| Levice | ||
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Town hall of Levice
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| Country | Slovakia | |
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| Region | Nitra | |
| District | Levice | |
| River | Hron | |
| Elevation | 163 m (535 ft) | |
| Coordinates | ||
| Area | 60.996 km2 (24 sq mi) | |
| Population | 35,980 (31 December 2006) | |
| Density | 590 / km2 (1,528 / sq mi) | |
| First mentioned | 1156 | |
| Mayor | Štefan Mišák | |
| Timezone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| - summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| Postal code | 934 01 | |
| Phone prefix | 421-36 | |
| Car plate | LV | |
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Location of Levice within Slovakia
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| Wikimedia Commons: Levice | ||
| Statistics: MOŠ/MIS | ||
| Website: http://www.levice.sk | ||
Levice (Slovak pronunciation: [lɛvit͡sɛ] ( listen); Hungarian: Léva, Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈleːvɒ]; German: Lewenz; Turkish: Leva) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Slavic name of the town was Leva, which means "the Left One".
The town is located in the north-eastern corner of the Danubian Lowland (Podunajská nížina), 110 km east of Bratislava, 40 km south-east of Nitra, 32 km south-west of Banská Štiavnica, 55 km south-west of Zvolen and 25 km from the border with Hungary.
It is the capital of the Levice District, which is the largest district in Slovakia at 1,551 km². The town's heraldic animal is lion (in Slovak lev), and the town's colours are green and yellow.
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Levice is first mentioned as Leua, one of the villages belonging to the parish of St. Martin's Church in Bratka (Hungarian: Baratka) in 1165. It was part of the comitatus Tekov (Bars).
First attacked by the Turks in 1544, the town was set on fire while the castle was left unharmed. The town was held by the Turks for two decades from 1663 to 1685. Under the Ottoman administration Leva was the center of a sandjak, which was part of the Uyvar eyalet.
Ottoman rule came to an end in the summer of 1685, when the Austrian Imperial Army led by General de Souches claimed an important victory at the Battle of Levice, which took place beneath the town's castle.
During the anti-Habsburg revolution of 1709, the fort was blown up by kuruces. After the break-up of Austria-Hungary, the town became a part of Czechoslovakia (confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920). As part of the breakup of Czechoslovakia under the Munich Agreement in World War II, the town again belonged to Hungary from 1938 to 1945. At the end of the Second World War it was returned to the restored Czechoslovakia, 75% of the town's Hungarian population was deported and replaced by Slovaks, rate of Hungarians fell from 89% to 12%. In 1993 it became part of present-day Slovakia.
It was the hometown of Eugene Fodor (1905–1991), the founder of Fodor's travel book company.
Roman Catholic (majority), Reformed Protestant (Calvinist), Moravian Brethren (the biggest congregation in Slovakia), Lutheran, Baptist, Old Catholic Church, Adventist of the 7th Day, Modrý kríž (Blue Cross), several Charismatic and Pentecostal communities, Jehovah's Witnesses, Muslim community (non-practising), Jewish community (non-practising), atheists
Textiles, cosmetics, furniture, products from locally obtained Golden Onyx, machinery and construction components, cereals, meat, eggs, dairy products, soft drinks, malt, wine (Levická frankovka is a trademark for locally produced red-wine). One of Slovakia's two nuclear power plants is in Mochovce, 12 km north-west of Levice.
There are 8 elementary schools (7 secular including 1 Hungarian, and 1 Roman Catholic school), a general High School, a Hungarian Calvinist High School (Lyceum), a Business Academy, a Pedagogical and Social Academy, a Secondary Technical School, a Secondary Agricultural School and various apprentice schools.
Levice is the birthplace of geographer Kálmán Kittenberger (1881–1958).