Exposition of prehistoric population | Town history exposition |
Ethnographic exposition | Art history exposition
Reflexions of Nová Baňa | The burgess indoors |
Naive-style wood carving | Historic clocks | Putikov vršok volcano
PERMANENT EXPOSITION OF ŽIAR AREA PREHISTORIC POPULATION
It shows the artifacts found in archaeological surveys
within the Museum scope area, arranged chronologically in order to provide the
idea on material development from Paleolithic Age till the end of Middle Age.
The beginning of the area colonization dates as soon as 40 000 B.C. and it is
represented by collections of home-processed stone tools. For their manufacture,
the first population exploited the natural deposits of limnoquartzite in Žiar
basin.
During the Neolithic Age, the people of linear ceramics and Lengyel cultures (between 4000 and 2500 B.C.) inhabited the most fertile areas of the Hron valley central part. The oldest archaeological findings made right in Nová Baňa are the Neolithic stone axes. Also the samples of ceramics and stone tools from Psiare constitute the Neolithic man traces within this area. Undoubtedly, the content of the ritual mass grave found in Vyšné nad Hronom, dated to 4000 B.C., is remarkable.
The Bronze Age heritage consist of remains from the Lusatian
culture in form of hill fortresses, open settlements and urnal necropoleis (the
9th and 10th centuries B.C.). Isolated findings of bronze tools and clips from
central part of Hron valley as well as wide range of ceramics and small items
found in the fire grave of Lusatian culture people in Žiar nad Hronom – Horné
Opatovce represent the late Bronze Age.
Our Slavic ancestors built a serie of hill fortresses protecting the road
throughout the Hron valley. Zámčisko at Nová Baňa (between 10th and 13th
century) was one of the biggest. It spreads over 7 hectars and was fortified
with wall and trench.
The up-to-now oldest finding of a rhyolite millstone was also made in Zámčisko. The millstones fabrication from the local rhyolite in Nová Baňa dates from the early Middle Age. A factory fabricating millstones worked here till the World War I. It exported its products throughout Europe. Zámčisko is also the oldest known archaeological site within the area. Ján Flakovics, the municipal and forest engineer, made the site first map in 1869.
In the area, the Middle Age left behind the urban and rural settlement monuments as well as the ruins of many castles, which stood proudly on strategic points alongside the Hron valley a long time ago (Tekovská Breznica, Rudno nad Hronom, Revište and Šášov). The Benedictine monastery, established in Hronský Beňadik during the 11th century, was the center of sciences, trade, faith and administration. The exhibits herein come not only from the collections of our Museum. Some of them are lent by Archaeological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Nitra, Archaeological Section of the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava and Ethnographic Section of the Slovak National Museum in Martin.
