Žiar nad Hronom

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Žiar nad Hronom (German: Heiligenkreuz, Template:Lang-hu, until 1920 Svätý Kríž and until 1955 Svätý Kríž nad Hronom) is a town in Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia.

Geography

It is located in the Žiar Basin, on the Hron river, around 40 km from Banská Bystrica and 170 km from Bratislava. In addition to the main settlement with in 1969 annexed Horné Opatovce village, the town also has "parts" of Šášovské Podhradie (annexed 1971). Žiar nad Hronom district was named after this city. Average year temperature is 8 °C, with often rainfall.

History

The first written record about area was in 1075 in a document of Benedictine abbey in Hronský Beňadik. A settlement with name Cristur was first mentioned in 1237, which became a town in 1246. The town was renamed from Svätý Kríž nad Hronom to its current name in 1955.

Economy

The main employer is company Nemak Slovakia, member of Nemak Group, worldwide largest producer of aluminum powertrain parts for vehicles and the metallurgy factory company Slovalco, formerly called Závody Slovenského národného povstania ("Slovak National Uprising Works"), built in the 1950s.

Mayors of Žiar nad Hronom

Ing. Marián Futák
MVDr. Jaroslav Cíger
JUDr. Márius Hrmo
Mgr. Ivan Černaj
Mgr. Peter Antal

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, the town had 19,945 inhabitants. 94.27% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 1.97% Roma, 0.95% Czechs and 0.69% Hungarians.^[1] The religious make-up was 62.07% Roman Catholics, 25.54% people with no religious affiliation and 3.19% Lutherans.^[1]

In 2011 census, had shown a population of 19 883 citizens. Of these 78,9% identified themselves as Slovaks, 2,84% as Roma, 0,5% as Czechs and 0,4% as Hungarians. Over 18% did not chose a national identification. The 2011 census was first national census with this option. In the same year, 48.75% of the city identified as Roman Catholic, 2.4% identified as Lutheran. Only one person identified as a Jew, despite city's significant Jewish population before the war.