Terchová ( hu, Terhely) is a large

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 ...

(population 4,073) in the

Malá Fatra Malá Fatra (; also Little Fatra or Lesser Fatra, pl, Mała Fatra, hu, Kis-Fátra) is a mountain range in the Western Carpathians in the north-west of Central Slovakia. In the geomorphological system, it is a part of the Fatra-Tatra Area.Craig ...

mountains in the Žilina District in the

Žilina Region The Žilina Region ( sk, Žilinský kraj; pl, Kraj żyliński; hu, Zsolnai kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts ( okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region ...

of northern

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 ...

Names and etymology

In the 16th century, the village was known as ''Kralowa alias Tyerchowa'' (1598). The name ''Kralowa'' means 'royal' in Slovak and refers to royal meadows. The name ''Tyerchowa'' comes from the Hungarian noun ''terhe'' 'burden', which was borrowed into Slovak before the 12th century as ''tärcha'' > ''ťarcha'', and later also as ''tercha'' with the Slovak possessive suffix ''-ova''. It refers to legal obligations of the citizens.

History

The village was established in 1580, but the area was inhabited even before its establishment. Originally a

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

settlement from the period of Vlach colonization, it slowly began to change to an agricultural settlement, as many new settlers in the 17th century came to the village. In the 19th century, several

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

s and

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

s depopulated the village, as many emigrated to the US, Canada and Argentina. Near the end of

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 opposing ...

, half of the wooden part of the village was burned down. During the first post-war years, it was reconstructed as part of two-year plan. The village is most famous for being the birthplace and town where

Juraj Janosik Juraj is a given name used in a number of Slavic languages, including Czech, Slovak, and Croatian. Pronounced "You-rye" but with a trilled r. The English equivalent of the name is George. Notable people * Juraj Chmiel, Czech diplomat and politic ...

grew up.
In 2013 Music of Terchová was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Geography

The

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 514 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 84.542 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 4,073 people. The village lies in a valley in the

mountains, about 25 km east of

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of ...

. The tourist resort of Vrátna dolina belongs to the village.

Gallery

Image:Volk musicians in Terchová.jpg, Volk musicians in Terchová Image:Wooden architecture in Terchová.jpg, Wooden architecture in Terchová Image:Terchová z Obšívanky.jpg, Terchová from Obšivanka Image:Terchová - kostel Svatého Cyrila a Metoděje.jpg, Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius Image:Slovakia Terchova 11.jpg, Jánošík's statue

Notable births

*Birthplace of

Juraj Jánošík Juraj Jánošík (first name also ''Juro'' or ''Jurko'', ; baptised 25 January 1688, died 17 March 1713) was a Slovak highwayman. Jánošík has been the main character of many Slovak novels, poems, and films. According to the legend, he robbed ...

, who is commonly referred to as a Slovak

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

. *Birthplace of

Adam František Kollár Adam František Kollár de Keresztén (german: Adam Franz Kollar von Keresztén, hu, kereszténi Kollár Ádám Ferenc; 1718–1783) was a Slovak jurist, Imperial-Royal Court Councillor and Chief Imperial-Royal Librarian, a member of Natio Hun ...

, Slovak writer, historian and librarian.

References

External links

Terchová website (in Slovak)Terchová Information in English
Villages and municipalities in Žilina District {{Žilina-geo-stub