
Levoča (; ; )
is the principal town of
Levoča District in the
Prešov Region
The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...
of eastern
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 ...
, with a population of 14,256. The town has a historic center with a well-preserved town wall, a
Gothic church with the tallest wooden
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
in the world, carved by
Master Pavol of Levoča, and many other Renaissance buildings.
On 28 June 2009, Levoča was added by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
to its
World Heritage List
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
.
Geography
Levoča 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 northern part of the Hornád Basin at the foothills of the Levoča Hills, at the stream ''Levočský potok'', a tributary of
Hornád.
Poprad
Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...
is away to the west,
Prešov
Prešov () is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region () and Šariš. With a population of approximately 85,000 for the city, and in total more than 100,000 with the urban area, it is the second-largest city i ...
to the east,
Košice
Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...
to the southeast and
Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
to the southwest.
Nearby settlements include:
*Levočská Dolina (=English: Levoča Valley). About out of town, on the way to Závada.
*Levočské Lúky (=English: Levoča Fields). Settlement on the road to Spišska Nová Ves.
*Závada. Village in the hills above Levočská Dolina.
Population
The population of Levoča as of the 2021 census was 14,256.
Etymology
The name is of Slovak origin and belongs to the oldest recorded Slovak settlement names in
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 ...
. It was originally the name of the stream Lěvoča, a tributary of river
Hornád (present-day Levočský potok). The name probably derived from the adjective ''lěva'' (left, a left tributary); the linguist
Rudolf Krajčovič has also suggested as an origin the word ''lěvoča'' meaning "regularly flooded area”.
History

Levoča is located in the historical region 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 ...
, which was inhabited as early as the
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...
. In the 11th century, this region was conquered and, subsequently, became part of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
and remained such until 1918. After the
Mongol
Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...
invasions of 1241/1242, the area was also settled by
Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
(later known as
Zipser Germans
The Zipser Germans, Zipser Saxons, or, simply, just Zipsers (, , , ) are a German-speaking (more specifically Zipser German-speaking as native dialect) sub-ethnic group in Central- Eastern Europe and national minority in both Slovakia and Roma ...
). The town became the capital of the Association of Spiš Germans, with a form of self-rule within the Kingdom of Hungary. The oldest written reference to the city of Levoča dates back to 1249. In 1317, Levoča (at that time generally known by the
German name of Leutschau - see Chronology below for lists of changing names) received the status of a royal town. In 1321, a wide storing right was granted, enticing merchants, craftsmen and mine owners to settle in this town.
In the 15th century, the town, located on an intersection of trade routes between Poland and Hungary, became a rich center of commerce. It exported iron, copper, furs, leather, corn, and wine. At the same time, the town became an important cultural centre. The English humanist
Leonard Cox taught around 1520 in a school in Levoča. The bookseller Brewer from
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...
transformed his bookstore into a prolific printing plant, that lasted for 150 years. Finally, one of the best-known medieval woodcarvers
Master Pavol of Levoča settled here.
The town kept this cultural and economic status until the end of the 16th century, in spite of two damaging fires : the first in 1550 destroyed nearly all of the
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
and another in 1599. In this period of prosperity, several churches were built, and the town had a school, library, pharmacy, and physicians. There was a
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
as early as 1624. Levoča was a center of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
. The town started to decline during the anti-
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
uprisings in the 17th century.
In a lurid sequence of events in 1700, the mayor of the town was accidentally wounded by a local nobleman during a hunt, generating a series of revenge attacks, finally resulting in the murder of the mayor, Karol Kramler, a
Saxon
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
magistrate. The mayor's arm was then cut off, embalmed, and preserved in the town hall as a call to further revenge. This became the subject of a
Hungarian novel about the town, ''
The Black City'', by the writer
Kálmán Mikszáth.
At the southern end of the main square, the
Evangelical Church, Levoča was constructed from 1823 onwards, and consecrated in 1832. It replaced an earlier
articular church outside the walls of the city.
