is one of the former most significant centres of mining industry, science and technology, and education within the former Ugria. History of mining and noble metals processing goes back to the Bronze Age. The first Mining Academy in the world was established there upon the issue of the Maria Theresia Decree in 1735. Gunpowder was made use of in Banská Štiavnica mines for the first time, four-wheel tipping wagons were also introduced into the mines, and a revolutionary system for the subsurface water pumping gave rise to development of water res-ervoirs systems. Scarce cultural and historical monuments have been preserved in the town, namely the Old Castle and New Castle, the Church of Saint Catherine, Romanesque church of Virgin Mary Translation, Baroque plaque column with the Holy Trinity, baroque Klopačka, gothic, renaissance and baroque burgher houses, town hall, Piarg Archway, or a complex of buildings of the Mining Academy and the Academy of Forestry.