Turčiansky Svätý Martin

Turčiansky Svätý Martin lies in the Turiec basin between the mountains of Malá Fatra and Veľká Fatra. Named for its church of St Martin, the settlement received town rights from King Charles Robert in 1340. It developed as a small town dependent on the estate of Sklabiňa Castle and the Révay family. Hussite troops burned it in 1433, and fires and plague added to its troubles in the fifteenth century. In the eighteenth century the administration of Turiec county established its seat here; the county house was built in 1740.