KOŠICE
County: Košice
District: Košice I, Košice II,
Košice III, Košice IV
Region: Abov (Košice and outskirts)
Coordinates: 48° 43' 12" N
21° 15' 29" E
Altitude: 208 m
Area: 242,77 km2
Population: 233 659
Density of Population: 963/km2
First Written Reference: y. 1230
Address: Municipal Office of Košice,
Trieda SNP 48/A, 040 11 Košice
Website: www.kosice.sk
Mayor: MUDr. Richard Raši, PhD., MPH
The city is situated in a valley called Košická kotlina, in the broader valley of the Hornád river, and is surrounded westward by heads of the mountain range called Slovenské Rudehorie. The city centre is situated at the altitude of 208 metres. Climate in Košice is mildly warm with average temperatures of 19°C in July and -3°C in January.
Its importance and size ranks the city right behind the Slovak capital of Bratislava. It is situated in the eastern part of Slovakia, not far away from the state borders with Hungary (20 km), Ukraine (80 km) and Poland (90 km). With its eastern location Košice was a significant point of the business routes; nowadays it is a key economic agglomeration as well as a junction of transportation routes which is supported by a railway traffic junction and an international airport.
Košice is the first European city that has got its own armorial certificate. In 1369 it was first granted to a corporate body, the city of Košice, by the monarch Louis the Great. Another primacy is associated with sports – the oldest European and the second-oldest world marathon, International Peace Marathon (established in 1924), starts in Košice every first Sunday in October. St. Elisabeth´s Cathedral is the most eastern gothic cathedral in Europe. The historical centre is the largest urban monumental preserve in the Slovak Republic. The oldest secondary school in Central Europe was also founded in Košice and it was in 1872 (Secondary Technical School of Engineering). In the town territory there is the largest zoological garden in Central Europe (288 acres) as well as the largest Slovak botanical garden with the biggest collection of cactuses in former Czechoslovakia. Children´s railway in a valley called Čermeľské údolie is the oldest and the only one in Slovakia.
Košice is called the city of youth. It controls and administers more than 40 primary schools, a network of secondary schools, 9 faculties of the Technical University of Košice, 4 faculties of P. J. Šafarik´s University, University of Zoopharmacy and other workstations of Slovak universities.
