Počúvadlo

With almost 90 inhabitants, the village is one of the smallest in the area. It lies just 8 minutes’ drive from tajch Počúvadlo, which shares its name.

The first written mention of Počúvadlo dates from 1333, when the village was called Pocholla; the name Počuwadlo appears in 1808. It belonged to Levice Castle and, from the 17th century, to the Mining Chamber. The villagers lived mainly from woodcutting, charcoal burning and mining. During the wartime Slovak State, the Slovak National Uprising and the period up to liberation in the spring of 1945, the village played an important role in the resistance movement, when Ladislav Exnár’s Sitno group operated here. After the Second World War, some of the villagers worked in industry in Banská Štiavnica and in the local collective farm.

The houses traditionally stand in a row along the stream. Stone-built houses from the 19th century have survived, with a back room and a storeroom with a separate entrance, a cowshed and a lean-to shed. The houses often have cellars, with plastered and whitewashed walls; the newer ones have a pillared veranda. The villagers’ traditional dress was a variant of the folk costume of nearby Žibritov.

Počúvadlo (545 m above sea level) lies in the southern part of the Štiavnica Mountains, where the Počúvadliansky potok stream has its source. The hilly andesite land around the village stretches from the northern tip of the Klastavský potok valley up to the foot of Sitno and to tajch Počúvadlo. The immediate surroundings are open and treeless; elsewhere there are oak and beech woods. On Holík hill, the area of 31.98 ha is a protected site for xerophilous and thermophilous flora and fauna.

Do stop at the Počuvalská krčma pub, which has witty and creative owners, original furnishings and a strict ‘Wi-Pi zone’. Each corner of the pub takes you into a different ‘room’ – there’s a Cinema, a Garden, a School with a blackboard and even Hell with a stove. The walls are hung with naïve paintings of the village, lovingly painted by the publican’s family, and they serve a special drink called ‘Smrekovec’ that you won’t find anywhere else. The same building houses the municipal office and a grocery shop, and there is free parking in front.