Lučenec (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈlutʂeɲets] ⓘ; German: Lizenz; Hungarian: Losonc; Yiddish: לאשאנץ, romanized: Lashantz; Latin: Lutetia Hungarorum[4]) is a town in the Banská Bystrica Region of south-central Slovakia.

The first direct mention of the settlement was in 1247 under the name Luchunch, but until the first half of the 15th century it was only a village, and was located off the main trade routes.

After the fall of the Fiľakovo (Hungarian: Fülek, German: Fülleck) castle in 1554, Lučenec was under the control of the Ottomans and their vassals as part of Budin Eyalet until capturing by Austrians in 1593.

[citation needed] The Novohrad Museum and Gallery with a collection of over 30,000 artefacts moved to a building in Kubínyiho Square in 1985.

[citation needed] According to the 2001 census, there were 28,332 people living in the town, with majority of them being Slovaks (81.63%), with a minority of Hungarians (13.11%) and with a small percentage of Roma (2.32%), Czechs (0.61%) and others.