Prešov

Prešov is one of the original Slav roadside settlements, later integrated into a colonists´ town. The safety of trade, running from south to north, was ensured by defensive walls with bastions and gates. Their appearance in 1768 was recorded on a ground plan by a local surveyor, G. Gašpar. The Gothic parish church of St. Nicholas forms the central building on the High Street. Renaissance has left here its traces, especially in the architecture of burgher houses, characterized by their roof attics, arcades and graffito decorations. A museum has been set up in the so-called Rákoczi House. The reformation period is a recalled by an Evangelical church, the college building and the commemorative plaque to J. A. Komenius, while the Counter Reformation is documented by Caraff´s Gaol and a memorial to executed Hungariad insurgents of 1687. The baroque period left its mark on the facades of certain burgher houses and is also reflected in reconstructed and newly-built constructions. Such are the Franciscan church and monastery, the Greek-Catholic church, the little church on the Calvary and especially the Zhupa House and the Klobušický Palace with a rich stucco decoration on the facade. The fondness for the renaissance and the classicist art has won for Prešov the attribute "Athens on the Torysa".

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