High in the Štivnické vrchy mountains, right in the throat of a vast prehistoric volcano, on a place where a reasonable person would never built a town, you can find Banská Štiavnica, one of the oldest towns in Slovakia. It was given its free royal town privileges from a Hungarian king sometimes before the year 1235. But the history of minig in the Banská Štiavnica region is much longer - the first known miners in this region were Celts who came there to mine gold at the turn of the third and the second century B.C.

For several centuries, gold and silver were mined just in surface mines and you can still see remainders of this activity on a Glanzenberg hill, where the original town of Banská Štiavnica once had its centre. But the top of this hill was too small to accomodate all people who came there to seek fortune, or at least a decent work (though the work of a miner in medieval times was anything alse but decent). So, the town started to spread down into valleys and on neighbouring hills and after a great fire and an earthquake in the middle of the 15th century, the centre was moved down to two main valleys.

In the 16th and 17th century, Banská Štiavnica was endangered by Turkish raids. At the same time, it was an important source of finance for anti-turkish wars, although the amounts of precious metals extracted were smaller than they could have been. The main reason, except for the wars, was underground water filling mines. This problem wasn´t solved until the beginning of the 18th century, when an ingenious system of water reservoirs was built by the Hell brothers. These reservoirs, so called tajchs, were used as a source of water for pumps, built on the principle of water mills. These pumps drew the underground water out of the mines and thus The Golden Age of Banská Štiavnica could begin, allowing miners to go deeper and to open new mines. Although the amounts of silver and gold extracted each year were slowly decreasing (the biggest amount in one year was extracted in 1690 - 29,000 kg of silver and 605 kg of gold), Banská Štiavnica became the world centre of technically developed mining. I´ll just mention two of many highlights: in the 17th century, gun powder was used for the first time for a peaceful purpose - for blasting rocks in mines, thus saving time and labour. In the 18th century, the world first technical college - the Minig Academy was established in B.Š. Professors from the whole Europe came to teach at this college and its chemical laboratories belonged among the best equipped ones in Europe. In the 20th century, the amounts of silver in the ore started to be too low and the mines were closed.

The Old Castle - originally the main church, built in Romanesque and Gothic style and rebuilt into a fortress in the 15th century, after Turkish attack on Hungarian borders, with Baroque tower added later on.

The New Castle - fortress built in the 16th century. While The Old Castles´ purpose was to offer protection for citizens, the purpose of this fortress was to guard the town and alarm the town in case of an attack. Both castles were included into the defence system of the town, which was created by strong walls and many gates.

Kammerhof - this large building was the seat of the count appointed by the king to manage his mines. All the wealth from the mines was stored there and it was the most important building in town. Now you can find there an exhibit of The Mining museum.

The Church of St. Catherine - beautiful Gothic temple built at the beginning of the 16th century, also called The Slovak church, since the citizens of B.Š. were of two nationalities: Slovak and German. There is also The German church, which now is the main church and, although built in Romanesque and Gothic style in the 14th century, it was rebuilt in Baroque and Classicistic style later on.

The Open-air Mining Exhibit - you can see all the technical equipment used by miners above the ground and you can also go down into a mine and experience what it was like to be a miner in the past.

Calvary - one of the most beautiful calvaries in Europe, built in the 18th century in Baroque style, with amazing view of the whole town.

The Holy Trinity Square - named after the column that stands in the middle of the square built after the great plague in the 18th century. Around the square there are many palaces of prominent citizens, built mostly in Renaissance and Baroque style.

There is so much more to see in B.Š. and I haven´t even mentioned its vicinity with tajchs, a manor house in Antol which belonged to former Bulgarian tzar and many other places of interest. All that was the reason for enrolling Banská Štiavnica in UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage. That´s what I call a perfect place to visit.