Discover Kremnica: holiday apartment between the castle and mining history

Kremnica begins with a striking historical ensemble. Kremnica Castle is a national cultural monument and comprises buildings from the 14th and 15th centuries protected by a double wall. At the heart of the castle stands the Gothic Church of St Catherine, dedicated to the city’s patron saint and featuring a neo-Gothic interior. The former guard room is also open to visitors. A spiral staircase with 127 steps leads there; at the top, panoramic views open up over the city and the surrounding hills.

Culture

History remains visible outside the castle grounds, too. The historic centre of Kremnica is surrounded by a stone fortification wall that connects to the fortifications of the castle grounds and is 5 to 7 metres high in places. The former castle town hall now houses the “Barokové plastiky” exhibition. In the burgher’s house, an exhibition displays 138 painted shooting targets from 1837 to 1896; it is considered the third-largest collection of its kind in Slovakia. The Múzeum gýča contains more than 4,000 exhibits and offers visitor groups special guided tours of its collection.

The Small Tower of the castle houses the “Kremnické zvony a zvonolejári” exhibition about Kremnica’s bells and bell founders. It is complemented by audio recordings of the local bells. Another special feature is the Kremnica Mint: it was granted the right to mint coins in 1328 and is among the oldest continuously operating companies in the world.

History

The Kremnica Mint exhibition includes a tour of the historic mint. Visitors can mint a token themselves on a historic coining machine, a screw press. The mining museum in the Andrej adit provides access to part of Kremnica’s underground mine workings. During the tour of the mining museum in the Andrej adit, visitors pass workplaces from various eras and ultimately reach a presentation of the 16th century.

The “Po stopách baníckej činnosti” route is an easy walk through former gold- and silver-mining areas, combining nature with Kremnica’s mining history. In addition, the Kremnica historic circuit leads through the heart of the historic town centre.

Nature

The Kremnica Calvary comprises 14 Stations of the Cross chapels and the Church of the Holy Cross in a 10-hectare architecturally designed landscape complex used as a place for recreation and relaxation. The ascent to the Calvary forms part of an educational trail that leads to a lookout tower. In favourable weather, the lookout tower offers views of Kremnický Štós, Skalka, Kremnické Bane, Jarabica and Sitno in the Štiavnica Mountains.

In the immediate vicinity of Kremnica, the Skalka arena offers more than 5 km of downhill runs and almost 60 km of cross-country skiing trails.

Events

Since 1981, the Kremnické Gagy festival has taken place in Kremnica on the last weekend of August as an international festival of humour and satire. In the city centre, theatre, music, puppetry, visual arts, pantomime, clowning, recitation and street art from Slovakia and many European countries are presented on more than ten stages and platforms. The Church of St Catherine is also the annual venue for the European Organ Festival Kremnický hradný organ.

Speciality

Atkáryho kremnické krumple has its own historical charm. In the historic confectionery workshop, visitors can buy and taste this speciality and watch it being made.

Other local pages

You can access other local pages here: Vieska, Jastrabá, Bartošova Lehôtka, Nevoľné, Dolná Ves, Hliník Nad Hronom, Horná Ždaňa, Stará Kremnička.

To the main travel overview: Žiar Nad Hronom.