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Spis and Zamagurie Region
The Tatra region comprises more than majestic nature. The area boasts a whole range of precious heritage sites and unique attractions, concentrated in two particular regions: Spis and Zamagurie.
Historic Spis County, known in Hungarian as Szepes and in German as Zips, is a treasure house of Slovak art and history. Its trove of medieval monuments, set against the spectacular landscape, forms a so-called “Gothic Route.” Extending to the east of the High Tatra Mountains, Spis for centuries was home to a large ethnic German population. Here we find medieval churches with exquisite Gothic altars and wall paintings. At the beginning of the 16th century, an artist known as Master Paul was active in Levoca. He created a set of unique Gothic altars, including one in St. James church that, at 18.60 meters high, is the tallest in the world. The city of Kezmarok has a remarkable wooden Lutheran church. Enormous Spis Castle, the most famous tourist attraction in the area, dominates the landscape from the top of a craggy hill. It is one of the largest surviving fortified compounds in Europe, and one of the few that withstood the Tatar invasion in 1241. Not far from the castle, one can visit Spisska Kapitula [Spis Canonry], the fortified compound of the local bishop, which includes medieval St. Martin‘s Cathedral. The Castle, the Canonry, the town of Spisske Podhradie at the foot of the castle, and the early Gothic twin-nave church in nearby Zehra have all been registered by UNESCO on its roster of World Cultural Heritage sites.
The beauty of the isolated Zamagurie region, which is cut off from other parts of Slovakia by the Magura Mountains, enchants all visitors. Here the Dunajec River, flowing through a deep valley, forms the border between Poland and Slovakia. The proud and hospitable Gorals − mountain folk − live on both sides of the river and speak a distinctive Slovak-Polish dialect. At one time, raftsmen floated rafts loaded with wood from here down the Dunajec and other rivers until they reached the Baltic Sea. After each long and difficult journey, they attached a small seashell to their hats as a symbol of the completed voyage. Today, the hats of the Dunajec raftsmen are decorated with plastic seashells, and the only cargo they carry along the Dunajec is tourists. Nonetheless, the two-hour, nine-kilometer raft trip through the Pieniny National Park is a wonderful journey through breathtaking scenery and represents one of the main tourist attractions of the region. Rafts from both Poland and Slovakia float down the river, and sometimes raftsmen from the two countries link up in midstream in order to chat in their common Goral dialect as they float along. Among the sights on the river bank is a fortified monastery compound, Cerveny Klastor [Red Monastery], where an eighteenth century monk called Cyprian cultivated medicinal herbs and maintained a pharmacy. He also experimented with flying machines and once even attempted to take off from Tri koruny [Three Crowns] Hill. The open-air museum at Stara Lubovna, which preserves folk-style architecture typical of the Zamagurie region, is also worth a visit.
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