Spišské Podhradie (, ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Its population is 3,775. Spišské Podhradie is situated at the foot of the hill of Spiš Castle. It had a

Zipser German Zipser German (German: Zipserisch or Zipserdeutsch; Hungarian: ''szepességi szász nyelv'' or ''cipszer nyelv''; ) is a dialect of the German language which developed in the Upper Zips region (, ) of what is now northeastern Slovakia among ...

settlement, with its own church and priest, in 1174. Just above, and adjacent to, the town is the ecclesiastical settlement of Spišská Kapitula (hence an old German name ''Kirchdorf'', meaning "church town"). The town contains a number of

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 ...

merchants' houses. It also has one of the few remaining

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 ...

buildings (now disused) in the region. The Sivá Brada cold water spring is located nearby.

Twin towns — sister cities

Spišské Podhradie is twinned with: * Głogów Małopolski, Poland * Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona, United States * Show Low, Arizona, United States *

Vrbové Vrbové ( (modernized: ''Werbau''); ) is a village in the Trnava Region of Slovakia. It has a population of about 6,000. The village lies around northwest from Piešťany. Characteristics The village features an originally Gothic church from 1 ...

, Slovakia

Pictures

File:Spišské Podhradie I.jpg, Road in Spišská Kapitula with Spiš Castle above File:Spsynagogue.jpg, Synagogue at Spišské Podhradie File:Spišské Podhradie a hrad.jpg, Town center and Spiš Castle above File:Spišské Podhradí, 2019 (02).jpg, View of Spišské Podhradie and Spiš Castle in the background File:Spišské Podhradie 1.jpg, A street in Spišské Podhradie

References

External links

Official website
Cities and towns in Slovakia Spiš World Heritage Sites in Slovakia {{Prešov-geo-stub