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Kosice - Brief history
Kosice, Slovak republic's second-largest city, prides itself on its long history of many cultures and religious faiths. Among others, Slovak, Hungarian, Ukranian, Polish and Romani peoples have left their mark, not least in the form of Roman Catholic, Greek and Russian Orthodox and Jewish houses of worship.
The first written mention of Kosice is in a document dated 1230, a contract for sale of land. Kosice is reffered to as "Villa Kasa".
Armorial warrants are historical gems in the City Archive. The most modest-looking but most valuable of the four armorial warrants issued to the town of Kosice is the first, dated 7th May 1369. Since 1994 this date has been celebrated as "Kosice Day". This warrant is an item of national cultural heritage as the oldest known granting by letters-patent of a coat of arms to a legal entity (a town) in Europe. Granted here was purely the shield with bearings as seen on the warrant on the picture dated 1423, where a half-angel appears as shield-bearer.
Through a fourth royal letters-patent dated 1502, Kosice became the first city in Hungary to complete the process a gaining a full city coat of arms, which has been used unaltered form for almost half a millennium up to the present.