the Town of High Tatras ,

Belianska Cave Belianska Cave ( sk, Belianska jaskyňa, ) is a stalactite cave in the Slovak part of the Tatra mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - '' plurale tantum''), are a series of moun ...

15 in the White Tatras , Castle of Kežmarok, Wooden Articular Church in Kežmarok (part of a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, WHS) in

Kežmarok Kežmarok (german: Kesmark or ; hu, Késmárk, yi, קעזמאַרק, Kezmark, pl, Kieżmark) is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia (population 16,000), on the Poprad River. Prior to World War I, it was in Szepes county in the Kin ...

12 , AquaCity, Sub-Tatran Museum and Tatras Gallery in

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...

12; Spišská Sobota (suburb) 12; Poprad-Tatry Airport 17 , Dom Ždiar (Goral museum) in

Ždiar Ždiar (former name Žjár) is a village and municipality in the Poprad District in the Prešov Region in Spiš in northern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1409. Its first name had been Stragan. Locals ...

22 , Strážky Manor House in

Spišská Belá Spišská Belá (german: Zipser Bela; hu, Szepesbéla; pl, Biała Spiska) is a town in the Kežmarok District in the Prešov Region in Spiš in northern Slovakia. Prior to World War I, it was in Szepes county in the Kingdom of Hungary. Histor ...

23 ,

24 , entrances to

Slovak Paradise National Park Slovak Paradise National Park ( sk, Národný park Slovenský raj) is one of the nine national parks in Slovakia, situated in East Slovakia. The National Park protects the area of the Slovak Paradise mountain range, which is located in the north ...

in Čingov 33 (near

Smižany Smižany ( hu, Szepessümeg, german: Schmögen) is a large village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. History Excavations in Čingov, just south of the village, have found trace ...

) and Podlesok 33 (near

Betlanovce Betlanovce ( hu, Betlenfalva) is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. History The name "Terra Bethlem", the earth of Bethlem, was mentioned as early as 1260 in a written ...

), Tomášov Viewpoint 33 (two km on foot from

Spišské Tomášovce Spišské Tomášovce (; hu, Szepestamásfalva) is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1229. Geograph ...

) and

Dobšiná Ice Cave Dobšiná Ice Cave ( sk, Dobšinská ľadová jaskyňa; hu, Dobsinai-jégbarlang) is an ice cave in Slovakia, near the mining town of Dobšiná in the Slovak Paradise. Since 2000 it has been included on the UNESCO World Heritage list as a part of ...

(part of a WHS) 45 , Museum of Spiš Territory in

Spišská Nová Ves Spišská Nová Ves (; hu, Igló; german: (Zipser) Neu(en)dorf) is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. The town is located southeast of the High Tatras in the Spiš region, and lies on both banks of the Hornád River. It is the biggest tow ...

35 , Lysá Poľana (SK) 36 ╪ Łysa Polana (PL) 37 , Levoča, Spiš Castle and the Associated Cultural Monuments ( WHS);

Levoča Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча) is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wor ...

36,

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 ...

53,

Spišské Podhradie Spišské Podhradie (german: Kirchdrauf, hu, Szepesváralja) is a town in Spiš in the Prešov Region of Slovakia. Its population is around 4,000. Spišské Podhradie is situated at the foot of the hill of Spiš Castle. It had a Zipser German se ...

50,

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 ...

50 and

Žehra ''For a list of people and places with the name Zehra or its variants, see'' Zehra (name) Žehra (german: Schigra) is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. Geography Th ...

55; in Levoča St. James's Cathedral ( Majster Pavol's altar) and Spiš Museum ,

Markušovce Markušovce Manor House (; hu, Márkusfalva) is a village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. History Markušovce was founded in the 12th century before the Tatar invasions of ...

