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The village of Baláže lies on the southern slopes of the Starohorské vrchy mountains at an altitude of 538 m above sea level. The municipality forms part of the association of municipalities of the Pod Panským dielom Microregion. It is located in the middle of the Banská Bystrica district. The micro-region was established in March 2000. It consists of eight municipalities. Baláže, Kynceľová, Nemce, Podkonice, Priechod, Selce, Slovenská Ľupča, Špania Dolina.

The village of Baláže

The village of Baláže lies on the southern slopes of the Starohorské vrchy mountains at an altitude of 538 m above sea level. The municipality forms part of the association of municipalities of the Pod Panským dielom Microregion. It is located in the middle of the Banská Bystrica district. The micro-region was established in March 2000. It consists of eight municipalities. Baláže, Kynceľová, Nemce, Podkonice, Priechod, Selce, Slovenská Ľupča, Špania Dolina.

The village lies on the southern slopes of the Starohorské hills at an altitude of 538 meters above sea level.
Many archeological researches in the area testify to the antiquity of the settlement. The discovery of bronze swords of the Liptov type is a proven settlement from the Bronze Age (1250 - 750 BC). In the area of the village there is an archeological site Hrádok, declared a protected cultural monument. The castle was inhabited during the period of ashtray fields and the La Tène period, as evidenced by the findings of shards of the Stradonic type. Archaeological excavations from Roman times are also rare, especially a gilded clasp made of silver, praslen, pearls, Trajan's denarius and others.
After the First World War, locals discovered a depot of silver coins here. This provoked a wild chase and the locals dug up what they could. The police also had to intervene. The oldest written mention dates from 1529, where Baláže is mentioned under the name HUTTAE LYPTZYCZAE. Over time, the name has changed, for example: gaza Lyptzcicz (1531), Lypschersaifen (1540), Balass (1780), Ballasch (1802), Balás (1837), Baláže, Bláže (1948) to the current name Baláže (1964).
The settlement was established in the second half of the 15th century around two smelting smelters for raw copper processing by the Ľupčica stream, built by the Banská Bystrica miner Ján Kolman.
After him, until 1496, copper ore was mined here by miners Lang, Glocknitzer, Petermann and Konigsberger. After them, the smelters passed into the hands of an important Thurzov - Fugger company, which owned them until 1546. According to reports on the inventory of property in the years 1520 - 1524, a chapel was built near the Baláže - Ľupčica smelter. After the expiration of the lease, the entire media company passed into the hands of the Habsburg court. At the end of the 16th century, copper in Baláže ceased to be processed due to the opening of a new smelter on the Bystrica stream.
Until the middle of the 17th century, the heap material was processed by private miners and the produced stone was handed over for refining to Moštenice, where the treasury was located.
The inhabitants were mostly metallurgists, miners, lumberjacks, carters and coal miners, and from the 18th century they also worked on the local sawmill. In the years 1546 to 1848 they had the character of Comorian settlers.
After the demise of mines and coal mining, the inhabitants began to work mainly in the surrounding forests as lumberjacks, furmani or went to work in the Podbrezov ironworks. From the very beginning, the life of the Balážans was very difficult and strenuous. There was no improvement even during the First Czechoslovak Republic. The standard of living was very low, there were no basic sanitary facilities. The school was built in 1928, until then the children learned either in individual houses or in a small wooden house "nursery", even in winter. The difficult situation was exacerbated by periods of economic crisis, when unemployment and executions were the order of the day. For example, in 1931, 57% were unemployed in the village.
The village of Baláže became known especially for an important role during the SNP. One of the strongest partisan areas in Slovakia was created in the western part of the Low Tatras and in the Starohorské vrchy. The centers of the whole area under the name "Partizánska republika" were the villages of Baláže and Kalište.
Even before the beginning of the Uprising, there was a partisan training center in the village
- volunteers. After the suppression of the Uprising by German troops and the retreat of partisans to the mountains, Baláže became the seat of the partisan staffs Death of Fascism (under the command of Maj. NV Volkov) and Avengers (under the command of Maj. S. g. Morozov), which operated here from early November 1945 to mid-March. , 1945.
