Žarnovica (; ) is a town and municipality in the

Žarnovica District Žarnovica District () is a district in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. Until 1918, the district was mostly part of the county of Kingdom of Hungary of Tekov, only a part of Hodruša-Hámre, namely Banská Hodruša in the east ...

Banská Bystrica Region The Banská Bystrica Region (, ; , ) is one of the eight regions of Slovakia. It is the largest of the eight regions by area, and has a lower population density than any other region. The Banská Bystrica Region was established in 1923; its bord ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. The town is situated in the

Hron The Hron (; ; ; ) is a long left tributary of the DanubeP ...

river valley. It has a population of around 6,000 people.

History

The first written mention about Žarnovica is dated to 1332.

Geography

Žarnovica lies at an altitude of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

and covers an area of . It is located in the

Žiar Basin Žiar may refer to: * Žiar, Liptovský Mikuláš District, a municipality in Slovakia * Žiar, Revúca District, a municipality in Slovakia *Žiar (mountain range), Slovakia *Short name of Žiar nad Hronom Žiar nad Hronom (slang: Žiar, , ; un ...

in central Slovakia, on the

Hron The Hron (; ; ; ) is a long left tributary of the DanubeP ...

River, between Vtáčnik and Štiavnické vrchy mountain ranges.

Demographics

According to the 2001

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, the town had 6,596 inhabitants. 95.59% of inhabitants were

Slovaks The Slovaks ( (historical Sloveni ), singular: ''Slovák'' (historical: ''Sloven'' ), feminine: ''Slovenka'' , plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history ...

, 1.61%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

and 0.73%

Czechs The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia ...

. The religious make-up was 78.73%

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 15.25% people with no religious affiliation and 1.32%

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

Sport

Speedway Žarnovica Speedway Žarnovica is a motorcycle speedway stadium and team in the centre of Žarnovica. The stadium is located off the Bystrická, just south of the tributary, which runs though the centre of the town connected to the Hron. The speedway is o ...

is a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

venue in the centre of the town. It hosts major international events.

References

External links

Municipal website
Cities and towns in Slovakia Villages and municipalities in Žarnovica District {{BanskáBystrica-geo-stub