Kežmarok

Kežmarok was a free royal town of the Spiš, and it keeps an unusual concentration: a castle inside the town rather than on a hill, a Baroque articular church of 1717 built entirely of wood without a single nail because Protestants were forbidden to use stone or iron, an enormous neo-Byzantine Evangelical church beside it, and a lyceum whose library of some hundred and fifty thousand volumes is the largest school library in Central Europe.

History

Kežmarok is first named in 1251 as the village of St Elizabeth, received its town charter in 1269 and had the right to hold a cheese market, from which its German name Kesmark comes. The Thököly family held the town, Imre Thököly was born here in 1657, and its wooden Protestant church, with an organ of 1719, has been listed by UNESCO since 2008 (Wikipedia, Kežmarok).

Highlights

• The wooden articular church - a 1717 timber church built without nails, seating 1,500.
• The lyceum library - around 150,000 volumes, the largest school library in the region.
• The town castle - a fortified residence inside the town, now a museum.
• The new Evangelical church - a neo-Byzantine building beside the wooden one.

When to go

April to October is the main season; the wooden church closes in winter. The lyceum library is shown on arranged visits. Summer brings a large craft fair to the town.

Before you go

The wooden church and the library both keep restricted hours and the library often needs arranging. Photography inside is limited. The town is quiet outside the summer fair.

Nearby

Spisska Sobota is southwest, and Zdiar is north.

Key facts