The rapid burgeoning of the free royal town of Banská Štiavnica , and the renown the town enjoyed, were due to its rich ore deposits and the potential for their extraction. The town's significance is suggested not only by the substantial size it had already attained in the Romanesque period, but also by the exuberance of its architecture. The centre of the town - a showcase which includes the town hall and the late-Gothic church of St. Catherine not to mention numerous Gothic / Renaissance town houses - acquired its definitive aspect in the course of the town's fortifications, of which...