HISTORICAL PICTURES OF THE TOWN LEVICE

BRIEF HISTORY OF LEVICE

• The first written record of Levice is from 1156 and mentions Martirius, the archibishop of Esztergom (Hungary), who consecrated the church in Bratka village dedicated to St. Martin. There was established a parish where the villages „villa Leua“ and Vitk were annexed. At that time the village of Leua was a subject to the Tekov castle, and was situated on the east part of today´s town Levice, somewhere on the slopes of the vineyard, which is still called Old Levice.

The castle in Levice was built in the 13th century, when the Tartar-looted Tekovsky castle´s importance declined. It was built on andesite rock. From the west side the castle was bounded with the marshy medow of the river Hron, with its several river branches. The castle itself had been the fortress for protection of the mining towns. Under the protection of the castle in the 14th century there had been established a settlement „Big“ or „Old“ Levice which is now the real predecessor of today´s Levice town.

The 150 years Turkish occupation, which started in the 16th century , weakened economically the town and made it more dependent on the castle´s estate. In this time the Levice castle , then already the royal castle, was listed among the 15 most important defence forts. In the middle of the 17th century the Turkish incursions grew stronger. The Turk´s rule in Levice lasted for only 224 days . After the Turkish wars Levice lost its important role as a frontier castle and in 1699 in accordance with official orders it was abolished as a fort.

Frequent fires meant for Levice great disasters. In 1696 flames destroyed almost the whole town. In 1715 there were 195 taxpayers and 43 craftsmen in the town. In the time of Rakotzy´s revolt in the 18 century the castle was in a very bad condition. In order to prevent from using the castle for military purposes the rebels before leaving decided to destroy it.

In the second half of the 18th century Levice significantly grew, became an agricultural centre of the southern riverside of Hron and vivid trade and artisan in organised trade guild were going on in the town. The best known and famous were boot-makers cobblers and button-makers.

In the 19th century the numer of small enterprises graduall grew, the trade which mostly concentrated in hands of Jewish enterpreneurs, developed as well. The investments of the richest families Leidenfrost and Shoeller mostly concerned the agriculture and some other industries – they built a liqueur factory with destillery, steam flourmill, brickwork, they planned the vineyards. In 1873 there were 6000 inhabitants in Levice.

BEAUTIFUL SIGHTS OF HISTORICAL LEVICE

LEVICE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 19th CENTURY

LEVICE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 20th CENTURY

• The town of Levice in the middle of the 20th century

• The town hall on the left• The statue of the Slovak hero M.R. Štefánik on

the right

LEVICE NOWADAYS