Dunajská Streda


Dunajská Streda is a small town in the southwest of Slovakia about 50 km from Bratislava. The population is about 25 thousand, 90 percent out of which are from Hungarian origin, 8 percent of Slovak origin and the rest of national minorities. Dunajská Streda is sometimes called “the capital of Cornfield Island”. This Island is created by two arms of the Danube and the soil there is very favorable for growing grain cops: wheat, sugar beets, tomatoes, paprikas, apples, peaches, etc. The geographical position of Dunajská Streda has been very important since time immemorial. There was a commercial road which led across this area already in the Roman times. The first written documents about DS come from the 12th century. The name Dunajska Streda means “Wednesday on the Danube”.
Since medieval times DS has been developing dynamically. Manufactures have been replaced with big companies and factories such as Tesla, Sugar Refinery, Agrofrigor and many other smaller ones. DS nowadays is a modern town with all possibilities for people to live and work. There are shops, supermarkets, department stores, schools, hospital, banks, hotels, bus station, restaurants, discos, pubs… As for sports DS can boast of a new sports complex, fitness clubs and first of all - its large area of the thermal public baths which attract many tourists from all the country and abroad especially in summer. There are 6 swimming pools, large places for sunbathing, sports and play-grounds. After the season the covered swimming pool, the sauna and the massage salon are frequently used.
There aren’t many sightseeing in DS, some old and modern buildings and monuments must be mentioned. A visitor should start his excursion in the centre where the cultural centre is situated. It is a modern spacious building housing a library, a cinema, a concert hall, and club rooms. In front of the cultural centre there is a nice fountain, with a sculptural group of three women round it. In DS there are 3 churches and one museum. In this museum there is a permanent exhibition of archeological character. There is also a Vermes Villa. There are 3 monuments in DS reminding the sad pages of our history. One of them was built to the victims of fascism. The second was built in memory of thousand of Jews deported from this region during the war. The third monument is dedicated to the heroes of the revolution in 1848-1849.