SNP Square (Banská Bystrica)

Dotted by cafés, restaurants, and small stores, it is a popular place for the locals to linger, and a tourist attraction notable for its historical buildings, and visual appeal.

The central area surrounded by merchants' and businessmen's homes was known as the (town) "Square," Ring in German (literally: "circle," a word used in the sense of "a marketplace" in the past) and Rínok in Slovak, for centuries.

[7] Banská Bystrica became the administrative center of the Central Slovak District, which enhanced the role of the square in the social, economic, and political life of the region.

[9] On 29 August 1944, Banská Bystrica became the center of the Slovak National Uprising against the country's totalitarian government and its alliance with Germany, the most extensive revolt in Western and Central Europe during World War II.

After the suppression of the uprising, President Jozef Tiso arrived at the square in October 1944 for an approbatory ceremony to decorate German soldiers who defeated the Slovak insurgents.

[16] Other major monuments on the square include an Art Nouveau fountain from the beginning of the 20th century and a black obelisk raised to the honor of the Soviet soldiers killed during the liberation of the city in 1945.