Bytča () is a town in northwestern

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 ...

. It is located on the

Váh The Váh (; , ; ; Wag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (''in Geograph ...

River near the cities of

Žilina Žilina (; ; ; ; Names of European cities in different languages: U-Z#Z, 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 List of cities ...

and

Považská Bystrica Považská Bystrica (; ; ) is a town in northwestern Slovakia. It is located on the Váh river, around 30 km from the city of Žilina. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism. Profile Považská Bystrica is situated in a fold of mounta ...

. It belongs to

Upper Váh region The Upper Váh region () is a tourism region in the north-west of Slovakia. Because of its beautiful countryside, it is one of the most visited regions in Slovakia. In the past it was part of Trencsén County. Geography The region lies along th ...

of tourism.

Etymology

The name comes from a Slavic personal name ''Bytek'', ''Bytko'' → ''Bytča''.

History

The town arose in 1946 by a merger of the settlements Malá Bytča (including Beňov and Mikšová), Veľká Bytča and Hliník nad Váhom. The first written reference to the town's main part Veľká Bytča dates from 1234 as ''terra Bycha''. The settlement got its town charter in 1378. It was the seat of a feudal dominion and later a town with many craftsmen. In Hungarian, it was known as Biccse.

Landmarks

The town features a famous castle the Thurzó Castle built as a

water castle A water castle, sometimes water-castle, is a castle which incorporates a natural or artificial body of water into its defences.Forde-Johnston (1979), p. 163. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbo ...

by Pongrác Szentmiklósi in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 16th century in

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

style by Ferenc Thurzó. The town also houses the Wedding Palace (built by

György Thurzó György Thurzó (, ; 2 September 1567 – 24 December 1616) was a prominent Hungarian nobleman and Palatine of Hungary between 1609 and 1616, a position equivalent to a prime minister or viceroy, serving under the rule of the Habsburgs in the ...

for his daughters' wedding) from 1601, which is the only building of this kind in Slovakia, Renaissance,

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and Classical

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

houses, an archive, and a museum (in the Wedding Palace).

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 11,150 inhabitants. 98.27% 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 ...

and 0.58%

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 90.87%

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 ...

, 4.35% people with no religious affiliation and 1.51%

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 ...

Economy

Today, the town is home to machine (Kinex), textile,

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wo ...

(sports equipment), and food (brewery) industries. The brewery closed in the 2010s.

Boroughs

Bytča includes the following former villages: Psurnovice, Hrabove, Horne Hlboke, Dolne Hlboke, Hlboke nad Vahom, Benov, Miksova, Hlinik nad Vahom, Velka Bytca, Mala Bytca. Current boroughs (year of merger in brackets): *Beňov (c. 1899 with Malá Bytča, probably Hungarian name was Banya) *Hliník nad Váhom (1946, ; also called Vágagyagos between 1899 and 1919) * Hrabové (1971; ; also called Rabó between 1899 and 1919) *Malá Bytča (1946; , ; also called Miksofalva from 1907 to 1919) *Mikšová (1907 with Malá Bytča, ) *Pšurnovice (1971; ; also called Legelővölgy between 1899 and 1919) *Veľká Bytča (1946; , )

Twin towns — sister cities

Bytča is twinned with: * Karolinka, Czech Republic *

Opoczno Opoczno () is a town in south-central Poland, seat of Opoczno County in the Łódź Voivodeship. It has a long and rich history, and in the past it used to be one of the most important urban centers of northwestern Lesser Poland. Currently, Opoczno ...

, Poland

Notable people

Adolf Neubauer Adolf Neubauer (11 March 1831 – 6 April 1907) was a Hungarian-born at the Bodleian Library and reader (academic rank), reader in Rabbinic Hebrew at Oxford University. Biography He was born in Bittse (Nagybiccse), Upper Hungary (now Bytča ...

, Jewish scholar *

Jozef Tiso Jozef Gašpar Tiso (, ; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovaks, Slovak politician and Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic (1939–1945), First Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War ...

(1887–1947), Slovak priest, politician and leader of the First Slovak Republic (1939–1945) executed for war crimes

References

Genealogical resources

The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Bytca, Slovakia" * Roman Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1630-1900 (parish A)

External links

Official municipal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bytca Cities and towns in Slovakia Castles in Slovakia Villages and municipalities in Bytča District Geography of Žilina Region Populated places established in 1946 1946 establishments in Czechoslovakia