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Bytča (pronunciationⓘ; Hungarian: Nagybiccse) is a town in northwestern Slovakia. It is located on the Váh River near the cities of Žilina and Považská Bystrica. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism.
The municipality lies at an altitude of 337 metres (1,106 ft) and covers an area of 48.52 km2 (18.73 sq mi) ().
The name comes from a Slavic personal name Bytek, Bytko → Bytča.
The town arose in 1946 by a merger of the settlements Malá Bytča (including Beňov and Mikšová), Veľká Bytča and Hliník nad Váhom. The first written reference to the town's main part Veľká Bytča dates from 1234 as terra Bycha. The settlement got its town charter in 1378. It was the seat of a feudal dominion and later a town with many craftsmen. In Hungarian, it was known as Biccse.
The town features a famous castle the Thurzó Castle built as a water castle by Pongrác Szentmiklósi in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 16th century in Renaissance style by Ferenc Thurzó. The town also houses the Wedding Palace (built by György Thurzó for his daughters' wedding) from 1601, which is the only building of this kind in Slovakia, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical bourgeoisie houses, an archive, and a museum (in the Wedding Palace).
It has a population of 11,729 people (31 December 2025).
In year 2021 was 11,414 people by ethnicity 10,776 as Slovak, 608 as Not found out, 76 as Czech, 17 as Other, 13 as Russian, 12 as German, 9 as Vietnamese, 8 as Polish, 7 as Ukrainian, 6 as Hungarian, 5 as Italian, 4 as Croatian, 4 as English, 3 as Jewish, 3 as Moravian, 3 as Bulgarian, 2 as Serbian, 2 as Rusyn, 2 as Austrian, 2 as French, 2 as Albanian, 1 as Romani and 1 as Korean.
Note on population: The difference values of population numbers in the table "Population statistic" and in the sections "Ethnicity" & "Religion" is caused by the use of various statistical methods.
In year 2021 was 11,414 people by religion 8732 from Roman Catholic Church, 1535 from None, 733 from Not found out, 147 from Evangelical Church, 73 from Christian Congregations in Slovakia, 51 from Greek Catholic Church, 38 from Other, 38 from Ad hoc movements, 11 from Calvinist Church, 10 from Eastern Orthodox Church, 10 from Paganism and natural spirituality, 9 from Buddhism, 8 from Other and not ascertained christian church, 4 from Islam, 4 from Church of the Brethren, 3 from Hinduism, 2 from Old Catholic Church, 2 from Jehovah's Witnesses, 1 from Jewish community, 1 from United Methodist Church, 1 from Seventh-day Adventist Church and 1 from Apostolic Church.
Today, the town is home to machine (Kinex), textile, wood processing (sports equipment), and food (brewery) industries. The brewery closed in the 2010s.
Bytča includes the following former villages: Psurnovice, Hrabove, Horne Hlboke, Dolne Hlboke, Hlboke nad Vahom, Benov, Miksova, Hlinik nad Vahom, Velka Bytca, Mala Bytca.
Current boroughs (year of merger in brackets):
Bytča is twinned with:
The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Bytca, Slovakia"
Text from the Wikipedia article “Bytča”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.