Veličná ( hu, Nagyfalu) 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 ...

Dolný Kubín District Dolný Kubín District (''okres Dolný Kubín'') is a district in the Žilina Region of central Slovakia. District is located in a hilly area north of Malá Fatra mountain range. Core of the district economy represent engineering, electrical engine ...

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 ...

Name

Veličná was first mentioned under the

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 the power of the ...

name ''Magna Villa'' in a decree of Ladislaus IV of Hungary from 1272. In the middle ages, the town was known also under the name ''Welkeg Wsy'' (''Veľké Vsy'', The Big Village) and the Hungarized forms ''Nag Flaw'' and ''Naghffalva''.

History

The settlement aroused in a relatively sparsely populated borderland area on an important

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sing ...

to Poland. In 1454 Veličná was already a smaller town. The town acquired several royal privileges (especially the privilege to trade with Polish salt) that positively influenced its economic development. In 1520, the town became the seat of Orava County. In the 16th century, the region suffered several uprisings, therefore George Thurzo granted citizens additional privileges to improve the economic situation. In 1683, the town was burned by the Lithuanian troops led by

Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger Kazimierz Jan Paweł Sapieha (; 1637–1720) was a Grand Hetman of Lithuania commencing in 1682. He held the title of a Duke starting in 1700. In 1681, he became Field Hetman of Lithuania, the following year he also became the voivode of Vilnius. ...

moving to

Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna; pl, odsiecz wiedeńska, lit=Relief of Vienna or ''bitwa pod Wiedniem''; ota, Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası, lit=siege of Beç; tr, İkinci Viyana Kuşatması, lit=second siege of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mou ...

. The troops destroyed also the town and county archive. The seat of the county was moved to

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 "gla ...

, Veličná was burned again (twice) in 1686 and never fully recover. The population was reduced during the plague epidemies (1732, 1739, 1742). In 1871, the town lost its status and became a village.

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 462 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 29.302 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 1300 people. The biggest part of the village is called Revišné.

References

External links

Veličná village website (in Slovak)
Villages and municipalities in Dolný Kubín District Orava (region) {{Žilina-geo-stub