Ružomberok (; ; ; ) is a town in northern
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 ...
, in the historical
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 ...
region. It has a population of approximately 27,000.
Etymology
The name of the initial settlement located on today's Makovický street was ''Revúca'' (
Slovak "roaring", derived from the
Revúca river).
In its neighborhood, German colonists build a new settlement ''Rosenberg'' named after wild roses growing in the area.
This name was later adopted by
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 ...
as ''Ružomberok''.
Geography

It is situated at the westernmost reaches of the
Sub-Tatra Basin, more exactly its subdivision Liptov Basin, surrounded by the mountain ranges of
Chočské vrchy,
Greater Fatra
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality
* ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
* "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014
*Greater Bank, an Australia ...
and
Low Tatras. Rivers flowing through the town are
Váh
The Váh (; , ; ; Wag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (''in Geograph ...
, from east to west,
Revúca, a left tributary from the south, on the way to
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica (, also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Greater Fatra, Veľká Fatra, and t ...
and ''Likavka'' brook from the north, on the way to
Dolný Kubín
Dolný Kubín (; also known by #Names, 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), Orava region.
Names
The name is derived from the archaic Slov ...
. The town is located around 65 km from
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 ...
, 190 km from
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 ...
and 260 km from
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. ...
(by road). Besides the main settlement, it also has "city parts" of Biely Potok, Černová, Hrboltová and Vlkolínec.
Climate
The climate is moderate, varies from hot in summer, to very cold in winter. There are four distinct seasons: spring (wet, moderate warm), summer (hot, very wet), autumn (dry) and winter (very cold). Ružomberok is located in the rain shadow of the mountain ranges of Greater Fatra and Chočské vrchy. Total annual precipitation is 967 mm. Annual average of days with snow cover is 68. The highest snow cover ever recorded was 92 cm. Extreme temperatures: high: (2007), low: (1949, 1986).
Ružomberok has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Dfb'').
History
In 1233, King
Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II (, , , ; 117721 September 1235), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia between 1205 and 1235. He ruled the Principality of Halych from 1188 until 1189/1190, and again between 1208/1209 and ...
granted the land Revúca (''terra Reuche'') to his servant Hudko (''Hudkonth'', in the deed of confirmation ''Hudko''). Hudko, his son Miloslav (''Mylozou'') and his offspring cultivated the land where the Slovak village Revúca had been founded in the 13th century. Before the 1320s,
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 ...
founded a new settlement, Rosenberg (''possesio Rozumberg''), right on the hill near the older village. In 1329, Revúca became a part of Ružomberok and received a new name Podhora (''Sub Monte'').
In 1340,
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (; ; ; 128816 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia in the union with Hungary, Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel of A ...
confirmed the town rights: burgesses and "guests" (German colonists) had the same rights as in Ľupča (now
Partizánska Ľupča). The extent of previous rights is not completely clear. Ružomberok allegedly had the similar rights since 1318, but the charter preserved only in copy could be fake. The Germans had had a dominant position probably until 1431 when many rich families left the town under the pressure of the
Hussites. The town council was then controlled by Slovaks, and during the 15th century, the town was Slovakised.
In the 19th century, the town was one of the centres of the Slovak national movement. It slowly became one of the industrial and financial centres 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 ...
, particularly after the
Kassa Oderberg Railway was completed in 1871, when many new factories emerged: paper and pulpwood works but also brick works (1871) and the textile industry.
In 1907, in Černová, which was rather a street than part of the town, had an event known as the
Černová tragedy.
After the break-up of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
in 1918, Ružomberok became a part of
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 ...
. However, when Czechoslovakia was broken up in 1939, it was incorporated into the
First Slovak Republic and was a capital of one of the counties, Tatra County (''Tatranská župa''). On 5 April 1945, Ružomberok was captured by troops of the
I Czechoslovak Army Corps, acting as a part of the
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
4th Ukrainian Front. Ružomberok became again part of Czechoslovakia, and after the
dissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...
in 1993, it became part of Slovakia. In 1995, Ruzomberok became a district town.
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 30,417 inhabitants. 96.64% 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 ...
, 0.95%
Roma and 0.87%
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
.
The religious make-up was 75.47%
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 ...
, 14.65% people with no religious affiliation, and 5.46%
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 ...
.
More recent census results from 2021 show the number of inhabitants has decreased to 27,407, with the Slovak, Czech, and Roma populations decreasing to 92.23%, 0.47%, and 0.33% respectively.
Furthermore, the percentage of Roman Catholics has decreased to 62.37%, whereas the number of people with no religious affiliation has increased to 23.09%.
Industry and commerce
Ružomberok was famous in the 20th century as an industrial town. The resulting pollution has remained one of the biggest challenges the town faces. It had the largest cotton mill in Slovakia: ''BZVIL'' or ''Texicom''; and still has one of the largest exporter businesses in Slovakia:
Mondi SCP, formerly known as ''SCPSeveroslovenské celulózky a papierne''. Texicom went bankrupt in 2006. Mondi SCP is a paper and pulp factory and is the biggest employer in the Ružomberok district and the Liptov region. The town also has a brick factory located in the south.
