Hlavná Street, Košice, Slovakia

Hlavná Street (Hlavná ulica) is the main street of Košice and the heart of its Old Town. About 1.2 km long, it runs from Liberators’ Square (Námestie osloboditeľov) in the south to Peace Marathon Square (Námestie Maratónu mieru) in the north. It grew out of a medieval market place and has kept its spindle-shaped plan: in the middle it widens into Main Square and Freedom Square, lined with burghers’ houses, palaces and churches, with small parks and fountains in between.

Trams ran along Hlavná until July 1986, when the line was moved to the parallel Kuzmányho Street, and almost the whole street has been a pedestrian zone ever since – one of the first large ones in Czechoslovakia. Its best-known sights stand in the middle: the Gothic St. Elisabeth Cathedral, the largest church in Slovakia, with St. Michael’s Chapel and Urban’s Tower beside it, and the State Theatre (1899), with the Singing Fountain in the park between them. Further along are the Baroque Plague Column (1720–1723) and, at the southern end, the Lower Gate archaeological site with the remains of the medieval fortifications.

Key points:

• Length: about 1.2 km, from Námestie osloboditeľov to Námestie Maratónu mieru.
• Getting there: about 10 minutes on foot from the railway and bus station along Mlynská Street.
• Events: a Christmas market in December; the Košice Peace Marathon, Europe’s oldest marathon, on the first Sunday of October.
• Nearby: Jakab’s Palace, the East Slovak Museum, Aupark shopping centre.