Lučenec

Template:Geobox

Lučenec (pronunciation^ⓘ; German: Lizenz; Hungarian: Losonc; Latin: Lutetia, Lutetia Hungarorum) is a town in the Banská Bystrica Region of south-central Slovakia. Historically, it was part, and in the 18th century the capital, of the Nógrád county of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1918, as a result of the Treaty of Trianon, it became a part of Czechoslovakia. The town has a large abandoned synagogue, built in 1924, which served a large Jewish population before World War II.

Lučenec is the economic centre of the whole Novohrad region, which includes districts Rimavská Sobota, Poltár and Veľký Krtíš.

History

Lučenec and its surroundings were inhabited in the Stone Ages. Slavs moved to this area in the 6th and 7th century as the first permanent settlers and the Hungarians joined them in the 10th century.

The first indirect mention of Lučenec was in 1128, when Lambert built a chapel in honour of Virgin Mary. The first direct mention of Lučenec was in 1247 under the name Luchunch, but until the first half of the 15th century it was only a village, and was located off the main trade routes. In 1442, Lučenec was conquered by the Hussites troops of John Giskra (Ján Jiskra) and in 1451 the Battle of Lučenec took place near the village between the troops of John Hunyadi and those of John Giskra, where Giskra emerged victorious.

After the fall of the Fiľakovo castle in 1554, Lučenec was under the control of the Ottomans and their vassals until 1593, although they were threatening the town until late 17th century. The town was burned down many times until the first half of the 19th century, when during the Revolutions of 1848/1849 it was occupied by the Russian imperial troops.

The town underwent modernization in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example, new industries like brickworks or tanneries were built, telegraph line in 1865, and in 1871 it was connected to the railway connecting Budapest and Žilina. After World War I, Lučenec became part of Czechoslovakia, and, briefly in 1919, part of the Slovak Socialist Republic. In 1938, Lučenec was annexed to Hungary as a result of the First Vienna Award, and this lasted until 1945 when it was returned to Czechoslovakia.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, there were 28,332 people living in the town, with majority of them being Slovaks (81.63%), with a minority of Hungarians (13.11%) and with a small percentage of Roma (2.32%), Czechs (0.61%) and others. The religious make-up was: 56.56% Roman Catholics, 21.12% people with no religious affiliation and 14.77% Lutherans.^[1]