Strečno () is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Žilina District
Žilina District () is an ''okres'' (district) of the Žilina Region in north-western Slovakia. The district was first established in 1923. Its present borders date from 1996. The heart of the district is the Váh and Rajec river valleys. Urbaniza ...
in the
Žilina Region
The Žilina Region (; ; ) is one of the eight Regions of Slovakia, Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts (okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region was established in 1923, however, in its p ...
in North
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 ...
. It is located by the
Váh
The Váh (; , ; ; Wag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (''in Geograph ...
River in the
Malá Fatra Mts. Situated 7 km east 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 ...
, Strečno is most famous for its
gothic castle ruins.
History
In
historical records the village was first mentioned in 1300.
The
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
, built in the beginning 14th century by
Matthew III Csák
Máté Csák or Matthew III Csák (between 1260 and 1265 – 18 March 1321; , ), also Máté Csák of Trencsén (, ), was a Hungarian oligarch who ruled ''de facto'' independently the north-western counties of Medieval Hungary (today roughly th ...
was destroyed in 1698.
During World War II, participants of the
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 ...
and German Army clashed in brutal battles in the gorges of Strečno.
Geography
The municipality lies at an
altitude
Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...
of 360 metres and covers an
area
Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...
of 13.175 km
2. It has a
population
Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...
of about 2648 people.
Gallery
Image:Strečno34.jpg, Strečno Castle ruins and the Váh River
Image:Strečno37.jpg, Strečno Castle
Image:Strečno24 - pohled na sever z hradní věže.jpg, Village from the castle
File:Church in Strečno.jpg, Church in village
References
External links
Official sitePictures of Strečno Castle
Villages and municipalities in Žilina District
{{Žilina-geo-stub