The economic importance of the town was diminished in 1871 when the important new
Košice–Bohumín Railway was built just to the south, bypassing Levoča and going through the nearby town of Spišská Nová Ves. Later, in 1892, only
a spur line was built from
Spišská Nová Ves railway station to Levoča. Before the establishment of independent
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
in 1918, Levoča was part of
Szepes County
Szepes (; , , ) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small area in southeastern Poland. For the current region, see S ...
within the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the
Slovak Republic
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 ...
. On 27 January 1945, the
1st Czechoslovak Army Corps dislodged the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
and the
Hungarian Army from Levoča and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia. It is part of independent
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 ...
since 1993.
On July 3, 1995, Levoča was visited by
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
. He celebrated a
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
for 650,000 worshippers at the traditional pilgrim site of
Mariánska hora, a hill about north of Levoča with views of the town.
Historical features
The old town is picturesquely sited and still surrounded by most of its ancient walls. In associating the town with
Spiš Castle and
Žehra in June 2009 as the renamed
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
of “Levoča, Spišský Hrad, and the Associated Cultural Monuments”,
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
cites the town's historic center, its fortifications, and the works of
Master Paul of Levoča preserved in the town.
The main entrance to the old town is via the monumental ''
Košice
Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...
Gate'' (15th century) behind which is located the ornate baroque Church of the Holy Spirit and the New
Minorite Monastery ().
The town square (''Námestie Majstra Pavla'' - Master Paul's Square) boasts three major monuments; the quaint
Old Town Hall (15th-17th century) which now contains a museum, the domed Evangelical Lutheran Church (1837) and the 14th century of
Basilica of St. James (in
Slovak: ''Bazilika svätého Jakuba'', often mistakenly referred to in English as St. Jacob's). It houses a magnificently carved and painted wooden
Gothic altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
, the tallest in the world, (), created by
Master Paul around 1520. The square is very well-preserved (despite one or two modern incursions) and contains a number of striking buildings which were the townhouses of the local nobility in the late Middle Ages. Also notable in the square is the wrought iron “Cage of Shame”, dating back to the 17th century, used for public punishment of miscreants. A plaque on one of the houses records the printing and publication in the town of the most famous work of
Comenius
John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinization (literature), Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech Philosophy, philosopher, Pedagogy, pedagogue and Theology, theologian who is considered the father of ...
, the ''
Orbis Pictus''. Other buildings on the square house a historical museum and a museum dedicated to the work of Master Paul.
Behind the square on Kláštorská Street are the 14th-century church and remains of the old monastery of the Minorites, now incorporated into a Church grammar school. Nearby is the town's ''Polish Gate'', a Gothic construction of the 15th century.
From the 16th century to the end of 1922, Levoča was the administrative center of the province of Szepes (Spiš). Between 1806 – 1826, the Hungarian architect from Eger Antal Povolny built a grandiose administration building, the Large Provincial House, as the seat of the town's administration. He adjusted its Classicist style to Levoča's Renaissance character by emphasizing the building's horizontal lines. The House is considered among the most beautiful Provincial Houses in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it is reconstructed and it is a seat of the administration.
The State Regional Archives (''Štátny oblastný archív'') are in a tan stone building on the north side of the square at nám. Majstra Pavla 60.
Jewish community
Compared to other places in the region, Jewish settlement began comparatively late in Levoča. The city's
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 ...
data from 1768 and 1828 indicated a lack of Jewish presence, suggesting a prohibition against Jewish settlement until around 1840. The 1840s marked the beginning of Jewish migration to Levoča, mainly from
Huncovce and other parts of
Eastern Slovakia. This wave of migration led to the establishment of the first Jewish households and sparked the formation of a Jewish community (
kehila).
During the 1870s, the kehila saw considerable expansion, leading to the incorporation of additional structures, like a cemetery, in the 1880s.
In 1899, the Jewish community inaugurated an expansive synagogue, designed in an
Oriental architectural style, situated beyond the city's perimeter.
Accompanying this significant structure, a school and a ritual bath, known as a mikveh, were constructed nearby.
