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'Žilina' (, , , ) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around 200 km from the capital Bratislava. It is the fifth largest town of Slovakia, an important industrial centre, the largest town on the Váh river, and the seat of a ''kraj'' (Žilina Region) and of an ''okres'' (Žilina District).

Contents

Geography

Climate

Symbol

History

Demographics

Culture and sights

Theatres

Museums

Landmarks

Sport

Economy

Transport

City parts

Interesting facts

Pictures

People

Twin towns

References

External links

Geography

Žilina is located at the confluence of Váh, Kysuca and Rajčanka rivers, in the Žilina basin. It is surrounded by these mountain ranges: Malá Fatra, Strážov Mountains (''Strážovské vrchy''), Súľovské vrchy, Javorníky and Kysucká vrchovina. There are two hydroelectric dams on the Váh river around Žilina: the Žilina dam east of the town and the Hričov dam west of the town.

Climate

Average temperature in July is 18°C, in January -4°C. Average annual rainfall is 650 - 700 mm, most of rainfall is in June and in the first half of July. Snow cover lasts from 60 to 80 days/year.

Symbol

The coat-of-arms of Žilina has golden double-cross (so-called cross of Lorraine) and two golden stars on the olive-green undercoat. The double-cross is of Byzantine origin and stems from cyrillic-methodic tradition. The coat-of-arms is one of the oldest town coat-of-arms not only in Slovakia. It has been used as a town symbol since 1378.

History

The area around today's Žilina was inhabited in the late Stone Age (around 20 000 BC). In the 5th century Slavs started to move into the area . However the first record of Žilina as a town was in 1208, when it was a small Slovak town.

Nearly everything from the old Žilina was destroyed at the end of the 13th century, only to be rebuilt by German colonists from the area around Těšín. In 1321, King Charles I made Žilina a free royal town. On 7 May 1381 King Louis I issued Privilegium pro Slavis which made the Slovak inhabitants equal to the German colonists by allocating half the seats on the city council to Slovaks. The town was burned in 1405 by the Hussites and after this the town declined for some time.

During the 17th century Žilina slowly regained its position as a centre of manufacturing, trade and education and during the baroque age many monasteries and churches were built as well as the Budatín Castle. During the revolution years of 1848/1849 it was a place of victory for Slovak volunteers against Hungarian troops.

The town boomed in the second half of the 19th century as new railway tracks were built: the Košice-Bohumín Railway was finished in 1872 and the railway to Bratislava in 1883, and new factories started to spring up, for example the drape-producing factory ''Slovena'' (1891) and the Považie chemical works (1892).

It was one of the first towns to sign the Martin declaration (30 October 1918), and until March 1919 it was the seat of the Slovak government. On 6 October 1938, shortly after the Munich Agreement, autonomy of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia was declared in Žilina.

After the Second World War, the town experienced a boom, with many new factories, schools, and housing estates being built. It was the seat of the Žilina region from 1949-1960 and again in 1996.

Today Žilina is the fifth largest town in Slovakia, the third most important industrial centre and the seat of a university, the Žilinská univerzita (founded in 1953). Since 1990 the historical centre of the city has been largely restored and the town has built at its own expense trolleybus lines.

The construction of the D1, and D3 motorways and their feeders continues towards Žilina.

Demographics

Žilina has a population of 85,425 (as of December 31, 2005). According to the 2001 census, 96.9% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 1.6% Czechs, 0.2% Roma, 0.1% Hungarians, and 0.1% Moravians. The religious makeup was 74.9% Roman Catholics, 16.7% people with no religious affiliation, and 3.7% Lutherans.

Culture and sights

Church of St. Paul apostle, Mariánske námestie

Theatres

There are two theatres in Žilina: the City Theatre [1], and the Puppet Theatre [2]

Museums

There are three museums in Žilina:

★ Považská galéria (Považie gallery)

★ Považské múzeum (Považie museum), in the Budatín castle

★ Múzeum židovskej kultúry (Museum of Jewish culture)

Landmarks

The historical centre of the city is the Mariánske námestie, with the Church of St. Paul, the old building of the city council, the baroque statue of the Virgin Mary and so on. Other landmarks include:

★ Budatín Castle

★ The wooden Roman Catholic church of St. George in the city area of Trnové (one of the few outside north-eastern Slovakia)

★ The Church of St. Stephen the King, the oldest architectural landmark in Žilina

★ The Orthodox synagogue, which now houses the Museum of Jewish culture

Sport

★ Football - MŠK Žilina plays in the Slovak Corgoň Liga

★ Ice hockey - MsHK Žilina plays in the Slovak Extraliga

Economy

Main square

Žilina is the main business and industrial hub of the Váh river basin. The biggest employer is the car producer Kia Motors. By 2007, the plant plans to produce 300,000 cars per year and employ around 3000 people. Kia's investment in Žilina amounts to over 1 billion USD. Another big employer is Tento, a paper mill company. Žilina is also seat to some major Slovak companies, particularly from construction sector.

Transport

The town is an important international road and rail junction. Railroads and roads connect the city with Bratislava and Prievidza in the south, Čadca in the north, and Martin in the east. It is possible to reach various interesting locations in western and central Slovakia by bus from the Žilina bus station (Slovak: ''autobusová stanica''). Such places include Bojnice, Orava, Strečno, and the Malá Fatra mountains. Žilina is also served by international Žilina Airport, which is some 10 km away from the city centre.
Public transport vehicles are buses and trolleybuses.

City parts

''City parts'': Bánová, Brodno, Budatín, Bytčica, Celulózka, Mojšova Lúčka, Považský Chlmec, Strážov, Trnové, Vranie, Zádubnie, Zástranie, Závodie, Žilina and Žilinská Lehota.
''Apartment blocks city parts'': Hájik, Hliny I-VIII, Solinky, Vlčince I-IV.
''Other parts'': Bôrik, Frambor, Hruštiny, Kálov, Malá Praha, Nová Žilina, Nový Chlmec, Rosinky, Rudiny, Šašvárka, Šibenice, Veľký diel, Závažie.

Interesting facts

There is also a small village in the Czech Republic called Žilina.

Pictures

People

★ Tomáš Bezdeda, singer

★ Mikuláš Dzurinda, former Prime Minister of Slovakia

★ Ľubomír Feldek, Slovak poet

★ Stanislav Griga, football coach

★ Juraj Jánošík, Slovak national hero

★ Karol Križan, ice hockey player

★ David Leimdörfer, rabbi

★ Marek Mintál, football (soccer) player

★ Ronald Petrovický, ice hockey player

★ Ján Slota, Slovak nationalist politician and former mayor of Žilina

★ Martin Šulík, actor

★ Viktor Tausk, psychoanalyst

★ Radoslav Židek, snowboarder, first medal winner at the Winter Olympic Games from Slovakia

Twin towns

Žilina has several twin towns:^[2]

★ Bielsko-Biała, Poland ★ Changchun, China ★ Chania, Greece ★ Corby, England

★ Cotonou, Benin ★ Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine ★ Essen, Belgium ★ Ferrara, Italy

★ Hrodna, Belarus ★ Kikinda, Serbia ★ Koper, Slovenia ★ Nanterre, France

References

1. http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html Municipal Statistics from the Statistical Office of the Slovak republic
2. http://www.zilina.sk/mesto-zilina-o-meste-partnerske-mesta

External links

★ Official site /

★ Unofficial site

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