Košice

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History

The first evidence of habitation can be traced back to the end of the Paleolithic era. The first written reference to the Hungarian town of Košice (as the royal village of Villa Cassa) comes from 1230. After the Mongol invasion in 1241, King Béla IV of Hungary invited German colonists (see Zipser Germans, Germans of Hungary) to fill the gaps in population. The city was in the historic Abaúj County of the Kingdom of Hungary. There were two independent settlements, Lower Kassa and Upper Kassa, which were amalgamated in the 13th century around the long lens-shaped ring, of today's Main Street (Hlavná ulica). The first known town privileges come from 1290. The town proliferated because of its strategic location on an international trade route from agriculturally rich central Hungary to central Poland, itself part of a longer route connecting the Balkans and the Adriatic and Aegean seas to the Baltic Sea. The privileges given by the king helped develop crafts, business, increasing importance (seat of the royal chamber for Upper Hungary), and for building its strong fortifications. As a Hungarian free royal town, Košice reinforced the king's troops at the crucial moment of the bloody Battle of Rozgony in 1312 against the strong aristocratic Palatine Amadé Aba (family). In 1347, it became the second-placed city in the hierarchy of the Hungarian free royal towns, with the s The significance and wealth of the city at the end of the 14th century were mirrored by the decision to build an entirely new church on the grounds of the previously destroyed, smaller St. Elisabeth Church. The construction of the St. Elisabeth Cathedral, the biggest cathedral in the Kingdom of Hungary, was supported by Emperor Sigismund, and by the apostolic see itself. From the beginning of the 15th…

Geography

It is located in eastern Slovakia, about from the Hungarian border, from the Ukrainian border, and from the Polish border. It is about east of Slovakia's capital Bratislava and a chain of villages connects it to neighboring Prešov, which is about to the north. Košice is on the Hornád river in the , at the easternmost reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains. More precisely, it is a subdivision of the Black Mountain (Čierna hora) mountains in the northwest and Volovec Mountains (Volovské vrchy) mountains in the southwest. The basin is met on the east by the Slanské Hills (Slanské vrchy) mountains.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  493
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  437
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  277
• Song Thrush

  Turdus philomelos C.L.Brehm, 1831 · Aves
  254
• Great Spotted Woodpecker

  Dendrocopos major (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  246
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  236
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  208
• Eurasian Nuthatch

  Sitta europaea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  203

Most recent

• M 5 — 2023-10-09
  15 km SE of Stropkov, Slovakia
• M 3.3 — 2020-04-23
  7 km SSW of Strážske, Slovakia
• M 4.3 — 2003-05-20
  12 km S of Snina, Slovakia