à ½ilina (; ; ; ; ) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Slovakia with a population of approximately 80,000, an important industrial center, the largest city on the Váh river, and the seat of a kraj (à ½ilina Region) and of an okres (à ½ilina District). It belongs to the Upper Váh region of tourism.
The name is derived from Slavic/Slovak word à ¾ila - a "(river) vein". à ½ilina means "a place with many watercourses". Alternatively, it is a secondary name derived from à ½ilinka river or from the name of the local people, à ½ilÃÂn/à ½ilià Âane.
The area around today's à ½ilina was inhabited in the late Stone Age (about 20,000 BC). In the 5th century, Slavs started to move into the area. However, the first written reference to à ½ilina was in 1208 as terra de Selinan. From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary.
In the middle of the 13th century, terra Sylna was the property of the Cseszneky de Milvány family. The city started to develop around 1300, and, according to records in 1312, it was already a town. In 1321, King Charles I made à ½ilina a free royal town. On 7 May 1381, King Louis I issued Privilegium pro Slavis, which made the Slav inhabitants equal to the Germans by allocating half of the seats at the city council to Slavs. The town was burned in 1431 by the Hussites.
During the 17th century, à ½ilina gained a position as a center of manufacturing, trade, and education, and, during the Baroque age, many monasteries and churches, as well as the BudatÃÂn Castle, were built. In the Revolutions of 1848, Slovak volunteers, part of the Imperial Army, won a battle near the city against Hungarian honveds and gardists.
The city boomed in the second half of the 19th century as new railway tracks were built: the Kassa Oderberg Railway was finished in 1872 and the railway to Bratislava (Pozsony in Hungarian) in 1883, and new factories started to spring up, such as the drapery factory Slovena (1891) and the Povaà ¾ie chemical works (1892).
It was one of the first municipalities to sign the Martin Declaration (30 October 1918), and until March 1919, it was the seat of the Slovak government. On 6 October 1938, shortly after the Munich Agreement, the autonomy of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia was declared in à ½ilina.
During the Holocaust in Slovakia, tens of thousands of Jews were deported from à ½ilina. à ½ilina was captured on 30 April 1945 by Czechoslovak and Soviet troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, after which it again became part of Czechoslovakia. After the war, the city continued its development with many new factories, schools, and housing projects being built. It was the seat of the à ½ilina Region from 1949 to 1960 and again since 1996.
Today, à ½ilina is the fourth largest city in Slovakia, the third most important industrial center, and the seat of a university, the à ½ilinská univerzita (founded in 1953). Since 1990, the historical center of the city has been largely restored, and the city has built trolleybus lines.
It is located in the Upper Váh region () at the confluence of three rivers: Váh, flowing from the east into the south-west, Kysuca, flowing from the north and RajÃÂanka rivers from the south, in the à ½ilina Basin. The city is surrounded by these mountain ranges: Malá Fatra, Súþovské vrchy, JavornÃÂky and Kysucká vrchovina. Protected areas nearby include the StrÃ¡à ¾ov Mountains Protected Landscape Area, the Kysuce Protected Landscape Area, and the Malá Fatra National Park. There are two hydroelectric dams on the Váh river around à ½ilina: the à ½ilina dam in the east and the HriÃÂov dam in the west.
à ½ilina lies in the north temperate zone and has a continental climate with four distinct seasons. It is characterized by a significant variation between hot summers and cold, snowy winters. The average temperature in July is , in January, . The average annual rainfall is ; most of the rainfall occurs in June and in the first half of July. Snow cover lasts from 60 to 80 days per year. <div style = "width:70%">
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The coat of arms of à ½ilina is a golden double-cross (so-called cross of Lorraine) with roots and two golden stars on an olive-green background. The double-cross is of Byzantine origin and stems from Cyrillic-methodic tradition. This is one of the oldest municipal coats of arms, not only in Slovakia, but in Europe. It has been used as the city's symbol since 1378.
It has a population ofÃÂ people (31 December ).
à ½ilina is the main industrial hub of the upper Váh river basin region, with a fast-growing economy as north-west Slovakia's business center with large retail and construction sectors.
By far the biggest and most important employer is the Korean car maker Kia Motors. By 2009, the plant produced 300,000 cars a year and had up to 3,000 employees. Kia Motors' direct investment in the à ½ilina car plant amounts to over 1.5 billion USD. In 2009, the à ½ilina car plant produced Kia Cee'd, Kia Sportage, and Hyundai ix35 car models. Kia Motors is further upgrading its capacity to be ready to produce engines for a sister company, Hyundai, located at Noà ¡ovice in the Czech Republic with a planned investment of US$200 million.
