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Kosice - History |
The oldest guild regulations were registered from the year
1307 and the city received it's own coat of arm in 1369; the city of Kosice has the oldest coat-of-arms out of all the cities in Europe. Since
the beginning of the 15th century the city had been in the leading post
of Pentapolitana - which was the alliance of five eastern Slovak cities.
From 1347 to the beginning of 18th century Kosice has kept the post of
the second city after Budin in the monarchy. In 1657, due to the
economical, administrative and political importance of the city, the
first university was established; later the university was converted to a
royal university and then to a judicial one, it was thought to have been
in operation up until the year 1921. The presence of a Slavic community
having settled here in 8-9th century was confirmed by study of the
fortified settlement site at Breh in the area of Krasna and Hornadom.
Another presumed settlement site of this type is at Hradova, where a
castle was built later to control the important crossroads of the trade
routes. At the end of the 11 th century, the building of a Benedidine abbey as a center for the spreading of culture was begun at Krasna nad Hornadom; it was consecrated in 1143. Another fortified site, the above-mentioned Hradova Castle, was built in the first half of the 13th century. Several settlements arose along the road in the river valley between these two points, which are considered as the origins of the later town. According to existing data, by 1216 another monastery had already stood on the site of present-day Kosice and the settlement itself was mentioned in 1230. It was situated at the site of Slovenska Street; the first parish church in the area was built there too. This place of habitation expanded rapidly after the arrival of German colonists; its layout followed the settlement pattern provided by other towns, which had already been settled by the native folk. The German immigrants appeared as new inhabitants shortly after the Tartar invasion and they founded their homes next to the existing settlement. Before 1249 they were granted their first privileges. Owing to them and to the advantageous situation of the settlement, Kosice developed relatively rapidly into a town. The Saxons who settled in Kosice achieved religious self-government very early, and in 1290 they were exempted from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon. Already by that time, the original, one-nave church of St. Elizabeth (1260-1280) stood in the middle of the spindle-shaped square (a typical shape for eastern-Slovakia towns). The town's protective walls had been partially built by that
time, as well as the Royal House and the hospital. The oldest building
preserved from that period is the Early-Gothic Dominican church with
remnants of the monastery located near the line of the town's western
walls. The presence of this religious order testified to the definite
urban character of Kosice at that time. By the end of the 13-century markets were held in the town,
which emerged as an important center for the barter of imported goods from
Prussia, the towns of the Hansa League in Germany, and Krakow, Poland. At the beginning of the 14th century the burghers of Kosice
showed extraordinary resolution and courage. They fearlessly rebelled
against the very cruel Palatine Omodej, to whose control King Char1es
Robert of Anjou donated the town in 1304. Unable to find any other way of
getting rid of their feudal oppressor, they murdered him in 1311 . Kosice
won the ensuing lawsuit with Omodej's descendants. After this event, the
Omodejs joined the opposition against King Charles Robert. The burghers of
Kosice played an important role in the King's victory in the decisive
battle against the Omodejs near Rozhanovce on 15th June 1312. Their
participation in this victorious battle won Kosice the charter of a Free
Royal Town in 1342, and strengthened its economic and military power.
Rapid development and urbanization of the town followed. At that time, a major part of the forests in the vicinity
were changed into vineyards, and grape growing became one of the main
occupations of the local inhabitants. A mutual cooperation treaty with
Krakow was signed in 1324; the first of its kind. It contributed largely
to the steadily expanding volume of long-distance trade along the route
from southeastern Hungary to the Scandinavian countries by way of Kosice.
