Bytča Old Town

Interesting old town of Bytča, with church, castle and canalised river remains.

Bytča (German: Großbitsch, Hungarian: Nagybicscse) - a district town in central Slovakia, in the Žilina region, in the Váh Valley region.Bytča is situated at an altitude of 337 m above sea level. in the Wielka Bytcza Valley on Wagiem, between Jaworniki in the north and the Strażowskie Mountains in the south. In 2011, the city's population was 11.3 thousand. people, the area of the city - 43,079 km². The town consists of the former housing estates: Beňov (around 1899 attached to the village of Malá Bytča),
Mikšová (in 1907 attached to the village of Malá Bytča),
Hliník nad Váhom (incorporated in 1946),
Malá Bytča (Hungarian Kisbiccse, Miksofalva since 1907, German Klein-Bitsch; incorporated in 1946),
Veľká Bytča (Hungarian Nagybiccse, German Grossbitsch; incorporated in 1946),
Pšurnovice (Hungarian Psurnovicz; incorporated in 1971),
Hrabové (Hungarian Hrabova; incorporated in 1971).Today's Bytča was established in 1946 from the merger of the villages of Malá Bytča (with the previously attached villages of Beňov and Mikšová), Veľká Bytča and Hliník nad Váhom.The first mention of the settlement of Veľká Bytča comes from 1234. At that time, it was a settlement under the chateau. Veľká Bytča received city rights in 1378. The city was a center of craftsmanship. Until 1500 it belonged to the property of the bishop of Nitra, and then, after a few changes, in the middle of the 16th century, it came under the rule of the magnate family of Turzon. The Turzon family made the Bytcz castle their family seat. During their reign, the city developed rapidly and was a center of culture. After the family expired at the beginning of the 17th century, the town passed into the hands of the Esterházy family, who also took care of its development. In 1862, the town was bought from them by the Popper family - a merchant family, whose merit was the expansion of the town brewery, founded in the 16th century. At the end of the 19th century, industry developed in the city, including in 1879 the first match factory in Slovakia was established. The villages of today's Bytča had a population of 3.1 thousand in 1910. inhabitants, of which 2.3 thous. Slovaks, 0.4 thous. Węgrów and 0.4 thous. Germans.
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byt%C4%8Da