Welcome to Košice, the metropolis of Eastren Slovakia.
In the Hornad Valley, bounded to the west by outiles of the Slovakian Ore Mountains but spreading over an area of 244 km/2, lies a modern city of European statue. Thic city practically breathes its rich history at you, so let yourself be encited its several centuries of truly interesting and intricate chronicles. Thanks to some rich archaelogical finds, Košice beginnings can now ba dated way back to the later Palaeolithic, around 35-40 thousand years ago. Fortified Bronze age settlements at Barca and Nižná Myšľa, and Roman and Avaro-Slavonic period finds, are evidence of dense population along the Hornád´s course. After the Tatars devastated Hungary in their invasion of 1241-1242, German colonists from the Lower Saxony region settled in the Košice area, and in the late 13th century they and the local Slav population build up a town protceted by fortified walls. Košice became a centre for merchants and craftsman grouped together in guilds and the Furrie´s Guild Charteris the oldes known one in Hungary.In the 14th and 15th centuries Košice exprienced a craft and trade boom, won a monopoly for producing fustian cloth, minted its own coins ahd build the superb St. Elizabeth´s Cathedral.

Counter-Reformational repression led to Košice being taken by Štefan Bocskai in 1604, and then in 1619 by Gabriel Bethlen. When he died the city returned to the Emperor, but it was occupied again in 1644 by Gyorgy Rákóczi. In 1670 the Wesselléni conspiratons assembled here, and in 1682 Imre Tokoly took the town. The destructive uprising of Ferenc Rákóczi between 1703 and 1711, sieges, fires and a plague epidemic then completed the city´s economic and demographic decline.
In 1804 the Eger diocese was divided to create the Košice See, and its first bishop,
first city hospital build. In 1856 the telegraph and in 1860 the railwaycame to the city, and in turn public lighting, water mains and sewers, gas mains and public transport were introduced.

In the First World War Košice served the rear , and field hospitals and reinforcement units were concentrated here. On the last day of 1818 košice jonied the new-created Czechslovak republic. A tradition of marathom races hes been cultivated here since 1924, and the same year saw the local radio stadion set up. New residental areas were build, and in 1935 the Košice Gold Treasure was found under the Main Street. In November 1938 the Vienna Arbitriation made Košice part of Hungary again under Horthy´s rule. The following stagnation rearched its nadir in 1944 with the deportation of Košice´s Jews to the dead camps and the regin of terror local Fascist solidery. The city´s recent history began with two dates: 19th January 1945, when it was occupied by Red Army, and 21st January, when Košice became part of Czechoslovakia again and for a while even the capital of the country as it was gradually liberated. The powerful post-war development of the city was cleary stimulated when the East Slovakian Steelworks started up, provoding work for people from all over the Republic.

Present-day Košice is a modern city, the administrative centre of part the East Slovakian region. The advantages of its geographical position, close to the bordes of three neighbouring states( Hungary at 20km, Ukraine at 80km, Polland at 120km), make conditions for international trade especialy fauroable. Many impotant firms are actively represented in the city, inloved wholesale and distribution of goods, accommodation, and catering, and finance and banking services. Apart from metalurgy, the engineering, construction, food procesing, printing and textile indrusties are also well-developed here. And Košice is not only a center for industrial companies, bud also for research, education and cultural institutions, and it is a city of sport and entertaimend. Thanks to its protected heritage area, declared in 1983 and the largest in the country, the city is sought out by hundreds of forgein visitors.The close enviros of Košice offer many opportunities for spending leiusure time on sport, relaxation of entertainment. Herľaly Geyser. The fact thet this lies outside of a volcanic area makes it the only one of its kond in Europe. The first eruption happened on 4th July 1873. At present a 15 m high jet of 15-18°C carbonated water shoots up at 32-34 hour intervals. Each eruption of the geyser lasts about 25 minutes. End.