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Žilina

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Žilina (Audio file "Zilina.ogg" not found; in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around 200 kilometres (120 mi) from the capital Bratislava. It is the fourth largest city of Slovakia with a population of around 85,000, an important industrial centre, the largest city on the Váh river, and the seat of a kraj (Žilina Region) and of an okres (Žilina District).

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 written reference to Žilina was in 1208 as terra de Selinan.

The city started to develop around year 1300, and according to records in 1312 it was already a town. 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 of the seats at the city council to Slovaks. The town was burned in 1431 by the Hussites.

During the 17th century Žilina gained 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. In the Revolutions of 1848, Slovak volunteers, part of the Imperial Army, won a battle near the city against Hungarian honveds and gardists.

The city 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 municipalities 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 city 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 since 1996.

Today Žilina is the fourth largest city 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 city has built trolleybus lines.

Geography

Žilina lies at an altitude of 342 metres (1,122 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 80.03 square kilometres (30.9 sq mi).[1] It is located in the Upper Váh region (Template:Lang-sk) at the confluence of three rivers: Váh, flowing from east into south-west, Kysuca, flowing from north and Rajčanka rivers from south, in the Žilina Basin. The city is surrounded by these mountain ranges: Malá Fatra, Súľovské vrchy, Javorníky and Kysucká vrchovina. Protected areas nearby include: Strážov Mountains Protected Landscape Area, Kysuce Protected Landscape Area and Malá Fatra National Park. There are two hydroelectric dams on the Váh river around Žilina: the Žilina dam in the East and the Hričov dam in the West.

Climate

Žilina lies in the north temperate zone and has a continental climate with four distinct seasons. It is characterized by a significant variation between hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Average temperature in July is 18 °C (64 °F), in January −4 °C (25 °F). Average annual rainfall is 650 - 700 mm (25.5–27.5 in), most of the rainfall is in June and in the first half of July. Snow cover lasts from 60 to 80 days per year.

Climate data for Žilina
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Source: MSN Weather[2]

Symbol

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

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.[1]

Economy

Mariánske námestie with burgher houses

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.

Culture and sights

Church of St. Paul the 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)

Sights

Budatín Castle

The historical centre of the city, reconstructed in the early 1990s is protected as a city monument reserve (Template:Lang-sk), It is centred on the Mariánske námestie and Andrej Hlinka squares. The Mariánske námestie square has 106 arcade passages and 44 burgher houses along the whole square.[3] It is dominated by the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, the old building of the city council, and the baroque statue of the Virgin Mary. Nearby is the Church of the Holy Trinity, a sacral building built around 1400, which is since February 2008 the cathedral of the Diocese of Žilina. Other landmarks in and around the city include:

  • Budatín Castle, housing Považie Museum with tinker trade exhibition
  • The wooden Roman Catholic church of St. George in the city part 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

In addition, the city is a starting point for various locations of western and eastern Slovakia, including hiking trails into the Lesser Fatra and Greater Fatra mountains. Other locations of interest include Bojnice Castle, Strečno, Orava region, and the villages of Čičmany and Vlkolínec.

Sport

Football (soccer) club MŠK Žilina plays the highest Slovak league Corgoň liga and is a four time domestic league winner.

Ice hockey club MsHK Žilina plays in the Slovak Extraliga. They have won one domestic title so far.

Government

City office of Žilina

The city is governed by a mayor (Template:Lang-sk) and a city council (Slovak: mestské zastupiteľstvo). The mayor is the head of the city and its chief executive, with the term of office lasting four years. The current mayor, Ivan Harman, was nominated in 2006 by a coalition of the political parties SDKÚ-DS, KDH, SF and OKS. The council is the city's legislative body, with 31 councillors. The last municipal election was held in 2006 and councillors are elected to four-year terms concurrent with the mayor's. Žilina is divided into eight electoral districts, consisting of the following neighbourhoods:[4]

  1. Staré mesto, Hliny I-IV, Hliny VIII (5 councillors)
  2. Hliny V-VII, Bôrik (4 councillors)
  3. Solinky (5 councillors)
  4. Vlčince (6 councillors)
  5. Hájik (3 councillors)
  6. Bytčica, Rosinky, Trnové, Mojšová Lúčka (2 councillors)
  7. Závodie, Bánová, Strážov, Žilinská Lehota (2 councillors)
  8. Budatín, Považský Chlmec, Vranie, Brodno, Zádubnie, Zástranie (3 councillors)

Žilina is the capital of one of eight considerably autonomous Regions of Slovakia.[5] It is also the capital of a smaller district. The Žilina District (Slovak: okres Žilina) is nested within the Žilina Region. The city also hosts a regional branch of National Bank of Slovakia.

Education

Rectorate of the University of Žilina
Memorial dedicated to the Saints Cyril and Methodius, with the Church of the Holy Trinity in the background

The city is home to to the University of Žilina, which has seven faculties and has 12,402 students, including 625 doctoral students.[6]

There are 18 public primary schools, one private primary school, and three church primary schools.[7] Overall, they enroll 7,484 pupils.[7] The city's system of secondary education (some middle schools and all high schools) consists of eight gymnasia with 3,514 students,[8] ten specialized high schools with 3,696 students,[9] and nine vocational schools with 4,870 students.[10][11]

Transport

The city 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. The construction of the D1, and D3 motorways and their feeders continues towards Žilina. Žilina is also served by international Žilina Airport, which is some 10 km away from the city centre.

Public transport exists since 1949 and vehicles are buses and trolleybuses (since 1994).

People

Twin towns

Žilina has several twin towns around the world:[12]

References

  1. ^ a b "Municipal Statistics". Statistical Office of the Slovak republic. Retrieved 2007-12-23. Cite error: The named reference "statistics" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Monthly Averages for Žilina, Slovakia". MSN. Retrieved 18 January. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Spectacular Slovakia 2004: Žilina and Northern Slovakia, the Malá Fatra mountains
  4. ^ "Členovia Mestského zastupiteľstva" (in Slovak). Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  5. ^ Brusis, Martin (2002). "Between EU Requirements, Competitive Politics, and National Traditions: Re-creating Regions in the Accession Countries of Central and Eastern Europe". Governance. 15 (4): 531–559. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "Žilinská univerzita" (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  7. ^ a b "Prehľad základných škôl v školskom roku 2006/2007" (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. 2006. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  8. ^ "Prehľad gymnázií v školskom roku 2006/2007" (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  9. ^ "Prehľad stredných odborných škôl v školskom roku 2006/2007" (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  10. ^ "Prehľad združených stredných škôl v školskom roku 2006/2007" (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  11. ^ "Prehľad stredných odborných učilíšť a učilíšť v školskom roku 2006/2007" (PDF) (in Slovak). Ústav informácií a prognóz školstva. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  12. ^ Žilina - oficiálne stránky mesta
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