Sliač is a small
spa townA spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...
located in central
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, on the
HronHron is a 298 km long left tributary of the Danube and the second longest river in Slovakia. It flows from its source located in the Low Tatra mountains through central and southern Slovakia, pouring into the Danube near Štúrovo and Esztergom...
river, between
Banská BystricaBanská Bystrica is a key city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 81,281 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia...
and
ZvolenZvolen |Slatina]] rivers, close to Banská Bystrica. With its ancient castle, the town has a historical center, which represents the seat of an okres .-History:...
. The town is known for its healing
hot springsHot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas** Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Placer County, California...
and for an
airportSliač Airport , historically Letisko Tri Duby - is an international airport in central Slovakia, between Zvolen and Banská Bystrica, near the spa town of Sliač. The airport has one runway, which is 2,340 m long...
which has been used for military as well as civil purposes. Sliač has a population of less than 5,000.
History
The town arose through a merger of two villages,
Hájniky and
Rybáre, in 1959 and was given the name "Sliač". However, both original settlements are much older. The
GothicGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
church in Hájniky was mentioned for the first time in 1263 and there is archaeological evidence of Slavic settlers living in the area since the 6th century. Some evidence also indicates that the history of the settlement stretches to 2000 B.C. The airport, formerly known as
Letisko Tri Duby ("The Three-Oaks Airport") due to the name of the area it was located in, played the key strategic role during the
Slovak National UprisingThe Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...
.
Demographics
In 2005, Sliač had a population of 4,812. According to the 2001
censusA census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, 96.1% of inhabitants were
SlovaksThe Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
and 2.3% Czechs. The religious make-up was 46.1% Roman Catholics, 26.7% people with no religious affiliation, and 22.1% Lutherans.
External links