Tvrdošín (german: Turdoschin or ''Thurdossin''; hu, Turdossin; pl, Twardoszyn) 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 ...

in 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 ...

Geography

The town is located at the confluence of the Orava and Oravica rivers, from the Polish borders and cca. from

Dolný Kubín Dolný Kubín (; also known by other names) is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital and the largest settlement of the Orava region. Names The name is derived from the archaic Slovak word meaning a "gl ...

. It consists of the boroughs of Krásna Hôrka, Medvedzie, and Tvrdošín.

History

The town was mentioned in the Zobor documents in 1111 and in the document of

Béla III of Hungary Béla III ( hu, III. Béla, hr, Bela III, sk, Belo III; 114823 April 1196) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1172 and 1196. He was the second son of King Géza II and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. Around 1161, Géza granted Béla a ...

in 1183. It received royal free town privileges in 1369.

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 in ...

, the town had 9,544 inhabitants. 99.03% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 0.53%

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, ...

and 0.19%

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

. The religious make-up was 92.10% Roman Catholics, 4.84% people with no religious affiliation and 1.18%

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 ...

Twin towns — Sister cities

Tvrdošín is twinned with: *

Kościelisko Kościelisko is a village in Tatra County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland, close to the border with Slovakia. (It was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.) It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) c ...

, Poland * Kobylnica, Poland *

Durbuy Durbuy (; wa, Derbu) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. The total area is 156.61 km², consisting of the following districts: Barvaux, Bende, Bomal, Borlon, Durbuy, Grandhan, Heyd, Izier ...

, Belgium * Orimattila, Finland *

Östhammar Östhammar is a locality and the seat of Östhammar Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 4,534 inhabitants in 2010. Today Östhammar Municipality is a part of Uppsala County, but the area has historically been a part of Stockholm County. Hist ...

, Sweden *

Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; sv, Nystad, ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is inland wate ...

, Finland * Valga, Estonia *

Valka Valka (; german: Walk) is a town and municipality in northern Latvia, on the border with Estonia along both banks of the river Pedele. Valka and the Estonian town Valga are twins, separated by the Estonian/Latvian border but using the slogan "O ...

, Latvia *

Weißenburg in Bayern Weißenburg in Bayern, formerly also ''Weißenburg im Nordgau'', ''Weißenburg am Sand'', is a town in Middle Franconia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen. In 2020 its population was 18,578. Weißenburg was a fr ...

, Germany

References

External links

Official website
* Cities and towns in Slovakia {{Žilina-geo-stub