UNESCO Heritage
Banská Štiavnica, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is one of Slovakia’s jewels – a place where a rich history meets remarkable architecture and technical monuments.
The town is known for its historic buildings, such as the Old Castle, originally a Romanesque church rebuilt as a fortress, and the New Castle, a renaissance Watchtower, both of which dominate the town’s skyline. St Catherine’s Church, also known as ‘the Slovak Church’, is another important monument that reflects the spiritual life of the townspeople.
A unique feature of the region is the tajchy – man-made water reservoirs built in the 18th century to supply water to the mines. There were originally 60 of them; 24 survive today and are used for recreation, making them popular places for swimming and relaxing. The Calvary, a Baroque gem built on Scharffenberg Hill, is another of the town’s landmarks. This complex of 23 separate buildings offers visitors not only a spiritual experience but also wonderful views of the surrounding countryside. A stroll through the town’s narrow lanes reveals a wealth of burgher houses, churches and other historic buildings that together create a truly unique atmosphere. Every corner of Banská Štiavnica tells its own story, just waiting to be discovered.
From the 18th century, the Schöpfer mine was one of the most important mines in the Hodruša valley. One of the earliest records of the Schöpfer […]
The adit was originally called the Emperor Francis of Lorraine Hereditary Adit. It was granted the rights of a hereditary adit (a main drainage tunnel with […]
The Brennerštôlniansky tajch (a historic mining reservoir), also known as Brennerský, lies in the Grunthal valley above Banská Hodruša and stands out from all the other […]
The Birnbaum Adit is one of the oldest and most important mining monuments in the Štiavnica-Hodruša mining district. Its portal lies at an altitude of 448.3 […]
The Upper Crosscut to Lill Shaft is a haulage adit in the grounds of the Old All Saints Mine. Its entrance portal is built of natural […]
The Belá Hereditary Adit is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site. Excavation beganas early as 1505, its total length is 8,700 m, and in the […]
The deeper the miners dug, the more groundwater had to be pumped out. To drive the pumps, the world’s biggest water engine was created here, made […]
You’ll find peace, quiet and benches to rest on in the middle of Banská Štiavnica, in the grounds of the historic Mining and Forestry Academy, founded […]
A raised pavement known as the ”trotuár” (from the French trottoir) runs alongside the main road through the town centre. It was once where young students […]