Send Gift Baskets to Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

Banská Bystrica’s earliest account was linked to the exploitation of copper deposits (and, to a lesser extent, silver, gold, and iron). At the Pania Dolina locality, prehistoric miners used tools dating back to 2000–1700 BC. Lusatians settled in Špania Dolina, Horné Pršany, Malachov, and Sásová. The local toponym Hrádok, meaning a small fort (later: castle), still refers to ancient hill fort locations. A Celtic tribe called the Contini (Pchov culture) inhabited the territory in the 3rd century BC. The Germanic tribe of the Quadi took it over during the Roman Era, which left behind a hoard of silver artifacts in Netopierska jaskyňa (Bat Cave).

Formerly, the city was a Slavic settlement. It was incorporated into the Zólyom county of the Kingdom of Hungary after the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. Saxon immigrants built stone churches in the then-independent settlement of Sásová in the first half of the 13th century. Banská Bystrica began as a permanent settlement in the 9th century, according to Slovak archaeologists. In 1243–44, the town was said to have disappeared due to the attack of the Mongols. King Béla IV granted the city of Banská Bystrica extensive municipal privileges in 1255 to attract more skilled settlers. German immigrants to this and other counties later became known as Carpathian Germans. As a regional mining center, the city flourished. In the second half of the 13th century, it built the Late Romanesque Church of the Virgin Mary. As part of the same period, Banská Bystrica acquired its coat of arms inspired by the coat of arms of the ruling dynasty of the Rpáds, which was also used as the historical flag of the Kingdom of Hungary. There were fifty guilds of local craftsmen, with the butchers’ guild being the oldest.