The main street in Košice maintained its refined demeanour even in 1951 when it was called Lenin’s Street. The regime had changed the street's name to a communist sounding one a mere three years prior. In the right bottom corner of the postcard is the sign Zdroj.
Zdroj was a grocery shop through the communist era throughout Slovakia. The basis of the company was 28 stores of Julius Meinl, Lahôdky Lamplota and Jedlo Bratislava, over which the state gained control in 1948. Later, all food stores under private ownership, such as butchers and greengrocers, were added to the Zdroj state company.
After the fall of the socialist regime, the network was broken into several regional parts, which were later privatized. In the 1990s, these parts either operated independently, with their own networks, such as Sama, or gradually disappeared. Most of the chains from the 1990s became part of the CBA network.
Above the shop, the big sign Práca (Work) is an advertisement for a newspaper in which citizens of then-Czechoslovakia were able to read how everything was going according to plan and how everyone was doing wonderfully.
Beside the Zdroj store is the former town hall, built in 1779-1789 in the Baroque-Classicist style. It served the town until 1928 when the councillors moved to another building.
There were several town halls in Košice over the past centuries. Initially, during the Middle Ages, the town leadership tended to meet in the richtár’s (magistrate's) home. Only later, when Košice became better off economically, a building was constructed specifically for this purpose. The richer the town was, the more splendid, typically, its town hall was too.
The oldest known Košice magistrate was named Arnold, the mention of whom dates back to 1307. During the long years of the town’s existence, many people took their turns in this post, while some of them managed to hold this high, respected office repeatedly.
This article was originally published by The Slovak Spectator on November 10, 2014. It has been updated to be relevant today.