à ½ilina is also the seat of the biggest Slovak construction and transportation engineering company, Vahostav. The chemical industry is represented by Povaà ¾ské chemické závody and Tento, a paper mill company. Siemens Mobility also has an engineering center in à ½ilina.
The historical center of the city, reconstructed in the early 1990s, is protected as a city monument reserve (). It is centered on the Mariánske námestie and Andrej Hlinka squares. The Mariánske námestie square has 106 arcade passages and 44 burgher houses along the whole square. It is dominated by the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, the old building of the city council, and the baroque statue of the Virgin Mary. Nearby is the Church of the Holy Trinity, a sacral building built around 1400, which is since February 2008 the cathedral of the Diocese of à ½ilina.
The Church of Saint Stephen the King () is the oldest architectural relic of town Zilina, located just southwest from the center. It is one of the first Romanesque churches in Slovakia, dating back to the years 1200âÂÂ1250, according to the experts. The legend goes that the Hungarian King István I himself ordered to build it. Valuable is the inner decoration of the church. Wall paintings originate from approximately 1260; in 1950, they were discovered and later on restored by the à ½ilina fine artist MojmÃÂr VlkoláÃÂek. Nowadays, it is a popular place for wedding ceremonies.
Other landmarks around the city include:
The city is a starting point for various locations of western and eastern Slovakia, including hiking trails into the Lesser Fatra and Greater Fatra mountains. Other locations of interest include Bojnice Castle, StreÃÂno, Orava region, and the villages of ÃÂiÃÂmany and VlkolÃÂnec.
à ½ilina is a candidate city for the title of European Capital of Culture 2026.
à ½ilina hosts several cultural institutions:
open-air museum ÃÂiÃÂmany, and manor-house in Divinka
à ½ilina is also home to two multi-3D digital theaters, in Mirage Shopping Centre - Ster Century Cinemas and Cinemax MAX in Max Shopping Centre OC Max Solinky.
The city hosts several cultural events:
Football (soccer) club Mà  K à ½ilina plays in the top Slovak division Fortuna liga and is one of the most successful teams in recent years, having won five domestic titles and been runners-up three times between 2001 and 2010. The team's colors are yellow and green, taken from the city's flag. Home games are played at the Stadium Pod Dubà Âom, which is situated at the edge of the city center in the neighborhood of the ice hockey stadium. They played in the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League in the group stage for the first time in their history.
Ice hockey club MsHK à ½ilina plays in the Slovak Extraliga. They have won one domestic title so far.
Slovak professional road bicycle racer for World Tour team Bora-Hansgrohe, three-time world champion Peter Sagan, was born in à ½ilina in 1990, and is considered one of cycling's most promising young talents, having earned many prestigious victories in his early twenties. He was the winner of the points classification in the Tour de France from 2012 to 2016; as a result, Sagan became the first rider to win the classification in his first five attempts. In 2015, he was also the first Slovak cyclist to win the UCI Road World Championships.
The city is governed by a mayor () and a city council (Slovak: mestské zastupiteþstvo). The mayor is the head of the city and its chief executive, with a four-year term of office. The current mayor is Peter Fiabáne. The council is the city's legislative body, with 31 councillors. The last municipal election was held in 2014, and councillors are elected to four-year terms, concurrent with the mayor's. à ½ilina is divided into eight electoral districts, consisting of the following neighborhoods:
à ½ilina is the capital of one of eight considerably autonomous Regions of Slovakia. It is also the capital of a smaller district. The à ½ilina District (Slovak: okres à ½ilina) is nested within the à ½ilina Region.
The city also hosts a regional branch of the National Bank of Slovakia.
The city is home to the University of à ½ilina, which has seven faculties and 12,402 students, including 625 doctoral students.
There are 18 public primary schools, one private primary school, and three church primary schools. Overall, they enroll 7,484 pupils. The city's system of secondary education (some middle schools and all high schools) consists of eight gymnasia with 3,514 students, ten specialized high schools with 3,696 students, and nine vocational schools with 4,870 students.
The city is an important international road junction, and à ½ilina railway station is a major rail junction.
Roads and railways connect the city with Bratislava and Prievidza in the south, ÃÂadca in the north, and Martin in the east. The construction of the D1, and D3 motorways and their feeders continues towards à ½ilina.
The city is also served by international à ½ilina Airport, which is about away from the city center.
Public transport within the city is operated by DPMZ and consists of buses (since 1949) and trolleybuses (since 1994).
Night bus services started in à ½ilina in 1970 with the introduction of one route, the 50, which continues to operate as the sole night bus in the city, operating from 22:55 to 04:22. Route 50 makes a circuitous route of all major residential areas, and includes a stop at à ½elezniÃÂná stanica, the principal railway station.
à ½ilina is twinned with: