Here you will find study trips and round trips through the metropolises of Slovakia
Bratislava
Visit Bratislava (Pressburg) on the Danube, the capital of Slovakia and the largest city in the country. As the political, cultural and economic center of Slovakia, Bratislava is the country’s seat of government and the location of several universities. Here you can find museums – the Good Shepherd House, the Municipal Museum, the Municipal Gallery; Theater – the Slovak National Theater, the Arena Theater; the Reduta, the Maximilian fountain, the old town hall, the Franciscan monastery, the church of the Poor Clares, the Michaeler Tor, the Grassalkovich Palace, the castle, the Sigismundtor and other important buildings. Enjoy a Bratislava city break.
Bardejov
Medieval pearl of Slovakia
German and Slavic settlers lived together in the stronghold of the Reformation. The Slovak city of Bardejov, also known under the names Bartfeld (German), Bártfa (Hungarian) and Bardejów (Polish), currently has a good 32,000 inhabitants in six districts on just over 72 km². It is located on the banks of the Topľa in the north of the Šariš region in the low mountain range of the Low Beskids and on the edge of the Ondavská vrchovina mountain range between the neighboring towns of Prešov and Košice 20 kilometers south of the border with Poland.
History
Bardejov was first mentioned in a document in 1241, and from around the same time German settlers came to the city and its surroundings. In 1376 it was appointed a royal town, in 1405 a free royal town, and in the 15th century Bardejov experienced its first economic prosperity. As a member of the medieval city union “Pentapolitana” with Lutheran confession in the Kingdom of Hungary, Bardejov benefited in the 16th century from the cooperation with four other royal free cities in the area. In 2017, Bardejov was given the honorary title of “Reformation City of Europe” due to its Protestant tradition. Even emperors, kings and generals have honored the beautiful city.
Sights of Bardejov
The medieval town center around the rectangular market square in the center of Bardejov, which is almost true to the original and completely preserved to this day, attracts many participants on study trips to the town every year. The most famous sight is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. Giles from the 15th to 19th centuries, which was built primarily in the Gothic style. The historic town hall from 1505 with the surrounding town houses and the massive city wall with its various bastions and defense towers are also frequently visited and photographed. Bardejov has many other listed buildings and cultural monuments, the sculptures erected in her honor on the occasion of a visit by the Austrian Empress “Sissy” are particularly worth seeing.
Activities in the vicinity of Bardjeov
About 2.5 kilometers north of Bardejov is the Bardejovské Kúpele thermal baths, where Napoleon Bonaparte and Tsar Alexander the First were cured of their ailments.
The entire surrounding area is an authentic and traditional cultural landscape
In Hervartov, about 9 kilometers southwest of Bardejov, there is the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, one of eight “wooden churches in the Slovak part of the Carpathian Mountains” built between the 16th and 18th centuries and protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. From Bardejov you can also go on day trips to Prešov, the second largest city in Eastern Slovakia with currently almost 90,000 inhabitants, with numerous buildings worth seeing.
Levoča (Leutschau)
The historic town of Levoča (German: Leutschau) is located in northeastern Slovakia in the middle of the beautiful Spiš region. The old town, which is well worth seeing, is well preserved and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2009. Since Levoča is also an important place of pilgrimage, a visit to the city is an integral part of any study trip through Slovakia.
Levoča as a trading town
Soon after the city was founded by German colonizers in 1245, its economic and political rise began. In 1271 it became the provincial capital of the Spiš Saxons, and in 1317 a royal free city. The associated privileges primarily served to promote trade. Prosperity grew when Levoča was able to introduce storage rights at the beginning of the 15th century and free itself from the burden of the thirtieth inch. Much of the money generated was used to build roads, churches and houses.
The sights
The listed buildings of Levoča include the numerous patrician houses around the town hall square. The Church of St. Jakob is also located on the Rathausplatz. Thanks to its soaring and slender tower, it attracts the attention of visitors, but the main altar inside the church is even more attractive. With a height of more than 18 meters and a width of six meters, it is considered to be the largest late Gothic wooden altar in the world. Paul von Leutschau worked on it for several years – the museum set up in his former workshop commemorates the city’s most famous artist.
The pilgrimage site of Levoča
In 1247 the first chapel in honor of Mary was built on the Marienberg, 200 meters above the city. Apart from the interruptions due to political bans, since then a pilgrimage has always been held on the first Sunday in July after the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary, which is known throughout Slovakia and celebrated as a national event. The number of participants is correspondingly high. In 1947 130,000 people came to Levoča, in 1995 650,000 pilgrims were counted, in 2009 there were 600,000.
