Urpín

Despite its low elevation of 510 m AMSL (1,673 ft), Urpín dominates the cityscape due to its proximity to the city center.

Historical monuments located on Urpín chart the turbulent history of the city built underneath this mountain.

However, in defiance of its urban environs, the largely forested mountain is characterized by the surprisingly diverse fauna and flora.

The Ottoman Empire's advance northwards in the 16th century threatened rich mining towns in central Slovakia.

Banská Bystrica, a leading producer of copper in Europe,[2] responded to this new danger by modernizing its fortification.

Although Banská Bystrica was in the 17th century part of an empire ruled by a Catholic dynasty of the Habsburgs, the city itself was almost purely Protestant.

[1] Until the 1960s, dixieland bands played music on Urpín every Sunday afternoon, attracting dancers and partygoers from the city beneath the mountain.