Kosice

The first written mention of the city was in 1230 as "Villa Cassa". The name probably comes from the Slavic personal name Koš, Koša → Košici (Koš'people) → Košice (1382–1383) with the patronymic Slavic suffix "-ice" through a natural development in Slovak (similar place names are also known from other Slavic countries). In Hungarian Koša → Kasa, Kassa with a vowel mutation typical for the borrowing of old Slavic names in the region (Vojkovce → Vajkócz, Sokoľ → Szakalya, Szakál, Hodkovce → Hatkóc, etc.). The Latinized form Cassovia became common in the 15th century. Another theory is a derivation from Old Slovak kosa, "clearing", related to modern Slovak kosiť, "to reap". According to other sources the city name may derive from an old Hungarian first name which begins with "Ko". …

The first evidence of habitation can be traced back to the end of the Paleolithic era. The first written reference to the Hungarian town of Košice (as the royal village of Villa Cassa) comes from 1230. After the Mongol invasion in 1241, King Béla IV of Hungary invited German colonists (see Zipser Germans, Germans of Hungary) to fill the gaps in population. The city was in the historic Abaúj County of the Kingdom of Hungary. There were two independent settlements, Lower Kassa and Upper Kassa, which were amalgamated in the 13th century around the long lens-shaped ring, of today's Main Street (Hlavná ulica). The first known town privileges come from 1290. …

The municipality lies at an altitude of 255 metres (837 ft) and covers an area of 243.73 km2 (94.10 sq mi) (2025). It is located in eastern Slovakia, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Hungarian border, 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the Ukrainian border, and 90 kilometres (56 mi) from the Polish border. It is about 400 kilometres (249 mi) east of Slovakia's capital Bratislava and a chain of villages connects it to neighboring Prešov, which is about 36 kilometres (22 mi) to the north. Košice is on the Hornád river in the Košice Basin, at the easternmost reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains. More precisely, it is a subdivision of the Black Mountain (Čierna hora) mountains in the northwest and Volovec Mountains (Volovské vrchy) mountains in the southwest. The basin is met on the east by the Slanské Hills (Slanské vrchy) mountains.

There are several theatres in Košice. The Košice State Theater (Národné divadlo Košice) was founded in 1945 (then under the name East Slovak National Theater (Východoslovenské národné divadlo)). It consists of three ensembles: drama, opera, and ballet. Other theatres include the Marionette Theatre (Marionetové divadlo) and the Old Town Theatre (Staromestské divadlo). The presence of Hungarian and Roma minorities also makes it host the Hungarian Thália Theatre (Thália Színház) and the professional Roma Romathan Theatre (Divadlo Romathan). Košice is the home of the State Philharmonic Košice (Štátna filharmónia Košice), established in 1968 as the second professional symphonic orchestra in Slovakia. …

Košice is the economic hub of eastern Slovakia. It accounts for about 9% of the Slovak gross domestic product. GDP per capita in 2001 was €4,004, which was below Slovakia's average of €4,400. The unemployment rate was 8.32% in November 2015, which was below the country's average 10.77% at that time. The city has a balanced budget of 224 million euros, as of 2019. The steel mill, U. S. Steel Košice with 13,500 employees, is the largest employer in the city and the largest private employer in the country. The second-largest employer in the east of the country is Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia. It was established and has been based in Košice since 2006. Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia had 4,545 employees in Košice in Q4 of 2020, which makes it the second-largest shared service center in Slovakia and one of the top fifteen largest employers in Slovakia. …

The city centre, and most historical monuments, are located in or around Hlavná ulica (Main Street), and the town has the largest number of protected historical monuments in Slovakia. The most dominant historical monument of the city is Slovakia's largest church, the 14th-century Gothic Cathedral of St. Elizabeth; it is the easternmost cathedral of western-style Gothic architecture in central Europe, and is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Košice. In addition to the St. Elizabeth Cathedral, there is the 14th-century St. Michael Chapel, the St. Urban Tower, and the Neo-baroque Košice State Theater in the center of town. The Executioner's Bastion and the Mill Bastion are the remains of the city's previous fortification system. The Church of the Virgin Mary's Birth is the cathedral for the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Košice. …