Ever since I first went to the Spiš region of Slovakia I have strongly felt its difference, as far as the old town architecture is concerned, in comparison with other areas of my country. Small towns, past their biggest glory, exuded the the air of times gone by. I was enchanted by the central squares of those towns, which have churches and then there are also separate bell towers. And the bell towers have cute silhouettes – I found them like from a fairy tale. They make these historic towns so picturesque. These towns never cease to amaze me and let me take you to one of them.
The first written mention of Podolínec dates back to 1235. However, the original Slavic settlement was destroyed during Mongol invasion in 1241. It was rebuilt but another devastating invasion by the Mongols followed in 1287. Both German and Polish settlers helped in rebuilding. It was promoted to a free royal town by Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1412. Parts of old gothic city fortifications are preserved until today alongside with other historic monuments and 16th-17th century late renaissance style burgher houses, rebuilt in 18th-19th century in classicism style. Thanks to them Podolínec was declared an urban conservation area in 1990.
Due to the Piarist Monastery, which was important for education, the town was referred to as Scepus Oxford (Spiš Oxford) or Athens upon Poprad.
At present it has appr. 3200 inhabitants.
