Šahy

"Sahy" redirects here. For the village in Ukraine, see Sahy, Ukraine.

Šahy (Hungarian: Ipolyság, rarely German: Eipelschlag) is a town in southern Slovakia, The town has an ethnic Hungarian majority and its population is 7,238 people (2018), with an average age of 42.5. The town was annexed to Czechoslovakia in 1920.

Šahy Ipolyság
Municipality
Town hall, a former guildhall
Flag Coat of arms
Šahy Location of Šahy in the Nitra Region Show map of Nitra Region Šahy Location of Šahy in Slovakia Show map of Slovakia
Coordinates: 48.07°N 18.95°E / 48.07; 18.95
Country	Slovakia
Region	Nitra Region
District	Levice District
First mentioned	1237
Government
• Mayor	Pál Zachar
Area [1]
• Total	42.75 km2 (16.51 sq mi)
Elevation [2]	135 m (443 ft)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	6,992
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	936 01[2]
Area code	+421 36[2]
Car plate	LV
Website	www.sahy.sk

Geography

It is located at the eastern reaches of the Danubian Lowland on the river Ipeľ at the Hungarian border, on the E77 road from Budapest to Kraków. Besides the main settlement, it also has two "boroughs" of Preseľany nad Ipľom (4 km (2.49 mi) west of centre, annexed 1980) and Tešmák (3 km (1.86 mi) east of centre, annexed 1986). From 1980 to 1996 it also had now independent village of Hrkovce.

History

The first written mention is from 1237 in a document of King Béla IV under name Saag, when Martin Hont-Pázmány founded a Premonstratensian monastery there.^[4] It got character of a small town in the 14th century. It was part of Ottoman Empire between 1541–1595 and 1605–1685 and was known as "Şefradi". It was also sanjak centre in Uyvar eyalet between 1663 and 1685. Before break-up of Austria-Hungary in 1918/1920 and incorporation into Czechoslovakia, it was part of the Hont County, and was from 1806 its capital. It was part of Hungary from 1938 to 1945 as a result of the First Vienna Award.

Demographics

According to the 2014 census, the town had 7,516 inhabitants. In 2001 62.21% of the inhabitants were Hungarians, 34.57% Slovaks, 0.56% Czech and 0.41 Roma.^[5] The religious makeup was 84.06% Roman Catholics, 6.87% people with no religious affiliation, and 3.46% Lutherans.^[5]

Facilities

The town is home to the Hont Museum and Gallery of Ľudovít Simony.^[6]

Twin towns – sister cities

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

Šahy is twinned with:^[7]

• Héhalom, Hungary
• Vác, Hungary
• Veresegyház, Hungary

Notable people

• Ferdinand Daučík, football player and manager
• Branko Kubala, football player
• Ladislav Ballek, writer