In this area, a wide and well-organized cooperation of the local population and partisans has developed. In addition to a number of leaflets intended for the population, but also for enemy soldiers, the magazines Hlas ľudu and Partizán were also published here. Representatives of many nations, nationalities and countries from all over the world fought and worked on the territory of the partisan republic. In addition to Slovaks, especially Czechs, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, members of the nations and nationalities of the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, Poles, Bulgarians, Romanians, Hungarians, French, Austrians and German anti-fascists. Partisan war in the rear of the enemy would not be possible and successful without the help and support of the local civilian population, which provided food, medicine, clothing, footwear for the needs of partisan units. They hid and treated wounded partisans. In addition, they provided partisans with valuable messages of various kinds and natures. Many of the locals were also directly involved in diversionary, sabotage and combat operations and in the defense of partisan territory. On the other hand, partisan war had cruel and devastating consequences for the civilian population and its property on the part of the enemy. The direct participation of the inhabitants of the village of Baláže in the Slovak National Uprising, all-round intensive assistance of the inhabitants to partisan units, especially the Death to Fascism and Avengers brigades during the partisan war in winter 1944/1945, did not escape the attention of the SiPo and SD criminal commands from Banská Bystrica. Their efforts to destroy and pacify one of the centers of the Partisan Republic have not been realized for a long time thanks to the heroic and persistent defense of the region by the partisans. Members of the German front units, who together with the Hungarian gendarmes (after the burning of the village of Kalište on March 18, 1945), on March 20, 1945 (after the departure of partisan units from this area) occupied, looted and burned, retaliated for their failures. 34 houses and farm buildings burned down. They burned Š. Slobodník and his newborn son Janek. They shot Albert and Robert Reis. During the liberation of the village on March 26, 1945, three other citizens K. Rusko, G. Očenáš and P. Očenášová died. The balance of war damage was appalling, burnt rum fields, remnants of chimneys and only 6 unburned houses, a firehouse and a chapel. 57 families were left homeless.
The village was liberated on March 26, 1945 by soldiers of the Romanian army.
The restoration of the destroyed Balážs began on June 1, 1947, when the deputy chairman of the SNR, Karol Šmidke, ceremoniously opened the First Youth Building of National Thanksgiving. In addition to the local population, 501 temporary workers from Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, France, the USA and Canada also took part in the construction. From 15.5. to 28.10. In 1947, they built 41 new family houses. As early as 1948, the regulation of streams in the Barbasová and Banská parts began, and on 19 June. In 1948, after repairing the road to the village, a bus service was introduced from Banská Bystrica. In 1950, the construction of a water supply system began, which was not completed until 1956 due to technical problems. On March 28, 1957, the village was electrified. Furthermore, we managed to build a shop, complete the culture house, a football field, a new school and make the SNP Memorial Room available to the public in the premises of the old temporary school.
The national cultural monument Kalište also lies in the cadastre of the village. The defunct village was burned down by the fascists on March 18, 1945.

Additional information

Transport: By foot, By bike, By car, By bus
Parking: Free parking nearby

Accepted payments: Cash
Languages: Slovak

Suitable for: Childrens, Families with childrens, Elderly, Handicapped, Cyclists, Young, Adults
Season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
Updated on: 20.2.2019
Source: Baláže

Opening hours

Weather

monday - wednesday:
07:30 - 12:30
13:00 - 15:30
friday:
07:30 - 12:30
13:00 - 15:30

Contact

Phone: +421 48 419 6079
The village of Baláže
Obecný úrad
Baláže 11
976 11  Baláže
Region: Banskobystrický
District: Banská Bystrica
Area: Pohronie, Podpoľanie
 48.813733, 19.196049

Locality Baláže

Obecný úrad
Baláže 11
976 11  Baláže

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