Send Gift Baskets to Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia

Settlements in the town’s region date back to the Neolithic period. Copper mining and processing were everyday activities in a prosperous society. Celts brought advanced iron technology with them when they arrived. The region has been found to contain Celtic coins. During the Great Migration of the 6th century, Slavic tribes appeared in the Spiš region. The structure of their settlements stabilized during the 10th century, and essential communication roads were built. In time, it became a part of the Principality of Hungary and then of the Kingdom of Hungary. Near an earlier Slavic settlement, Saxon (Carpathian German) miners founded a town in the 13th century. Invading Tatars significantly damaged the payment in the 13th century. In the aftermath of the Tatar invasion, King Béla IV invited German colonists from Jihlava to settle here. The new town was named Iglau after their place of origin, and it appeared in written sources as “Villa Nova” or “Neudorf,” covering the present-day town’s area.

After receiving market rights in the 14th century, the town grew into an important market town. The city became an official mining town in 1380 and had the largest street market in Hungary. Copper mining was an important industry; the metal was processed in furnaces that burned wood from nearby forests. In 1357, Konrád Gaal established a Gothic bell foundry and made a sizeable hanging bell for Louis I of Hungary. A significant legacy of European Gothic metal foundries is Konrád Gaal’s bells.

The Hungarian king Sigmund pawned Spiská Nová Ves and a few other Spi towns to the Polish king Vladislaus II Jagieo in 1412. A 360-year pledge was made.