Banska Stiavnica is a small silver and gold mining town situated high above the Staivnica river on the terraced slopes of Stiavnicke vrchy. In 1933, the town gained UNESCO-protected status and a slow but steady restoration effort is taking effect. It is a very picturesque place.
The heart of the town centers round the 15th century Stary zamok, Old Chateau. Originally a chateau, it was converted into a defensive fortification against the Ottoman Turks.
A short history of the town can be found here.
 0403-13.JPG A small chapel in the Stary zamok. |
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 0403-17.JPG The Novy zamok, new castle is situated on a small hillock and was used as a lookout tower against the Turks. |
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 0403-20.JPG The original chateau was fortified to include essential outlying buildings. In this case, the chapel. |
 0403-21.JPG The castle well. |
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 0403-25.JPG Any ideas? Answers on a postcard please. |
The pictures taken using a Practica BC1 with a Tamrom AD2 35-70mm lens are prefixed with a P code. K coded pictures were taken with a Konica Z-Up 110 Super compact zoom. They have been scanned at 800dpi and are less than 2 mbytes.
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