These treaties document the town's important position in international
commerce at that time. Another opportunity to improve its position was the
right of storage granted in 1361. By the mid-14th century Kosice had only
one rival in Hungarian kingdom - the principal center of the state and the
residence of the monarch - Buda. The kings favored Kosice and paid the
city frequent visits. The imposing appearance of Gothic Kosice was equal
to its importance. In 1419 the town controlled a monopoly in producing a special
doth, fustian; therefore, all manufacturers of this cloth in Hungary had
to move to Kosice. Ten years later, Kosice also gained a monopoly of
bleaching flax linen, which was shared with Bardejov. During the turbulent years of the struggle for the Hungarian
throne, Kotice played an important role. At the end of the first half of
the 15th century, under the leadership of Jan Jiskra of Brandes (who was
an Ispan, an administrator of Saris County, with its center in Kosice)
expeditions were undertaken against the Poles and Hungarians. Loans for
these expeditions flowed out of Kosice's municipal treasury. All of the
"Estates of the Tisza Region" submitted to Jiskra at the Diet of
Sena in 1445; Jan Talafus became a captain of Kosice. The reformist
Hussites retained their power over the town after the peace had been
signed with Janos Hunyadi in 1450; they lost it only after their defeat at
Sarissky Potok. The patricians of the town originated from the merchant class
at that period. Crafts and agricultural production had little significance
apart from viticulture. The mass migration of people - especially
Hungarian aristocracy - from the southern territories of the kingdom
occupied by the Turks resulted in an enormous concentration of population
within the town walls; the number reached 7,000. At the time when Buda was
seized and occupied by the Turks, Kosice became the capital of the
Hungarian kingdom for some time. In the mid-16th century a great fire almost destroyed the
whole town. It damaged St. Elizabeth’s as well as the town walls. Owing
to the support of the royal court, a new Renaissance town arose on the
ruins of the old one. During the reconstruction works, the free grounds,
which had remained on the building plots, especially behind the houses,
were built up with additional buildings with the purpose of housing the
rising population. The
significance of Kosice for the revitalization of the Hungarian kingdom in
the east and southeast was also reflected in the gradual modernization of
the fortifications. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the town became an
almost impregnable fortress with three lines of walls and a moat. During
the reign of King Leopold I, a star shaped citadel was built in front of
the southern gate. At the turn of the 19th century, the economy revived.
Manufacturers producing English porcelain, hats, cloth and more, appeared
in the town. The population was constantly rising, especially owing to the
influx of people from the villages. At the beginning of the 19th century, a bishopric was
established in Kosice; the parish church of St. Elizabeth became a
cathedral church in 1804. Revival of the economy of the town was manifested in the
town's architecture. The Reduta cultural centre, a ballroom, theatre,
large burghers' and patrician houses, ornate aristocratic palaces, the
Evangelical church, and a number of large barracks were built. The arrival of the railway, which connected Kosice to
Miskolcz and Budapest in 1860, and to Bohumin in 1870, provided a mighty
new impulse for the economic boom of the town. Construction of a railway
station east of the town center was also finished that year. On the site
between the railway station and the city a large park was planted and a
new street network was developed. The process of urbanization of the town
was influenced by the traffic patterns of Vienna and Budapest, creating a
system of circular avenues, which occupied the place of the demolished
town walls. With the construction of new rental houses, Kosice attained a
metropolitan character. The river terraces westwards above the city were
built up with rustic country houses grouped around small squares. A
synagogue was built amidst a row of houses situated along a southern axis
next to the city in the year 1866; 20 years later a Graeco-Catholic Church
was built in Cyrilometodska Street. The inhabitants of Kosice built a new
theater and rebuilt the cathedral of St. Elizabeth into the neo-Gothic
style. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Art Nouveau style
appeared; it was applied to create romantic and historical facades. A
system of suburbs, known as "glacis", was developed in the 19th
century. In 1912, the Art Nouveau City Hall was built as focal point at
the end of a boulevard running parallel with the old High Street. Kosice
became a significant administrative, cultural and educational center of
eastern Slovakia before mid-the 20th century. Large blocks were constructed, new banks, post offices, the
radio-broadcasting station, blocks of flats in Stara Bešenova, and
schools as well as a modern Roman Catholic sacred building, the Queen of
Peace Church. At this time the first negative interferences into the urban
structure of the city appeared - such as the new Bata shoe-store. Large
pre-fabricated blocks of flats built around the town center were an answer
to the rapid industrial development and the rising population in the 1960s
- 1970s. Many of the big, bulky solitary buildings were set directly into
the center of rows of historic houses interfering with the urban structure
of the city. In general, in spite of them, Kosice has preserved the
historical atmosphere of Hlavna (Hight) Street and the circular avenues intact as well
as the intimacy of the narrow lanes situated next to the former city
walls. The most significant historical, architectural, and
art-historical structures of the town are situated in the center of the
large, spindle-shaped square. The declaration of the historic center of the town an Urban Preservation Area in 1981 was a result of the effort to save the historic environment of Kosice. |
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