Stará Turá (german: Alt-Turn, hu, Ótura) is a town in the

Trenčín Region The Trenčín Region ( sk, Trenčiansky kraj, ; cs, Trenčínský kraj; hu, Trencséni kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. It consists of 9 districts ('' okresy''). The region was established in 1996: previously it had ...

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 ...

Geography

It is located in the

Myjava Hills The Myjava Hills () is an area of hills in western Slovakia, rugged highlands along the Myjava River composed of Carpathian flysch. Geologically it is one range of the Slovak-Moravian Carpathians of the Outer Western Carpathians. The highest pea ...

close to 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 ...

as well as the

White Carpathians The White Carpathians ( cs, Bílé Karpaty; sk, Biele Karpaty; german: Weiße Karpaten; hu, Fehér-Kárpátok) are a mountain range on the border of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, part of the Carpathians. They are part of the Slovak-Moravian ...

. It is situated from

Nové Mesto nad Váhom Nové Mesto nad Váhom (; german: Neustadt an der Waag, Neustadtl, Waag-Neustadtl, Waagneustadtl, Waag-Neustadt; hu, Vágújhely, Vág-Újhely) is a town in the Trenčín Region of Slovakia. Geography District town located at the northern edge ...

to the west, from Myjava to the east and around from

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 ...

to the north and has a population of 8,832 (2018) with an area of .

History

The first written record about Stará Turá was in 1392, as a village belonging to the

Čachtice Castle Čachtice Castle (; sk, Čachtický hrad, hu, Csejte vára) is a castle ruin in Slovakia next to the village of Čachtice. It stands on a hill featuring rare plants, and has been declared a national nature reserve for this reason. The castle w ...

. It was part of it until

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

ceased to exist in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1467,

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

promoted Stará Turá to the servile town (oppidum), boosting the town's economy. In 1848, the town was nearly destroyed by fire. It is mentioned in the popular folk song ''Teče Voda, Teče.''

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 10,291 inhabitants. 97.4% 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 ...

, 1.7%

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 0.2%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. The religious make-up was 45.5%

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 ...

, 27.3%

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 ...

and 23.6% people with no religious affiliation.

Notable people

* Viliam Vagač (1909–1970), SDB,

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

and religious prisoner (sentenced to 18 years in prison).

Twin towns – sister cities

Stará Turá is twinned with: *

Kunovice Kunovice (, german: Kunowitz) is a town in the Uherské Hradiště District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,500 inhabitants. Geography Kunovice forms a conurbation with neighbouring Uherské Hradiště. It lies on the bo ...

, Czech Republic

References

External links

Town website
Cities and towns in Slovakia {{Trenčín-geo-stub