Manor House and Dardanely (garden house) 44 , Castle of

Stará Ľubovňa Stará Ľubovňa (german: Altlublau; hu, Ólubló; la, Lublovia; pl, Lubowla) is a town with approximately 16,000 inhabitants in northeastern Slovakia. The town consists of the districts Podsadek and Stará Ľubovňa. Names The name is of Slo ...

and Skanzen (open-air traditional buildings' museum) 50 ,

Spišská Stará Ves Spišská Stará Ves (german: Alt(en)dorf; hu, Szepesófalu or hu, Ófalu; pl, (Stara) Spiska Wieś; la, Antiqua Villa; Goral: Golembarg) is a small town and urban municipality in Kežmarok District in the Prešov Region of north Slovakia. Pr ...

(center of

Zamagurie Zamagurie (in Slovak, ; pl, Zamagurze) is a region in the Goral Lands area in the north of the Spiš region, between the Spišská Magura in the south, the Dunajec river in the north and the Białka (Slovak: ''Biela voda'') river in the west. ...

) 51 , Red Monastery and start of

Dunajec The Dunajec (); Goral dialects: ''Dónajec'') is a river running through northeastern Slovakia and southern Poland. It is also regarded as the main river of the Goral Lands. It is a right tributary of the Vistula River. It begins in Nowy Targ at t ...

rafting in

Červený Kláštor Červený Kláštor () is a small village and municipality in the far north Kežmarok District in the Prešov Region of northern Slovakia, near the Polish border, in the Zamagurie region. History A Camaldolese monastery was established on this ...

57 in the Pieniny National Park ,

Niedzica Castle Niedzica Castle also known as Dunajec Castle ( lat, Castrum de Dunajecz, hu, Nedec Váralja / Nedec-Vár, german: Sub-Arx Unterschloss, sk, Nedecký hrad), is located in the southernmost part of Poland in Niedzica ( Nowy Targ County in Lesser Po ...

(PL) 57 ,

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been par ...

(PL) 58 ,

Liptovský Mikuláš Liptovský Mikuláš (; until 1952 ''Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš'', german: Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus; hu, Liptószentmiklós) is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River, about from Bratislava. It lies in the Liptov region, in Liptov Bas ...

68 ,

Demänovská Cave of Liberty Demänovská Cave of Liberty (Slovak: ''Demänovská jaskyňa slobody'') is a karst cave in Low Tatras, Slovakia. The cave was discovered in 1921, and, opened to the public in 1924. It is the most visited cave in Slovakia. The public entrance ...

81 ,

Jasná Jasná is a small village situated in central Slovakia, in the Low Tatras mountains. It is a part of the municipality Demänovská Dolina. Skiing venue The Jasná area resorts have a total of more than 30 lifts on all sides of the Chopok Moun ...

(largest ski resort in the country) 82 in the

Low Tatras The Low Tatras or Low Tatra ( sk, Nízke Tatry; hu, Alacsony-Tátra) is a mountain range of the Inner Western Carpathians in central Slovakia. It is located south of the Tatras proper, from which it is separated by the valleys of the Váh ...

. Further away:

Prešov Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...

89 ,

Bardejov Bardejov (; hu, Bártfa, german: Bartfeld, rue, Бардеёв, uk, Бардіїв) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region on a floodplain terrace of the Topľa River, in the hills of the Beskyd Mountains. It ...

( WHS) 104 ,

Orava Castle Orava or Orawa may refer to: *Orava (region), a region in Slovakia and Poland *Orava (river) in Slovakia *Orava Castle, a castle in Slovakia *Orava (reservoir), a reservoir in Slovakia * Orava County, a historic administrative county of the Kingdom ...

115 ,

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

127 , Kraków (PL) 149 , Budapest (HU) 323 ,

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 ...

355 , Prague (CZ) 569.

References

External links

Official website of the municipality of Stará Lesná

Weather forecast for Stará Lesná

Public transport in Poprad & High Tatras

"Tatry - mysterium" clip (YouTube)

Tatra National Park (TANAP), Slovakia

Pieniny National Park (PIENAP), Slovakia

Slovak Paradise National Park

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stara Lesna Villages and municipalities in Kežmarok District