Smolenice

Smolenice is a village in the west of Slovakia, located about 60 kms from the capital city Bratislava in the north-east direction. The first written documents about the existence of Smolenice are dated to the 13th century.

The Smolenice castle is towered above the village of Smolenice on the eastern foothill of the Little Carpathians (Male Karpaty). Now the castle is owned by the Slovak Academy od Sciences as the House of Scientific Workers Smolenice.

Stefan Banic, the inventor of the parachute, was born in Smolenice and he has been buried in his native town too. Before the First World War a lot of Slovak inhabitans moved to the USA for work, among them was Stefan Banic too. He worked in the town of Grenwille. There he constructed the prototype of a parachute and he tested it personally by jumping from a skyscraper. He got the Patent certificate in 1914, but after 17 years he sold it for a couple dollars to the American Army and moved back to Smolenice.
Banič returned to Slovakia in 1920 and is buried at the Smolenice cemetery.

The archeological excavations of the ancient settlement Molpir, the prehistoric Celtic village, are exhibited in the museum of Smolenice. The museum also presents archeological excavations dated from the 6th to the 4th century BC. Memorial room of Štefan Banič can be seen there as well as 1500 parish library books (the odest of them dated to the year 1662) and the history of Smolenice is shown in pictures exhibited in the coridors of the museum.

Opening hours:
Summer season (June to September)
Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 4pm (closed on Mondays)
Out of season collective orders at the address of the Municipal office of Smolenice or by phone at 033/5586111.