The wide middle
Sixty metres, where the caravans spread their goods.
Szilas — Public domain · Jan Starec — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Govisity / Tip na Trip / kosice.guide — CC BY 2.0 · Mister No — CC BY 3.0
Košice''s main street, and in truth a **spindle-shaped square**: it begins narrow, widens to about 60 metres at the middle and narrows again, running close to **a kilometre**. The shape is not decorative but **commercial**: it was laid out in the Middle Ages as a **linear marketplace** — caravans entered at one end and left at the other, spreading their goods in the wide middle. It is one of the largest preserved historic centres in Slovakia. Along both sides run continuous rows of **palaces and merchant houses** in baroque, rococo and neo-Renaissance, painted in pale colours, most of their ground floors arcades and cafés. Its axis carries one monument after another: the cathedral, Urban''s Tower, St Michael''s Chapel, the State Theatre, the Singing Fountain, the plague column, and a small open watercourse reopened during the restoration. Note: the whole street is **pedestrian**, with no cars. Note: it was completely restored for Košice''s year as **European Capital of Culture in 2013**.
Sixty metres, where the caravans spread their goods.
Baroque, rococo and neo-Renaissance, continuous on both sides.
A small channel reopened during the restoration.
Hlavná ulica, Košice
**By air**: Košice airport is small but has direct flights to Vienna, Prague, Warsaw, London and Istanbul, and is the fastest way in from abroad. **By train from Bratislava**: about **five to six hours** across the whole country — a fine journey but a long one, and not to be planned as a day trip. **From Budapest** it is much closer: about three and a half hours by train or car, and many visitors arrive that way. **From Kraków** it is about four hours by car. ⚠ The city is **an excellent base** for eastern Slovakia: the karst and its caves, Spiš Castle, the town of Levoča, and the wooden churches of the north-east — all within two hours. ⚠ You need no car in the city itself; the centre is entirely pedestrian.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.