Presov is one of the largest Slovak towns and is also a place where Slovak, Hungarian, Ruthenian and Polish influences have crossed for centuries. A large Jewish community also lived there. Thanks to this, there are now many interesting monuments, the oldest of which come from the Middle Ages.
From the very beginning of its existence, Presov competed for the priority palm in the region with the nearby Košice. Already in the Middle Ages, salt was obtained in the vicinity of the city from brine springs. A reminder of the brewing traditions is the present Solivar district, in which there are technical monuments related to salt extraction.
The city's greatest prosperity dates back to the 15th century, when it became a part of the Pentapolitana, a union of five Hungarian free royal cities. Trade and crafts developed at that time, and Presov also managed part of the Tokaj vineyards and was a large wine sales center.
Its most important attractions come from the times of the greatest development of Prešov. Among them, the most prominent place is the Gothic cathedral of St. Nicholas and the Renaissance Rakoczych Palace, which now houses the Prešov City Museum. On the market square you can see the baroque Neptune Fountain and a Marian column erected in gratitude for removing the plague.
There are many tenement houses with 19th-century facades around the square in Prešov and in the streets leading from it. Their walls and cellars are later, even gothic, but they received their external appearance after the great fire of the city in the 19th century. One of them houses the Solaris Gallery. The building of the historic town hall now houses the Wine Museum. Among the historic churches of Prešov, one can mention the Church of the Holy Cross and the Franciscan Church.
For many centuries, representatives of various nationalities and religions lived in Prešov. To this day, you can see the Greek Catholic cathedral of St. John the Baptist with the adjacent buildings of the bishop's palace, the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky and two orthodox and neological synagogues. The Slovak National Museum runs the Museum of Russian Culture and the Museum of Jewish Culture in the city.
