Košice
The most impressive places in Košice
- St. Elizabeth Cathedral
- St. Urban Tower
- St. Michael Chapel
- District House
- Theatre of Janko Borodáč
- City fortification
- Miklus's Prison
- Executioner’s House
- Miklus's Prison
- Jakab's Palace
- Košice ZOO
Košice is the second largest city in Slovakia. In Košice you can find a lot of interesting places and beautiful well preserved buildings. Together with Nitra, Bratislava and Trnava, Košice belongs among the most beautiful historical cities of Slovakia. Košice with its impressive Gothic Cathedral represents our biggest historical monument reservation. Travelling by train, you will pass by the Jakab's Palace just to the Cathedral on the Košice Main Square.
The Main Square in Košice
The Main Square in Košice ranges among the most beautiful squares in Slovakia. The Square along with the buildings on the Main Street represents the historical centre of the Košice city. Košice's centre is dominated by a jewel of our historical patrimony – St. Elizabeth Cathedral.
St. Elizabeth Cathedral
This impressive St. Elisabeth Gothic cathedral was constructed in the fourteenth century. The Cathedral stands on a site formerly occupied by a parish church destroyed by a fire about 1370. The space under its northern nave was used for building a crypt for Francis Rakoczi II. He was an important leader of a Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs. This 58.5 m (190.28 ft) tall icon of the Košice city represents the biggest cathedral in Slovakia. The present appearance of the St. Elizabeth Cathedral preserves a five - nave planning with an intersection of the main altar and traversal naves and with a polygonal presbytery. The interior of the St. Elizabeth Cathedral is very impressive and valuable. Artistically the most precious is the main altar originally from the fifteenth century.
If you go just behind the Cathedral you will see the Lower Gate of the city fortification. St. Urban Tower and St. Michael Chapel originally from the fourteenth century are also situated nearby the Cathedral. The Tower houses the first and unique Wax Museum in Slovakia. Together with the District House built in the eighteenth century, these three monumental buildings create a complete Gothic complex. The District House used to house Košice’s County Administration and nowadays it is home to the Eastern Slovak Gallery.
Theatre of Janko Borodáč
If you are next to the St. Elizabeth Cathedral and the St. Urban Tower and you cross the square, you will get to the Theatre of Janko Borodáč. Its construction took only too years, 1897- 1899. The park extending next to the theatre with a “singing fountain” is very popular place of a pleasant walk not only for tourists but also for Košice’s citizens. The park is also embellished with a Baroque plague pillar - Sculpture of the Immaculate Conception.
Košice city fortification and other historical monuments
If you are nearby the St. Elizabeth Cathedral and you look towards the Košice theatre, you will see former Town Hall built in the eighteenth century on the right. Then, just behind the Cathedral, you can see the Lower Gate of the city fortification. Levočský House originally from the fifteenth century is situated nearby the Town Hall. If you turn right behind the theatre, you will get to the Univerzitná Street. The street is dominated by Premonstratensian church- initially Jesuitical church, Miklus's Prison and Executioner’s House. The Executioner’s House is home to a natural science exhibition of the East Slovakian Museum. It is situated on the Hrnčiarska Street.
The end of the Main Square is called Marathon Square. It is dominated by a symbolic sculpture of a runner called the Memorial of an International Peace Marathon. Near the Main Street, in the historical centre of Košice, you can find two buildings belonging to Miklus's Prison. They were constructed in the fifteenth century. Both were united and reconstructed to serve as town prison and torture chamber. They served this purpose till 1909. Nowadays you can find here an interesting exhibition of the East Slovakian Museum. You can have a look at the torture chamber or executioner’s tools. Dominican Square is characteristic by the oldest preserved sacral building in the town – Dominican Church constructed in the thirteenth century.
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