Mošovce

Mošovce in Slovakia

Mošovce is one of the biggest villages in the Turiec Region of Slovakia.

History

Mošovce has existed for 770 years. In this time people built many old and beautiful buildings. King Andrew II wrote about the village for the first time in 1233. At first, Mošovce had two parts: The first one, Machyuch, was in the area of today’s Starý Rad Street. The village took its today's name from the second part, Terra Moys, which was in the place of the present day Vidrmoch Street. Because of the name of the second part, which means "The Land of Mojš", we believe that all the village was the property of a certain Mr. Mojš. His name could be a short form of a longer Slavic name Mojtech, similar to the names Vojtech or Mojmír. In the history the name of the village changed from Mossovych, Mosocz, Mossowecz, villa regia Mayos alio nomine Mossovych, oppidioum Mayus sue Mosocz, Mosocz olim Mayus to the present-day Mošovce. The name of a separate very old part of Mošovce, Chornukov, chaged to the modern form of Čerňakov.

Mošovce was at first a royal village, and in about 1350 changed into a privileged town, which belonged to the royal castle of Blatnica. In 1527 the Révay family became its owners, and they took away the town privileges of Mošovce for almost 400 years.

In the past, Mošovce was an important craft center of the Turiec region. Crafts were very successful, and there were around 15 guilds in the town; the bootmaker and the most famous furrier guild existed for the longest time. The present-day Mošovce is an important tourist area with many interesting places.

The old look of houses in Mošovce

Interesting places

One of the most interesting buildings is a small Rococo-Classical Palace with a big English park. People built the palace in about 1750-1800 . Other places in the town are: The birthplace of Ján Kollár, a Neo-gothic Catholic church with a valuable altar built on the place of an older church, a Lutheran church built in 1784, a Mausoleum, an Art-Nouveau greenhouse and a pavilion from 1800. In the Mausoleum there is now a Museum of Crafts.

Nature

The nature around Mošovce is really beautiful. A system of old roads with trees and small forests create a nice landscape. This landscape looks nice with the forests of the Veľká Fatra Mountains. This mountain range is one of the nicest ones in Slovakia. People from all parts of the world come visit the beautiful Limestone and dolomite rocks, and the beautiful nature in the Blatnická and Gaderská Valleys, which are not far away.

Culture and traditions

Many important people were born in Mošovce. The greatest ones are Frico Kafenda (1883-1963), composer; Anna Lacková-Zora (1899-1988), writer; Štefan Krčméry (1892-1955), literary critic, historian, and poet; Júr Tesák Mošovský, Baroque playwright; and Miloslav Schmidt, the founder of the amateur fire brigades in Slovakia.

Probably the most important person born in Mošovce is the great Slavic poet, philosopher, and Lutheran priest, Ján Kollár (1793-1852), who was very active in the literature of at least two nations. He wrote a book of poems called Slávy Dcera. His work was very important for the patriots and national activists, who lived at the same time as Kollár. People translated the book into many Slavic and non-Slavic languages.