Bytča ( Hungarian : Nagybiccse ) is a town in northwestern Slovakia . It is located on the Váh River near the cities of Žilina and Považská Bystrica . It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism.
7-439: The name comes from a Slavic personal name Bytek , Bytko → Bytča . The town arose in 1946 by a merger of the settlements Malá Bytča (including Beňov and Mikšová), Veľká Bytča and Hliník nad Váhom . The first written reference to the town's main part Veľká Bytča dates from 1234 as terra Bycha . The settlement got its town charter in 1378. It was the seat of a feudal dominion and later a town with many craftsmen. In Hungarian, it
14-718: A drawbridge and that could be raised for protection in the event of an attack. To some extent these water castles had a fortress-like character. There is a further distinction between: In many places in Central Europe castles that had formerly been fortified changed their role or were converted over the course of time so that they became largely representational and residential buildings. The characteristic moats thus lost their original security function, but were retained in some cases as an element of landscaping . Today, in monument conservation circles, they are often described as burdensome, cost-intensive "historic legacies" because of
21-478: A museum (in the Wedding Palace). According to the 2001 census , the town had 11,150 inhabitants. 98.27% of inhabitants were Slovaks and 0.58% Czechs . The religious make-up was 90.87% Roman Catholics , 4.35% people with no religious affiliation and 1.51% Lutherans . Today, the town is home to machine (Kinex), textile, wood processing (sports equipment), and food (brewery) industries. The brewery closed in
28-407: Is a castle where natural or artificial water is part of its defences. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats ( moated castle ) or natural waterbodies such as island castles in a river or offshore. The term comes from European castle studies , mainly German Burgenkunde . When stately homes were built in such a location, or a Wasserburg was later rebuilt as a residential manor,
35-487: The 2010s. Bytča includes the following former villages: Psurnovice, Hrabove, Horne Hlboke, Dolne Hlboke, Hlboke nad Vahom, Benov, Miksova, Hlinik nad Vahom, Velka Bytca, Mala Bytca. Current boroughs (year of merger in brackets): Bytča is twinned with: The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Bytca, Slovakia" Water castle A water castle , sometimes water-castle ,
42-451: The German term becomes Wasserschloss , lit. "water palace/manor". Forde-Johnston describes such a site as "a castle in which water plays a prominent part in the defences." Apart from hindering attackers, an abundant supply of water was also an advantage during a siege . Topographically, such structures are a type of low-lying castle . Such a castle usually had only one entrance, which was via
49-669: Was known as Biccse. The town features a famous castle the Thurzó Castle built as a water castle by Pongrác Szentmiklósi in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 16th century in Renaissance style by Ferenc Thurzó. The town also houses the Wedding Palace (built by György Thurzó for his daughters' wedding) from 1601, which is the only building of this kind in Slovakia, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical bourgeoisie houses, an archive, and
#113886