Ružomberok is nowadays also considered as a good shopping town, with almost all supermarket brands. These include
Billa,
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...
,
Lidl
Lidl ( ) is a trademark, used by two Germany, German international discount supermarket, discount retailer chain store, chains that operates over 12,600 stores. The ''LD Stiftung'' operates the stores in Germany and the ''Lidl Stiftung & Co. K ...
,
Kaufland
Kaufland () is a German hypermarket chain, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl. The hypermarket directly translates to English as "buy-land." It opened its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a major ch ...
,
Jednota,
Hypernova
A hypernova is a very energetic supernova which is believed to result from an extreme core collapse scenario. In this case, a massive star (>30 solar masses) collapses to form a rotating black hole emitting twin astrophysical jets and surrounded b ...
, Verex and Kinekus.
Aupark and
Aldi
Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...
are also planned.
Schools
Apart from its numerous primary and secondary school, the town also has 2 grammar schools and 2 universities. The
Catholic University
Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univers ...
is based in Ružomberok and the University of Žilina has a branch in the town. From September 2007 it is not possible to study at detached workplace of University of Žilina.
Landmarks and culture

The centre of the town is located at the Andrej Hlinka Square (''Námestie Andreja Hlinku''). Among the sights in or around the square are the Roman Catholic Church of St. Andrew, first mentioned in 1318, originally built in a Gothic but now presenting a Renaissance–Baroque style; town hall, built in 1895 in the neo-Baroque style and the church and monastery of the Holy Cross (built 1806 and 1730 respectively).
Cultural institutions in the towns include the Liptov Museum, established in 1912 which also has exhibitions outside the town. These include the
Likava Castle, which is just outside the town in the
Likavka village; and the Museum of the Liptov Village in
Pribylina.
The
Ľudovít Fulla Gallery is a branch of the
Slovak National Gallery and is dedicated to Fulla's works of art. The gallery also hosts the concert series ''Hudba u Fullu'' ("Music at Fulla"). In recent years, the programme of the series has included works by composers such as
Vladimír Godár
Vladimír Godár (born 16 March 1956, in Bratislava) is a Slovak Contemporary classical music, classical and film score composer. He is also known for his collaboration with the Czech violinist, singer, and composer Iva Bittová. As an academic, ...
,
Peter Machajdík,
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...
,
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
,
Valentin Silvestrov,
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, Musical historicism, historicism, Avant-garde music, avant-garde, and experimental music.
Early lif ...
, and many others. In November 2017, the
Ľudovít Fulla Gallery hosted the international sound art and multimedia festival ''Sound Art vs. Multimedia''.
The town also has the only scout museum in Slovakia.
Other sights within the town include the Evangelic church from 1923 to 1926, a historic building of the railway station from 1871, now protected as a national historic monument; Calvary above the town in the Classicist style, built in 1858; synagogue from 1880; and the church in Černová, where the
tragedy in 1907 happened.
Attractions in the surroundings include the
Čebrať mountain (1,054 m),
Vlkolínec village, inscribed in 1993 to the
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 ...
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 ...
list, and the skiing area of Malinô Brdo (also called Malinné).
Sport
The women's basketball team
MBK Ružomberok is the most successful basketball team in Slovakia's sport history, with two
EuroLeague Women victories. The men's football team
MFK Ružomberok plays in the
Slovak First Football League
The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Slovak football league system. It was formed in 1993 following th ...
. In 2006, it was champion of both the first league (at the time: ''Corgoň liga'') and the
Slovak FA Cup.
Notable people
*
Ľudovít Fulla,
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
,
graphic artist
A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...
,
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...
,
stage designer and
art teacher
*
Dušan Galis,
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
coach and former football player
*
Andrej Hlinka, politician, priest, and activist
*
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, active first in Europe and later in the United States. Known for his timidly devious characters, his appearance, and accented vo ...
(László Löwenstein), Hollywood
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
*
Elo Romančík, actor
*
Dárius Rusnák,
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
player
*
Karol Sidor, politician and journalist
*
Jozef Vengloš, former footballer,
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
, and
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
football expert
Twin towns – sister cities
Ružomberok is
twinned with:
*
Bački Petrovac, Serbia
*
Gospić, Croatia
*
Děčín
Děčín (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It is the seventth largest municipality in the country by area. Děčín is an important traffic junction.
Administrative division
Děč ...
, Czech Republic
*
Hlučín, Czech Republic
*
Kroměříž
Kroměříž (; ) is a town in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It is known for Kroměříž Castle with its castle gardens, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The historic town centre with the castle ...
, Czech Republic
*
Prague 6, Czech Republic
See also
*
Černová tragedy
*
Vlkolínec
*
Catholic University in Ružomberok
*
MFK Ružomberok
*
MBK Ružomberok
Gallery
File:Ružomberok.Bahnhof.JPG, Railway station
File:Ružomberok, pešia zóna.jpg, City center
File:PA260021.JPG, Church of St. Andrew
References
External links
Official websiteLocal newspaper of RužomberokCity TV RužomberokCultural House of Andrej Hlinka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruzomberok
Cities and towns in Slovakia