[4] It lies 8 km (5 mi) west of the city of Poprad, at the foothills of the High Tatras.

He wanted to change this by creating cities full of the most modern factories and filled with the best (and happiest) workers in Europe.

It was Jan's policy for full employment that drove him to create each Baťa town for a different purpose: Shoes, Rubber and Tires, Textiles, Airplanes, Chemicals, Plastics, Media, Stockings, Leather, Machinery.

When the World War II came, Jan Baťa's policy was to secretly fund the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, to supply the Czech Army with shoes and clothing and to secretly fund the Slovak National Uprising that started at Baťovany (now Partizánske) on 29 August 1944.

[7] The town is home to the professional basketball team BK Iskra Svit, which plays in the Slovak Extraliga.