Places to visit

Andrej Hlinka Community Centre

The Andrej Hlinka Community Centre, the construction of which was initiated by Andrej Hlinka, is one of the main dominants of the town.

It is located in the centre of the town, at “A. Bernoláka” Street.

It is a multifunctional building consisting of two sections: a cultural section and a hotel section. It is the centre of cultural and social life in Ružomberok.

In the cultural section, there are several rooms, which serve for organization of cultural and social events. They include, for example, the Large Vestibule, the “Kultúra” Cinema, the Small Conference Hall, the Hall of Fame or the “Orlovňa” Gym. In addition, situated here is also the Information Centre of Ružomberok, a sauna, as well as two banks. In the hotel section, apart from the accommodation capacities, there is also a restaurant, a coffee house, a bar, or congress rooms.

Construction of the building was initiated by the members of Ružomberok’s Catholic Group led by Msgr. A. Hlinka and Dr. K. Mederly. The foundation stone of the building was laid down and consecrated on June 19, 1927. The finished building was consecrated and handed over for use on December 30, 1928, by Spiš bishop Ján Vojtaššák. A large financial amount was contributed for the construction by Andrej Hlinka as well as by American Slovaks.

An interesting fact is that a document was placed in the foundation stone saying the following: “This community centre should be forever the centre of the Catholic movement, not only in our town, but in whole Slovakia… An impressive Community Centre of Ružomberok’s Catholics will stand in this place and will proclaim the vitality and the strength of Catholicism. It will also proclaim glory to the Slovak nation and to Andrej Hlinka, the great man of the Slovak nation, who did this magnificent work for the nation.”

At the turn of the millennium, the building underwent a major renovation, which was finished in 2004.