Košice: Gothic and Baroque in eastern Slovakia

The Cathedral of Saint Elizabeth, the most easterly Gothic cathedral in Europe, houses in its crypt the remains of a rebellious Hungarian general executed in the eighteenth century.

Just nearby, the Singing Fountain, with water games synchronized to music, enlivens each evening the main square of the old city.

Continuing, you visit the Executioner's Tower, an ancient medieval prison now part of the fortified walls of the historic city.

As evening falls, the university district, animated by cafés and venues, closes the day in the heart of eastern Slovakia's culture.

Košice was the first city in the world to receive its official coat of arms, granted by the King of Hungary in 1369, a distinction that local citizens still remember with pride and that continues to appear on the city's civic documents.

St. Elizabeth's Cathedral, constructed over more than a century spanning Gothic and early Renaissance styles, remains Slovakia's largest church, capable of holding over five thousand worshippers and featuring a crypt open to visitors year-round.