Veľký Krtíš

Sister cities

• Písek

History

The town was first mentioned in the second half of the 13th century, although the name Krtíš first appeared in 1245 under name Curtus (Latin). Until 1919 it was the part of the Hungarian Kingdom, later Austria-Hungary, part of the Nograd - Novohrad region. It was ruled by Ottoman Empire between 1554 and 1594 and again between 1596 and 1686 as part of Filek sanjak, its centre was Rimaszombat. Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, Veľký Krtíš was part of Nógrád County within the Kingdom of Hungary. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the Slovak Republic, which was allied with Nazi Germany. The village suffered damages in the spring of 1945 when the Soviet army of the 2nd Ukrainian front together with the Romanian army met the Nazi German units. A Romanian military cemetery can be found in the nearby Modry Kamen. The village developed to a town in the 1960s with the opening of the mine for brown coal with massive industrialisation under the Communist Party. It had many industrial plants, Liaz; a large vehicular plant had a large plant in the until the 1990s on the outskirts towards Maly Krtris. The former Liaz plant is now owned by a Turkish investment firm producing luxury vehicle parts for various automobile companies like Aston Martin, Land Rover and Jaguar.

Geography

It is situated in the Krupinská planina, at the foothills of Javorie, around north of the Hungarian border and around south of Banská Bystrica.

Most-observed species

• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  443
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  430
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  388
• Yellowhammer

  Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  368
• Ring-necked Pheasant

  Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  348
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  342
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  334
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  330

Most recent

• M 4 — 2014-01-19
  4 km ESE of Balassagyarmat, Hungary
• M 4.1 — 2013-06-05
  4 km NE of Érsekvadkert, Hungary
• M 4.4 — 2013-04-22
  5 km WNW of Heves, Hungary
• M 2.9 — 2007-11-18
  6 km SSE of Rimóc, Hungary
• M 4.1 — 2006-12-31
  1 km ENE of Ecser, Hungary
• M 3.1 — 2006-09-15
  4 km E of Nagykáta, Hungary