History of the city

Skalica, a town on the border with the Czech Republic, is one of the ancient Slovak towns, which in the past centuries were  proud of being a free royal town. Its history is long and rich. The periods of building, expansion and prosperity alternated with those marked by wars, uprisings, looting and destruction, epidemics or natural disasters. From different perspectives, Skalica has an important position on the historical as well as the current map of Slovakia.

Favorable living conditions have been the reason for the intensive settlement of the Skalice area since the Late Stone Age (4000 BC). Settlement then continued in the Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, La Tène period, Roman, Early Slavic and Great Moravian periods. The first written reference of the existence of Skalica dates from 1217 and 1256, when in documentaion it is mentioned  as Zakolcha.

On October 6, 1372, King Louis I of Hungary granted it the privileges of a free royal town. Although the original of the privileged charter has not been preserved, we learn from later confirmations that the town was given the right to fortify itself with walls, the population was exempt from taxes and other fees, the goods of the Skalica were exempt from the thirties and tolls throughout the kingdom. The town was granted the right to hold weekly and annual markets.

Thanks to other privileges from Sigismund of Luxembourg and his followers, Skalica has become an important center of economic, cultural and spiritual life in the wider area since the first half of the 15th century. In the 17th century, Skalica was one of the 5th and 6th largest and most important cities in Slovakia in terms of population, houses and, above all, economically, and was developed to   the level of other royal cities like Bratislava, Košice, Trnava, Bardejov and Prešov. Many crafts were created in the city, guilds were founded, and a lively trade flourished. Well - known in the whole of Hungary was mainly a drapery, which developed especially at the end of the 18th century.

From agricultural production it was viticulture in particular that developed intensively. More than 300 years ago, winegrowers founded their association here in the manner of craft guilds - the so-called Brotherhood of St. Urbain. There are also historical monuments from this period - the church of St. Urbain, patron saint of winegrowers and guild altar of St. Urbain in the parish church with the coat of arms of winegrowers. To this day, high-quality red wine is produced here. Many wine cellars offer the possibility of wine tastings of  this delicious drink.

Since the 15th century the spiritual and social life of the city has been influenced by several church orders. Franciscans worked here from about the 30s of 15th century, in the 17th century Carmelites and Jesuits joined them (in 1662 they founded a grammar school), later Paulines and from the end of the 18th century Merciful brothers. In addition to spreading the Christian faith, they helped to develop culture and education.

Skalica made a significant contribution to national history in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when it became the ground for organizing a national liberation struggle against Hungarianization and, together with Martin and Ružomberok, it became the intellectual center of this effort, which ended in the memorable year 1918 by the collapse of the old Austro-Hungarian system and Czechoslovakia was established.

In 1918, Skalica became the seat of the Provisional Government for Slovakia for a few days (Skalica 1918 - Memories of the arrival and operation of the Provisional Government for Slovakia) and since 1923 the seat of the district. In connection with the territorial reorganization in 1960, the district ceased to exist and the town became part of the "large" district of Senica. In 1996, it became a district town again.