Take a tour of Historic Town of Banska Stiavnica in Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia – part of the World’s Greatest Attractions travel video series by GeoBeats. Banska Stiavnica, a small city in Slovakia, was once an important medieval mining town for silver and gold. The center of the city is a preserved medieval town, with many historical buildings, such as Saint Catherine Church. One of the central features of the town is the Trinity Square, centered around a monument commemorating the plague. The area has been a mining area for thousands of years, but the current town was established around the twelfth century. Banska Stiavnica saw the height of its mining activity between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries as one of the most productive mining regions in Europe. The city has the unusual claim of having two castles, both of which now operate as museums. The Old Castle is a simple keep with four towers, while the New Castle is a larger and more elegant structure. The mining facilities of Banska Stiavnica have become a large open-air museum, allowing visitors to explore the history here.