Terchová () is a large

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' ...

(population 4,073) in the

Malá Fatra Malá Fatra (; also Little Fatra or Lesser Fatra, , ) is a mountain range in the Western Carpathians in the north-west of Central Slovakia. In the geomorphological system, it is a part of the Fatra-Tatra Area.Craig Stephen Cravens ''Culture And Cu ...

mountains 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 ...

of 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 ...

Names and etymology

In the 16th century, the village was known as ''Kralowa alias Tyerchowa'' (1598). The name ''Kralowa'' means 'royal' in Slovak and refers to royal meadows. The name ''Tyerchowa'' comes from the Hungarian noun ''terhe'' 'burden', which was borrowed into Slovak before the 12th century as ''tärcha'' > ''ťarcha'', and later also as ''tercha'' with the Slovak possessive suffix ''-ova''. It refers to legal obligations of the citizens.

History

The village was established in 1580, but the area was inhabited even before its establishment. Originally a

Vlach Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula) ...

settlement from the period of Vlach colonization, it slowly began to change to an agricultural settlement, as many new settlers in the 17th century came to the village. In the 19th century, several

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

s and plagues depopulated the village, as many emigrated to the US, Canada and Argentina. Near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, half of the wooden part of the village was burned down. During the first post-war years, it was reconstructed as part of two-year plan. The village is most famous for being the birthplace and town where Juraj Janosik grew up.
In 2013 Music of Terchová was inscribed on 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 ...

's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Geography

The

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 514 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 84.542 km². 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 4,073 people. The village lies in a valley in the

mountains, about 25 km east of

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 ...

. The tourist resort of

Vrátna dolina Vrátna dolina or Vrátna Valley is a valley in the Malá Fatra mountain range in Slovakia. It is situated 3 kilometers from the village of Terchová in the Žilina Region. Vrátna dolina covers an area of approximately 36 km2 (13,9 mi2) ...

belongs to the village.

Gallery

Image:Volk musicians in Terchová.jpg, Volk musicians in Terchová Image:Wooden architecture in Terchová.jpg, Wooden architecture in Terchová Image:Terchová z Obšívanky.jpg, Terchová from Obšivanka Image:Terchová - kostel Svatého Cyrila a Metoděje.jpg, Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius Image:Slovakia Terchova 11.jpg, Jánošík's statue

Notable births

*Birthplace of

Juraj Jánošík Juraj Jánošík (first name also ''Juro'' or ''Jurko'', ; ''Hungarian: Jánosik György'', baptised 25 January 1688, died 17 March 1713) was a Slovak highwayman. Jánošík has been the main character of many Slovak novels, poems, and films. ...

, who is commonly referred to as a Slovak

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

. *Birthplace of

Adam František Kollár Adam František Kollár de Keresztén (, ; 1718–1783) was a Slovak jurist, Imperial-Royal Court Councillor and Chief Imperial-Royal Librarian, a member of Natio Hungarica in the Kingdom of Hungary, a historian, ethnologist, an influential ad ...

, Slovak writer, historian and librarian.

References

External links

Terchová website (in Slovak)Terchová Information in English
Villages and municipalities in Žilina District {{Žilina-geo-stub