Stará Ľubovňa

Stará Ľubovňa (German: Altlublau, Hungarian: Ólubló, Rusyn: Стара Любовня, Latin: Lublovia, Polish: Lubowla, Ukrainian: Стара Любовня) is a town with approximately 16,000 inhabitants in northeastern Slovakia. The town consists of the districts Podsadek and Stará Ľubovňa.

Stará Ľubovňa
Municipality
Stará Ľubovňa Castle and an open-air folk museum
Flag Coat of arms
Stará Ľubovňa Location of Stará Ľubovňa in the Prešov Region Show map of Prešov Region Stará Ľubovňa Location of Stará Ľubovňa in Slovakia Show map of Slovakia
Coordinates: 49.31°N 20.68°E / 49.31; 20.68
Country	Slovakia
Region	Prešov Region
District	Stará Ľubovňa District
First mentioned	1292
Government
• Mayor	Ľuboš Tomko
Area [1]
• Total	30.79 km2 (11.89 sq mi)
Elevation [2]	532 m (1,745 ft)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	15,667
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	640 1[2]
Area code	+421 52[2]
Car plate	SL
Website	www.staralubovna.sk

Names

The name is of Slovak or Slavic origin and is potentially derived from a personal name. It comes from a root ľub- meaning lovely, nicely.^[4] The same root is present in Czech Libeň, Polish Lublin, Slovenian Ljubljana and similar Slavic geographic names. The German name Altlublau and the Hungarian Ólubló were derived from the Slovak version.^[4]

Geography

Stará Ľubovňa is situated on the Poprad River 15 kilometres (9 miles) south of the Polish border and 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of the High Tatras. It is one of the oldest towns in the Spiš, an historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary, and is today the administrative capital of the district of Stará Ľubovňa in the Prešov Region.

History

The main square

Castle from the grounds

In 1292 Stará Ľubovňa is first mentioned as Libenow. In 1308, the castle in Ľubovňa was mentioned. In 1323, King Charles I granted the castles of Ľubovňa and Plaveč to Palatine Philip Drugeth.^[5] At that time, Lubowla was held by Count Nicholas. In 1342, Louis the Great granted the settlement town privileges.^[5] In 1384, a meeting took place in Lubowla between Sigismund of Luxembourg, Margrave of Brandenburg, and the Polish nobles, to discuss the conditions for the Hungarian princess Jadwiga's arrival in Poland to assume the throne after her father.^[5]

Sigismund, already King of Hungary by then, held another meeting here in 1412 with Władysław Jagiełło, King of Poland. At this meeting Ľubovňa was among 16 Spiš towns given by the Sigismund of Luxemburg as a deposit to King Władysław II of Poland. The pledge was part of the Treaty of Lubowla and was thought to be only for a short time, but it finally lasted for 360 years.

Ľubovňa became the seat of a separate starostwo of Spiš. The first starosta was Paweł Gładysz, who spoke Hungarian; he was succeeded by the famous knight Zawisza the Black. In 1587, during Archduke Maximilian of Austria’s bid for the Polish crown, his supporters seized the castle; however, after Maximilian’s defeat at Byczyna, it returned to Polish hands.^[5] During the Swedish Deluge, the Crown Treasury was brought to the castle from Kraków.^[5]

Only in the course of the first Partition of Poland in 1772 during the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria the territory came back to the Kingdom of Hungary. The pledge was actually an advantage for the towns concerned because they did not have to submit themselves to the comitatus or nobility and had a neutral position in turmoils between Poland and Hungary.

Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, Stará Ľubovňa was part of Szepes County within the Kingdom of Hungary. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the Slovak Republic. On 24 January 1945, the Red Army dislodged the Wehrmacht from Stará Ľubovňa and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia.

Sights

From a hill over the city the castle of Ľubovňa dominates the city. The castle is open to the public and houses a museum about its history. From its already reconstructed tower there are good views over the surroundings. Next to the castle there is an open-air museum, Ľubovniansky skanzen, with many houses and other buildings showing the folk architecture of the region. The most interesting exhibit is the wooden Greek-Catholic church from Matysová, built in 1833.

The old town consists mainly of the rectangular St. Nicolas Square which is surrounded by burgher's houses of the 17th century. In the centre there is the gothic Roman Catholic Church of St. Nicolas built in 1280.

Another building of interest is the new Greek-Catholic church of the Mother of Eternal Help in the south of the city. It was consecrated by Pope John Paul II on 22 April 1990 and is constructed in the shape of a royal crown.

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1970	4,406	—
1980	8,866	+101.2%
1991	13,995	+57.9%
2001	16,227	+15.9%
2011	16,341	+0.7%
2021	15,938	−2.5%
Source: Censuses[6][7]

In the 2011 population census, the town had 16,341 residents. According to the 2001 census, the town had 16,227 inhabitants. 89.5% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 5.97% Roma, 1.48% Rusyn, 1.00% Ukrainian and 0.64% Czechs.^[8] The religious make-up was 67.65% Roman Catholics, 22.20% Greek Catholics, 5.01% people with no religious affiliation, 1.61% Orthodox and 0.81% Lutherans.^[8]

Famous residents

• Ján Melkovič, actor
• Ján Kubašek, priest and signatory of the Pittsburgh Agreement
• Marián Hossa, professional ice hockey right winger
• Marcin Oracewicz [pl]
• Zita Pleštinská, politician and Member of the European Parliament

Twin towns — sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Slovakia

Stará Ľubovňa is twinned with:^[9]

• Aleșd, Romania
• Bački Petrovac, Serbia
• Balchik, Bulgaria
• Biograd na Moru, Croatia
• North Augusta, United States
• Nowy Sącz, Poland
• Połaniec, Poland
• Svaliava, Ukraine
• Vsetín, Czech Republic

Gallery

• 
  Castle from above