Krupina

Krupina developed beside a medieval route linking Kraków with Esztergom and Buda. German settlers helped shape the town, whose privileges Béla IV renewed in 1244 after the Mongol invasion. By the fourteenth century, its version of Magdeburg law had become influential enough for other towns, including Žilina and Ružomberok, to seek the same legal rights. In 1453 Ladislaus the Posthumous granted Krupina special royal protection as a free royal town.

Ottoman attacks turned defence into an urgent concern. The town built walls with two main gates and, around 1564, lookout towers; the surviving Vartovka stands on Stražavár hill. Captives were taken from Krupina and its surroundings in 1664, although Ottoman forces never occupied the town. Later upheavals also left scars: troops of Rákóczi’s rebellion looted and burned it in 1708. Piarists arrived in 1720, adding a new educational presence as the town recovered.