Slovakia - M18 EHF Championship 2024
The city of Humenné in northeast Slovakia has been selected to host the Men's 18 European Championship I 2024. The eight-team event takes place between 12 and 18 August 2024.
Humenné
Humenné – the heart of the Upper Zemplín region with almost 31 thousand inhabitants – is located in the north-eastern part of Slovakia, at an altitude of about 157 m above sea level.
In addition to the Laborec River with its weir and its tributaries in the form of several streams, a part of the Cirocha River also flows through the territory.
The earliest settlement of the location was concentrated on today`s outskirts of the town, in locations with an altitude of 157 to 300 m above sea level – Pod Sokolom, Krámová and Kalvária. It is documented by relatively rare finds of stone tools and lithic flakes, belonging to the Early Stone Age, namely the Early and Middle Palaeolithic (40,000 – 8,000 BC).
The first early medieval (Slavic) settlement within the territory of Humenné appeared at the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries.
Humenné is one of the oldest settlements of the Zemplín region. The earliest written mention of Humenné is dated to 1317. The Drugeths made Humenné the centre of their possessions and used the nobiliary particle “de Homonnai” from the 14th century onwards. Since 1819, the history of the town was linked to the noble Andrássy family, while Humenné gradually developed as a modern town.
A water castle stood on the site of today`s manor house since the 12th century.
In 1317, Filip Drugeth became the owner of the building and the estate, and the history of the town is connected with this family until 1684, when Zsigmond Drugeth – the last male representative of the family – died. Subsequently, during 230 years, the properties were divided several times among the members of the Zichy family, Althán family, Csáky family and Vandernáth family. In 1819, the manor house as a whole passed into the possession of the Andrássy family. The Andrássy family were the owners of the manor house until the end of 1944. The manor house got its present form during the complex reconstruction in 2015 – 2016 and 2019 – 2021, with the Vihorlat Museum being located in it.
The Vihorlat Museum also includes The Exhibition of Folk Architecture and Housing. A protected, originally aristocratic park with rare trees stretches around the manor house.
The local Roman Catholic church, which is a preserved listed monument – probably the easternmost Gothic sacral building in Europe – is considered to be the oldest architectural monument in Humenné. It was built by the Franciscans, who came here in the 14th century at the initiative of the noble Drugeth family.
Twin Towns:
Třebíč /Czech Republic/
Sanok /Poland/
Jaroslaw /Poland/
Przemyśl /Poland/
Perechyn /Ukraine/
Mukachevo /Ukraine
Mátészalka /Hungary/
Darney /France/
Šibenik /Croatia/
Vidnoye /Russia/
The sports part in the city of Humenné is mainly represented by football (winning the Slovak Cup in 1996) and hockey (winning the Slovak Cup in 2023), men's volleyball was successful in the past (4 times champion of Slovakia – 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014, 3 times winning the Slovak Cup – 2009, 2011 and 2014).
The city also includes various cultural and sports facilities: Vihorlat library, city cultural center, leisure center, Vihorlat observatory. Chemlonska street has the unofficial name "sports", because it combines several sports stands - an indoor winter stadium, tennis courts, a swimming pool, a municipal sports hall and a football stadium. For the citizen of Humenne, Hubková is the most popular location for relax and sports (walking, cycling, nordic walking,...).
The city of Humenné received the title of City of Culture for 2024.
