Banská Belá

Banská Belá takes its name from its mining heritage – the land around the village was laced with ore veins rich in gold, silver and other precious metals.

At first, precious metals around Belá were extracted from the surface, possibly as early as the time of Celtic settlement. Underground mining probably began only with the arrival of German miners in the 13th century. The oldest surviving written mention of the village dates from 1228, when the Bela area and the Bela stream are first recorded in connection with silver mines. The settlement took its name, Bela Baňa, from the stream; the Hungarians translated it as Feyerbanya, while the German colonists called it Diln.

Banská Belá had already been granted town rights before 1453. The young town developed promisingly, and stamp mills, a hammer mill and smelters for processing the ore sprang up in the valley towards Kozelník. By the 15th century at the latest, together with Kremnica, Banská Štiavnica, Banská Bystrica, Pukanec, Nová Baňa and Ľubietová, it had become a full member of the Union of Seven Mining Towns. Ferdinand I granted the town its coat of arms in 1563, as confirmed by a stone coat of arms from 1590, now kept in the lapidarium of the Old Castle in Banská Štiavnica.

A gradual decline set in during the 16th century: the quality of the ore fell, the cost of mining it rose, and groundwater kept breaking into the mines. The free royal mining town of Banská Belá lived in the shadow of Banská Štiavnica until 1788, when the two towns merged into the twin town of Banská Štiavnica and Banská Belá. The village later became independent again.

A pleasant walk to the Jasenica reservoir and Halčiansky tajch (a historic mining reservoir) starts at the Dinas works and follows the route of the former narrow-gauge railway, the ‘Štiavnická Anča’ – it will take you all the way to Banská Štiavnica (3 km). Heading the other way, you come into the village, past the U Gabriely inn and up to the churches. The church steps lead down to the monastery, a chapel and the former town hall. From the churches you can cross above the school grounds to the foot of Vraný kopec, from where a lovely path leads all the way to the Banská Štiavnica Calvary (3 km). There are also 40 km of waymarked mountain-bike routes around the village.

More about the village: banskabela.sk