Žilina: the industrial crossroads of northern Slovakia

Surrounded by mountains and crossed by three rivers, Žilina remains an important automotive industrial center of northern Slovakia.

The center, industrial crossroads of northern Slovakia, is visited comfortably on foot.

The Mariánske Square, the Renaissance heart of the old city, remains surrounded by colorful houses and porticos typical of medieval Central European commercial cities.

Just steps away, the New Synagogue of Žilina, a Functionalist masterpiece from the 1930s, is today converted into cultural spaces and cinema halls.

Moving toward the surrounding mountains you can reach Budatín Castle, a medieval fortress hosting a museum dedicated to traditional poplar bark weaving.

In the evening, the pedestrian quarter of the center comes alive with restaurants serving traditional Slovak cuisine based on sheep cheese and potatoes.

The New Synagogue of Žilina, a masterpiece by German architect Peter Behrens, survived Nazi destruction during World War II and remains today a rare example of a functionalist synagogue converted to cultural use, with regular film screenings.

Žilina has hosted since the two-thousands a large South Korean automotive plant, an investment that has transformed the local economy and brought thousands of jobs to the region, profoundly changing the city's social fabric.