Kráľova hoľa (; ; , literally "King's Mountain") is the highest mountain (1,946 m) of the eastern part of the
Low Tatras in central
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 ...
. Four rivers rise at its foot:
Čierny Váh Čierny (, feminine: Čierna ) is a Slovak-language surname, the counterpart of the Czech surname Černý (surname), Černý. Notable people with the surname include:
*Jozef Čierny (born 1974), Slovak professional ice hockey player
*Ladislav Čier ...
,
Hnilec,
Hornád, and
Hron
The Hron (; ; ; ) is a long left tributary of the Danube[P ...]
. The summit, easily accessible by hiking trails from
Telgárt
Telgárt (, called ''Švermovo'' in 1948–1990) is a village and municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia.
Etymology
The name is of German origin: ''Tiergarten'' (initially a hunting area). In 1948, t ...
as well as by a paved road from
Šumiac (not open to motor vehicles, except for the mountain rescue service and maintenance workers of the TV transmitter on the summit), offers a panoramic view of
Spiš
Spiš ( ; or ; ) is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland (more specifically encompassing 14 former Slovak villages). Spiš is an informal designation of the territory, but it is also the name of one ...
, the
Tatras,
Liptov
Liptov () is a historical and geographical region in central Slovakia with around 140,000 inhabitants. The area is also known by the German name ''Liptau'', the Hungarian ''Liptó'', the Latin name ''Liptovium'' and the Polish ''Liptów''.
Etym ...
, and the Upper Hron Valley. Largely deforested by exploitative timber harvesting in the early 19th century, its timberline was restored to its natural elevation of about 1,650 m (5,413 ft.) through the efforts of
Ludwig Greiner in the second half of that century.
Kráľova hoľa is often depicted in
Slovak folklore and
Romantic poetry as a safe refuge of heroes and
highwaymen, in particular
Juraj Jánošík. As a metaphor of homeland in folk
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
s (such as ''
Na Kráľovej holi'') and particularly in one of the best-known Slovak poems ''The Death of Jánošík'' (1862) by
Ján Botto,
[English translation by Ivan Joseph Kramoris in 1944.] the mountain has become one of the informal Slovak national symbols along with
Kriváň.
During the anti-Nazi
Slovak National Uprising
Slovak National Uprising ( Slovak: ''Slovenské národné povstanie'', abbreviated SNP; alternatively also ''Povstanie roku 1944'', English: ''The Uprising of 1944'') was organised by the Slovak resistance during the Second World War, directed ag ...
, the
partisan group Jánošík had their shelters below the top of the mountain. In 1960, a TV transmitter with a 137.5 metres tall guyed tubular mast was built on the top. There is also a weather station and a station of the
mountain rescue service.
References
Mountains of Slovakia
Mountains of the Western Carpathians
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