Prievidza is a city in the central-western Slovakia. With approximately 46,000 inhabitants it is the second biggest municipality in the Trenčín Region and 11th largest city in Slovakia generally.
Name
The name is probably deduced from a personal name Previd with possessive sufix -ja (Previd’s village). An alternative and less probable is a derivation from vid- (Slovak: vidieť – to see, “previdieť” – to see through), thus “the village which can be seen from all directions”, “the village in the thin stand”.
Features
As a central city of Prievidza District and Upper Nitra Basin (Horná Nitra in Slovak) Prievidza is a seat for many institutions of regional importance – governmental as well as commercial. Because of relatively high percentage of planted trees, Prievidza is commonly called as the “green city”.
Prievidza has 6 boroughs: Staré mesto (Old Town in English), Píly, Necpaly, Kopanice, Zápotôčky and Žabník and there are three adjoining villages that are an administrative part of Prievidza: Hradec, Malá Lehôtka and Veľká Lehôtka.
Geography
Prievidza lies at an altitude of 280 metres (919 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 43.06 square kilometres (16.6 sq mi).[3] The city is situated very near the smaller but more famous town of Bojnice, actually sharing the public transport system. The valley of the Nitra River, in which the city lies, is surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides, in the west Strážov Mountains, in the north Malá Fatra, in the east Žiar and in the south Vtáčnik. Prievidza is the eleventh largest city in Slovakia. It is located around 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Žilina, 69 kilometres (43 mi) km east of the regional capital Trenčín and 158 kilometres (98 mi) km from Bratislava (by road).
Climate
Prievidza lies in the north temperate zone and has a continental climate with four distinct seasons. It is characterized by a significant variation between hot summers and cold, snowy winters.
Demographics
According to the 2001 census, the town had 53,097 inhabitants. 96.65% of inhabitants were Slovaks, 0.95% Czechs, 0.48% Hungarian and 0.29% Roma and Germans. The religious make-up was 61.91% Roman Catholics, 29.01% people with no religious affiliation and 2.29% Lutherans.
Education
In the city are placed 12 kindergartens, 8 primary schools or elementary schools and 8 middle schools or high schools consisting of two gymnasiums, one commercial/business academy and five secondary professional schools.
Faculty of Management Science & Informatics University of Žilina has in Prievidza branch providing bachelor’s degree study.
