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Levice

  • .Slovakia a little big country

    Levice a pearl of south Pohronie region

    History of Levice

    ObrázokThe first written record of Levice is from 1156 and mentions Martirius, the archbishop of Esztergom (Hungary), who consecrated the church in Bratka village dedicated to St.Martin. A parish was established where the villages "villa Leua" and Vitk were annexed . At that time the village of Leua (Levice) was a subject of  the Tekov castle, and was situated on the eastern part of today’s town of Levice, somewhere on the slopes of the vineyard, which is still called Old Levice. The castle in Levice was built in the 13th century, when the Tartar-looted Tekovsky castle’s importance had declined. It was built on andesite rock, the remnants of Neogenic volcanic activity, which extended to the Štiavnica hills. The west side of the castle was bounded by  the marshy meadow of the river Hron, with its several river branches. The castle itself had been a fortress for protection of the mining towns. Under the protection of the castle in the 14th century a settlement known as "Big" or "Old Levice"  had been established, which is  the real predecessor of today’s Levice town.


     

    ObrázokThe 150 year long Turkish occupation, which started in the 16th century, weakened the town economically  and made it more dependent on the castle’s estate.  At this time the Levice castle, then already a royal castle, was listed among the 15 most important defence forts. In the middle of the  17th century the Turkish incursions grew stronger. Seeing the enemy’s huge numerical advantage, the captain gave up Levice without resistance. The Turks' rule in Levice lasted for only 224 days, when in 1664 by an unexpected action they were expelled out of the town. After the end of the Turkish wars Levice lost its important role as a frontier-castle and in 1699 in accordance with official orders it was abolished as a fort.
    Frequent fires meant  great disasters  for Levice. In 1696 fire destroyed almost the whole town. In 1715 there were 195 taxpayers and 43 craftsmen in the town.
    In the time of Rákoczy’s Revolt in the 18th century the castle was in a very bad condition. In order to prevent  from being used  for military purposes the rebels  decided to destroy it before leaving. The castle was never  re-established and thus it lost its military importance.


     

    ObrázokIn the second half of 18th century Levice  grew significantly and became an agricultural centre of the southern riverside of the  Hron, and  lively  trade and artisanship  in organised trades  were taking place  in the town. The best known and  most famous guilds were those of boot-makers, cobblers and button-makers. In the 19th century the number of small enterprises gradually grew;  trade, which was mostly concentrated in the hands of Jewish entrepreneurs, developed as well. The investments of the richest families Leidenfrost and Schoeller mostly concerned  agriculture and other industries: they built a liqueur factory with a distillery, a steam flourmill, and a brickworks. They also planted new vineyards and  developed selective cattle breeding. In 1873 there were 6000 inhabitants in Levice.


     

    ObrázokIn the first half of  the 20th century during the first Czechoslovak Republic  Levice’s architectural, town-planning development  began. In 1933 the tobacco-factory was built. In the fifties there was a big housing shortage in Levice, because country people moved to the town in large numbers. In 1961 there were 13744 inhabitants in the town and Levice became an enlarged  district centre. By the end of the  eighties the number of inhabitants had increased to 37500. The originally separate communities of Kalinčiakovo and Malý Kiar were administratively incorporated into Levice in 1976, and the settlements of Čankov and Horša joined the town in 1986.

     

    Sightseeing

    The Castle

    The CastleThe most significant building of the town is the castle fortress built in the second half of the 13th century on a steep hillside extending to a swamp. In the upper section of the castle ruins of the Gothic palace, the oldest part of the fortress remained. At the walls of its eastern side some of the bastion lower parts still remain where a summerhouse was built in the 19th century (nowadays it is run as a teahouse). The fortress’s external walls, corner stone framing, the oldest Gothic palace’s portal, some parts of plaster and fortification still remain. In the 16th century the fortress was enlarged, strengthened by a bulwark, and a palisade bastion was raised on its top and later it was gradually replaced by stone walls, with bastions for cannons on their corners. The other fortress buildings from the times of the Turkish wars close the lower bailey. The biggest one (the Dobó’s Mansion) dated back to 1571 - a rectangular Renaissance castle with a storied keep above the entrance from the town side. This entrance could only be approached from outside by means of the drawbridge. In the 17th century this castle was rebuilt in Baroque style and elevated by another storey. On the western side of the yard the Captain’s house was built and on the north-western part there is a huge multi-angular gun bastion, where a castle chapel was once situated and used during the Turkish occupations as a mosque. During feudal uprisings in the 17th century the castle was badly damaged. In 1702 Rákoczy’s rebels occupied the castle and before leaving Levice in 1709 they decided to destroy it. They burned it down, ruined the castle walls, filled the moats with rubble and thus the castle lost its function as a military fort. The less damaged buildings of the lower castle were later repaired and useless annexes were removed. Since 1958 the Tekov Museum has been situated here.

    Churches

    ObrázokThe Eszterházy family during the period from 1773 to 1780 built the Classicist parish-church of St.Michael Archangel on the site of the old church destroyed in the great fire. Over the main pediment front there is built on a double-tower superstructure. On the straight pediment between the towers is the statue of St.Ladislaus. The Classicist altar was built in 1793 and has a column architecture with symmetrically placed sculptures. In the middle there is a picture of St. Michael Archangel, from the painting by Quido Reni. Remarkable carved late-Baroque wooden benches from the middle of the 18th century show scenes from St.Francis’s life. The classicist epitaph of the Eszterházy family with a plastic family coat of arms and inscription dates from the year 1786.


