[5] Gánovce was mentioned for the first time in written records in 1317 as "villa Ganau".

Gánovce was inhabited by the Spiš spearmen, who enjoyed a higher social and legal status than ordinary peasants from the neighboring villages.

The village was best known for its healing hot springs, already mentioned in 1549, and a spa existed there until 1992.

The travertine rocks near the village are an important archaeological site, in which a skull of a neanderthal man and remnants of prehistoric animals have been found.

The neanderthal skull is a casting of brain cavity, dating from 100,000 years ago and was found in 1926.