Following Slovakia's attainment of autonomy in October 1938, the Jewish population began to face increasing discrimination. On 4 November 1938, 55 Jewish individuals from Levoča, who lacked citizenship, were forcefully relocated to an unclaimed region along the Slovakia-Hungary border, near
Plešivec. Held for several weeks without adequate shelter and under challenging conditions, the majority were able to return to their homes only through the concerted efforts of Jewish organizations.
Upon the formation of the
Slovak Republic
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 ...
on March 14, 1939, Jewish homes and businesses were subjected to rampant looting and destruction by the Nazi-aligned German minority. A repeat of these incidents occurred on March 23, with further devastation in August when a
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...
summer camp was attacked and subsequently dissolved. That same year saw the revocation of licenses for numerous Jewish professionals, the closure of Jewish taverns, and dismissals from community service roles.
During World War II, 981 local Jews were deported. The first deportations began in March 1942, at first primarily targeting young women, who were sent to a transit camp in
Poprad
Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...
and then to
Auschwitz. More young people were sent to
Majdanek, via a transit camp in
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 ...
.
Starting in March 1942, Jews from Levoča were systematically deported to
concentration
In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...
and
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...
s, beginning with a group of young women sent to Auschwitz. Despite escape attempts, further rounds of deportation included families, hospital patients, and psychiatric care patients, with about 80% of the Jewish population being deported by the end of the year.
Following this wave, a small number of Jews remained in the district, some possessing exemption letters or having
converted to escape deportation. However, with the German capture of Levoča in September 1944, the remaining Jews faced intensified persecution. Many were deported or executed, while others found refuge in remote areas or joined
partisan groups. Despite resistance, the
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
,
mikveh
A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...
, school building, and
cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
were desecrated, and widespread hunting of Jews and partisans led to further deportations and executions.
Post-war, some surviving Jews returned to Levoča, reviving kehila life and repairing public buildings. Zionist activities resumed until most Jews immigrated to Israel in 1949. By the 1960s, a small kehila of about 60 people remained, with the once-desecrated cemetery left neglected. As of 1990, only a few Jewish families resided in Levoča.
In 2016, the historic Jewish cemetery was cleared of rubbish and tidied up thanks to the collaborative efforts of local Catholic youth organization Spoločenstvo Pavol, the Slovak Association of Christian Youth Movements, the Union of Slovak Jewish Communities, and the Town of Levoča.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Levoča is
twinned with:
*
Stary Sącz,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
*
Łańcut
Łańcut (, ; ; ) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), it is the Capital (political), capital of Łańcut County.
History
Archeological investigat ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
*
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
*
Keszthely
Keszthely (; also known by alternative names) is a Hungarian city of 20,895 inhabitants located on the western shore of Lake Balaton. It is the second largest city by the lake and one of the more important cultural, educational and economic hub ...
,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
*
Litomyšl
Litomyšl (; ) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. It is a former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle complex of the Lit ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
Gallery
File:Levoca from mh.jpg, Levoča from Mariánska hora
File:Lőcse - Town guild hall.jpg, Levoča - Town hall from above
File:Levoca main square 02.jpg, Levoča main square
File:Župný dom, Levoča.jpg, The Large Provincial House
File:Levoca main square 03.JPG, Levoča main square
File:Levoca Last Supper.jpg, Sculptures from Master Paul's altar in St. James
File:Kosicegate.jpg, The Košice Gate
File:Minoritesdoorway.jpg, Doorway of the New Minorite Cloisters
See also
*
Szepes county
Szepes (; , , ) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small area in southeastern Poland. For the current region, see S ...
*
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 ...
References
Notes
Citations
External links
Official website of LevočaOfficial website of Tourist Information Centre in LevočaLevoča International Music Festival ('Indian Summer in Levoča')The Large Provincial House (student work)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levoca
Cities and towns in Slovakia
Spiš
Catholic pilgrimage sites
Fortified settlements
World Heritage Sites in Slovakia
Levoča