Prešov

Prešov grew rich on the salt worked at nearby Solivar, and the money went into the long lens-shaped square at its centre, lined with Gothic and Renaissance burgher houses with painted and sgraffito fronts. The town is the seat of three cathedrals, Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox, which reflects the mix of eastern Slovakia. At Solivar on the edge of town the seventeenth-century salt extraction works survive as a museum, with the shaft, the horse-driven hoist and the evaporation halls kept as they were left.

Background

The oldest tools and mammoth bones found here date back 28,000 years, and settlement has been continuous since the 8th century. The first written mention dates from 1247, as Theutonici de Epuryes. King Béla IV of Hungary brought in German colonists, and the town grew into a German-speaking settlement that Louis the Great raised to a royal free town in 1347. In 1412 Prešov helped found the Pentapolitana, a trading league of five towns, and a school is on record from 1429. The Eperjes-Tokaj Hill-Chain takes its name from the city and was marked on Hungary's first map, from 1528. With approximately 85,000 residents, it is the third largest city in Slovakia.

Source: Wikipedia, "Prešov"

Highlights

• The long square - a lens-shaped centre of Gothic and Renaissance houses.
• The Rakoczi palace - a Renaissance house with a decorated attic front.
• The three cathedrals - Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox seats.
• Solivar - seventeenth-century salt extraction works preserved as a museum.

When to go

April to October is the most comfortable. Solivar keeps museum hours and closes on Mondays. Summer brings events to the square.

What to expect

Solivar is on the edge of town and needs separate transport and time. Some square facades are in poor repair. Museums are labelled in Slovak.

Nearby

Kosice is south, and Bardejov is north.

Key facts