     

    The Church of St.JosephFranciscan-Minorites built the Roman Catholic church of St. Joseph with an adjacent cloister building. In 1814 the Piarist order took the cloister over and opened a grammar school there. The church was rebuilt in 1773.


     

    The Lutheran ChurchThe local orthodox Serbs started construction of their church in the Classicist style in 1789. Due to their small numbers and gradual assimilation into the local community they sold the unfinished church to the Lutherans. Inside the church on four sides there are wooden pews on plinths. A new Lutheran church was built nearby the old church.


     

    The Calvinist ChurchThe first wooden Calvinist church was built in 1660, but due to its poor state it was pulled down. They started to build a new church on the same site but on the governor’s orders it was demolished. On the site of the previous churches there was erected a Classicist Tolerance church without a tower during the period of 1785-1788. In 1808 the church burned down but later it was restored and a tower was added to it. In front of the church there is a Baroque Classicist column erected in 1796 with a statue of Immaculate Virgin Mary on its top.


     

    ObrázokThe synagogue is a Roman-Classistic building built in 1857. It is a hall-type Jewish house of worship with a gallery for women. There is a richly decorated triangular font on the entrance with plastic ornaments and heightening, which shows the Ark of the Covenant.


     

    Monuments

    ObrázokThe Classicist Holy Trinity Column (near the entrance to the castle park) was erected in 1777 and then renovated in 1790. On the column is the group of the Holy Trinity. On the base there were originally statues of St. Sebastian, St. John of Nepomuk, St. Roch and John the Baptist. Only two of them remain.


     

    The Chapel of St. John of NepomukOn the outskirts of the Nixbrot settlement stands the chapel of St. John of Nepomuk from the 19th century, with the painted statue of the saint inside.

    At the northern part of Levice there is a monument to  Istvan Kohary, which was erected at the place of his death during the Turkish wars. A tree which came down in a storm had destroyed this monument but recently it has been restored.


     

    ObrázokIn the centre of the town in the Hero’s square stands the Monument to the victims of the  World War II.


     

    Buildings

    The town hall was built in 1902 on the old market place. In 1927 it was elevated by a second storey. It is a three-storied building with a three-axial projections entrance. It displays typical features of Hungarian Romanticism.

    The neighbouring corner house was built in a similar style. Its typical features are rounded corner bays.

    Opposite the town hall there is a monumental building of the "Calvinist yard" built in 1912 in Art Nouweau style.


     

    At the beginning of the 20th century a building of the Lev (Lion) hotel was constructed. This Art Nouveau corner building’s dominant features are the three-levelled entrance bays. Between the gables of the hotel’s cut corner front there is placed a stone relief of the town’s coat of arms.


     

    The building of the former teacher-training college built in Art Nouveau style was opened in 1870 and is one of the most prominent buildings. It is dominated by a sleek entrance tower and by three triangular gables at the front facade. The Pedagogical and Social academy is situated here.

    ObrázokOne of the dominant buildings of the town is the vast Schoeller’s mill from the 19th century. Recently it has been reconstructed and is used as a centre of trade and services (shops, pubs, discos, business offices ...)


     

    Nearby by the Shoeller’s mill on about 5 hectares there is a valuable landscape park which was built around the splendid neo-Baroque Schoeller’s castle which was destroyed during World War II.

    Ten reasons to visit Levice and its surroundings

     

    1. Do not miss the opportunity to visit Levice castle, which is the dominant building of the town.

     

     

    2. Lovers of history can visit the Tekov museum. The museum documents the entire history of Levice region, its historical and archeological finds, and includes a local pharmacy.

     

     

     

     

    3. One of the rocky dwellings, settlement No. 142, in Brhlovce was restored and turned into a museum, which is part of the Tekov museum in Levice. It shows the life of the original inhabitants of the dwellings. In 1994, it received the Europa Nostra Award for the saving and restoration of this architectural monument.

     

     

      

    4. If you want to spend a really enjoyable day  in nature, we encourage you to go to the Levice fishponds or Vápnik (Šikloš), which is one of the largest travertine peaks of Slovakia. A day trip to the State Nature Preserve, Horša Valley, with its  unique plant and animal features, is well worth the time.

     

     

     

    5. On the 27 th of July 2008 our newly revitalised Calvary was constructed. In the area of Calvary were also new stations of cross built.

     

     

     

     

    6. In October you have to come and enjoy the atmosphere of one of the favorite traditional events - the funfair in Levice. There are lots of food stalls, merry go rounds,  and attractions for the whole family.

       

     

     

    7. The famous holiday resort Margita-Ilona is located about 6 km away from the town of Levice. Resort facilities include four outdoor swimming pools with showers, tennis courts, volleyball fields, football pitches, and a children´s play ground.

     

     

    8. The association of sport in Levice offers people of all ages access to sporting facilities ( a modern sports hall, house of sport, swimming pool, football stadium, ice rink) and clubs.

     

    9. Various cultural and sports events that bring people together are organized throughout the year.

     

     

     

    10. Are you looking for some peace and quiet? The park of M. R. Štefánik is the right place to relax and unwind. There is a lake with a fountain with plenty of benches around. If you have children they will enjoy the climbing frame called "magic fish". There is also a small café inside the park.

    RESTAURANTS IN LEVICE 

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