Culture & Arts
Banská Štiavnica is a town where history meets a rich cultural and artistic scene.
Its lanes breathe history, yet pulse with contemporary life. The town has plenty of museums and galleries that bring its rich history and art closer to visitors – from the Open-air Mining Museum, where you can experience the authentic atmosphere of mining life, to modern galleries showcasing contemporary art. Throughout the year, Banská Štiavnica hosts numerous festivals celebrating music, theatre, literature and film.
The historic town centre is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and is home to many monuments, such as the Old Castle and the New Castle, St Catherine’s Church and the Calvary. Each of these buildings tells its own story and adds to the town’s unique atmosphere. If you’re looking for interactive experiences, there are exhibitions such as the Bank of Love, where you can discover the longest love poem in the world, or the Glanzenberg Hereditary Adit, which takes you underground right beneath the town. Banská Štiavnica is a place where everyone finds something to enjoy – whether you are a history or art lover, or just looking for new experiences.
The Lookout Tower on the summit of Sitno is a wooden structure with a square ground plan and a pyramid roof, and it is one of […]
The ruins of Sitno Castle stand on the andesite crags of Sitno Hill, which gave the castle its name. Sitno was once a mighty medieval stone […]
In 1536 a Watch House was built on a steep spur with a good view over the main valley. Watch posts like this one, set up […]
Mines rich in silver, gold, iron and copper always attracted swarms of highwaymen. So from the 15th century Hodruša had a store for smelted precious metals, […]
This late Gothic cemetery church was built in 1575–1577, away from the village centre. It was probably built by Evangelical (Lutheran) worshippers, but over the centuries […]
The former town hall was probably built in 1590. On the ground floor is a vaulted hall that served as a guardroom for the town police […]
In Baďan you’ll find rows of picturesque cottages painted in different colours, with all the typical features of folk architecture. Look out, for example, for the […]
Just a 15-minute drive from Banská Štiavnica, this little village boasts something unique: carved gable ends on its houses. The tradition began here long ago, with […]
The Marian Column was erected in 1748 on the site of an older town hall chapel from the early 16th century. At the top stands a […]