Sliač () is a small

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, Ba ...

located 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 ...

, on the Hron river, between

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 Zvolen. The town is known for its healing

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

and for an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

which has been used for military as well as civil purposes. Sliač has a population of less than 5,000.

History

The town arose through a merger of two villages, ''Hájniky'' and ''Rybáre'', in 1959 and was given the name "Sliač". However, both original settlements are much older. The Gothic church in Hájniky was mentioned for the first time in 1263 (when the territory belonged to 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 there is archaeological evidence of Slavic settlers living in the area since the 6th century. Some evidence also indicates that the history of the settlement stretches to 2000 B.C. 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, Sliač was part of Zólyom County within the

. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the Slovak Republic.

Sliač Airport Sliač () is a small spa town located in central Slovakia, on the Hron river, between Banská Bystrica and Zvolen. The town is known for its healing hot springs and for an Sliač Airport, airport which has been used for military as well as civil p ...

, formerly known as ''Letisko Tri Duby'' ("Three-Oaks Airport") due to the name of the area it was located in, played a key strategic role during the Slovak National Uprising.

Climate

Demographics

In 2018, Sliač had a population of 4,986. 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 ...

, 96.1% 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 2.3%

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 46.1% Roman Catholics, 26.7% people with no religious affiliation, and 22.1% Lutherans.

Twin towns — sister cities

Sliač is twinned with: * Přibyslav, Czech Republic

References

External links

Official website of the municipality

Sliač dnes: Website about events in Sliac

Health Spa SliačHistory, present and comparison of spa Sliač
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sliac Cities and towns in Slovakia Spa towns in Slovakia