Strbske Pleso

Štrbské Pleso with its large glacial mountain lake is a favorite ski, tourist, and health resort in the High Tatras, Slovakia. With extensive parking facilities and a stop on the Tatra trolley and rack railway, it is a starting point for a host of popular hikes including to Kriváň and Rysy.

Štrbské Pleso is part of the municipal lands of the village of Štrba. It was incorporated in the municipality of Vysoké Tatry from 1947 until 2007. The ownership reverted to Štrba on 1 Jan. 2008 when the Supreme Court's decision of 14 Aug. 2007 took effect. Štrbské Pleso comprises the commercial and residential buildings in the vicinity of the glacial lake of Štrbské pleso (spelled with a lower-case p in Slovak) and the nearby small, man-made pond of Nové Štrbské pleso built in 1900. It has about 200 inhabitants.

The future resort began to emerge in 1872 when Jozef Szentiványi () ("of St. John". 1817-1906, from a noble family with roots in the nearby village of Liptovský Ján, originally: Sv. Ján, "St. John") built a hunting lodge on the banks of Štrbské pleso. Access to the High Tatras was made easier the year before when the railroad reached Poprad in their foothills. Szentiványi rented the lot from the village of Štrba whose municipal lands included the lake and which gave its name to it. He opened it to tourists a year later and allowed the Carpathian Union, a hiking society, to build its own Chalet Joseph nearby in 1875. The accommodation facilities that Szentiványi kept adding made it a popular destination. The rack railway connecting it to the main railroad was built in 1896. The first ski school was organized in 1899. The Tatra trolley linked it with other resorts on the Slovak side of the Tatras in 1912. The resort was acquired by the government in 1901.

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Wikipedia