SECONDARY LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE CHANGES IN THE TOWN OF DURING THE PERIOD 1810 – 1869 AND 2011

Martin Cintula

Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural science, Constantine the Philosopher University in , Tr. A. Hlinku 1, 949 74 Nitra,

Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract The aim of this thesis is to compare and analyse the causes of landscape structure changes within the area of the town of Levice that occurred between the second military mapping (1810 – 1869) and the year 2011. The area analysis from the point of view of the secondary landscape structure provides us with the forms of land use in the investigated time horizons and the resulting changes.

Key words: the present landscape structure, the historical landscape structure, Levice, landscape changes

1 Delimitation of the Territory The town of Levice in located in the north-eastern part of the and its cadastre extends mostly on the alluvial plain of the River, but its northern and eastern edges were built on the undulating forelands of the Ipeľ Hills. The elevation ranges between 152 – 273 m above sea level. The population was on December 31, 2011 34,384 (http://www.statistics.sk). The area is overlapped by National Nature Reserve Horšianska dolina (Horša Valley) with unique xerothermic flora and the protected site Levické Rybníky (Levice Ponds), which is the site of rare waterfowl. In addition to the central part, the town of Levice has the following four districts – Kalinčiakovo, Čankov, Mýtne Ludany and Horša, which were incorporated into the town in 1976 (Švoliková, 2010). As soon as in the second part of the 18th century, Levice became the centre of agricultural area of the southern Pohronie and a centre of trade and craft guild production. In the 19th century small businesses gradually started to grow, as well as the trade concentrated mainly in the hands of Jewish businessmen. The best-off families of Leidenfrost and Schöeller invested mainly into the agricultural but also other businesses. They built a distillery with refinery, a steam mill, a brickyard, extended the stock cattle breeding, and ordered new vineyards to be planted. In 1873 Levice had around 6,000 inhabitants (http://www.levice.sk, 2011).

2 Methodology Our mapping and assessment of current landscape structure is based on six basic groups of landscape elements: 1. Tree and scrub vegetation, 2. Grasslands, 3. Agricultural crops, 4. Bedrock outcrops and raw soils, 5. Surface water and wetlands, 6. Settlements and built-up areas (Ružička, Ružičková, 1973). We focused on the current landscape structure mapping using the software Quantum GIS 1.7.1. - Wroclaw. The map output creation consisted of several stages: identification, digitalisation, verification, and cartographic representation. The materials used for the assessment of current landscape structure were the selected colour aerial photos (orthophotomaps) from 2002 in scale 1:5,000 in combination with newer photos from the website http://maps.google.sk.

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3 Results The group of elements: tree and scrub vegetation constituted in the period 1810 – 1869 16.20 % of the area, which equals 1,009.91 ha. Its significant part were the continuous deciduous forests (985.93 ha) located in the eastern and north-eastern part of the cadastre (NNR Horšianska dolina). During the period of about 150 years there was a deciduous forests reduction mainly to the benefit of arable land. Currently, the group of elements: tree and scrub vegetation constitutes 14.21 % of the area, i.e. 886.12 ha. The group of elements: grasslands constituted in the past a significant component of the landscape structure with up to 21.26 % (1,325.58 ha) of the area. However, there has been its gradual dramatic decline due to its cultivation on arable land, as well as the construction of five water dams serving for fish breeding. Today, the group of grasslands constitutes merely 0.23 % (14.23 ha) of the total cadastral area (6,235.33 ha). The favourable soil and climatic conditions for the cultivation of cereals have been influencing the character of the area virtually since its settlement. In the 19th century the group of agricultural crops already constituted 58.5 % (3,647.45 ha) of the cadastral area, of which 48.66 % (3,034.52 ha) was the arable land, 8.3 % (517.61 ha) were vineyards, and 1.52 % (95.30 ha) were gardens attached to houses. Currently, the agricultural crops area is about 67.44% (4,205.32 ha), which is an increase in 557.87 ha. The arable land area has increased up to 58.33 %, but due to the decreasing profitability and insufficient state support of the development, there has been a decline in viticulture in this area. The area of vineyards is today 5.90 % (368.39 ha), so in comparison with the 19th century there is a loss of 2.4 % (149.22 ha). The group of elements: surface water and wetlands was in the past represented by minor unregulated watercourses. These include the Podlužianka Stream flowing through the town cadastre in the north-south direction, as well as the flowing through the town districts Horša and Kalinčiakovo. In the past, the Čankovský Stream already flowed through Čankov and Malý Kiar from the north to the southwest. The arm of the Hron River (today a water canal) Perec served in the 19th century as an energy source for numerous mills, and already at that time it crossed under the Levice Castle with Podlužianka, then bent in S-shape, and flew through the cadastre southwards. There was no water dam on the area of the town at this time and the total surface water area was about 0.61 % (37.94 ha). In the years 1950 – 56 the ponds Levické rybníky were built on the area of 91.83 ha and in 1974 they were declared a study area (today a protected site) (Jurkovič, Maglen, 1981). The water dam Malý Kiar is used as a pond as well and stretches on the area of 5.60 ha. In addition to the abovementioned watercourses, the river network is today extended by the Surdok Stream (Kalinčiakovo), Starotekovský Canal (Levice), and the artificial melioration canals on the agricultural land (Malý Kiar, Levice). The total river network density in the given area is 0.77 km per 1 km2 (http://www.enviroportal.sk, 2009). Currently, the total area of the surface water and wetlands elements constitutes 2.15 % (134.79 ha), which, mostly due to the construction of ponds Levické rybníky and water dam Malý Kiar, constitutes an increase of 1.55 % of the total cadastral area, i.e. 96.85 ha. The group of elements: settlements and built-up areas constituted during the second military mapping about 3.44 % (214.46 ha), of which the biggest portion was taken up by the road network 2.19 % (136.63 ha). This group of elements has shown the largest increase and in 2011 it already constituted 15.95 % (994.82 ha), which means an increase in 12.51 % (780.36 ha). The positive fact is that up to 5.5 % (343.04 ha) is taken up by other urban green spaces (lawns and woody plants) (map 1, 2).

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Fig. 1 Land use in Levice (1810 – 1869) in %

Fig. 2 Land use in Levice (2011) in %

Tab. 1 Land use in the town of Levice in the period 1810 – 1869 and 2011 Difference in Group of elements 1810 – 69 2011 % ha % ha % + - 1 Tree and scrub vegetation 1,009.91 16.20 886.12 14.21 -1.99 2 Grasslands 1,325.58 21.26 14.25 0.23 -21.03 3 Agricultural crops 3,647.45 58.50 4,205.32 67.44 8.94 4 Bedrock outcrops and raw 0.00 soils 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5 Surface water and wetlands 37.94 0.61 134.80 2.16 1.55 6 Settlements and built-up areas 214.46 3.44 994.83 15.95 12.51 Total 6,235.33 100.00 6,235.33 100.00 23.02 23.02

4 Conclusion The industrial development in Levice started after 1960 in accordance with the industrialisation plan of Slovakia. In 1964 started the construction of a textile combine and drawing on the agricultural character of the area and its potential, several food businesses were established (dairies, malt houses, poultry farms, a meat processing plant, etc.). The industrial development gave rise to the need for new workforce and housing construction, which now takes up the area of about 15.68 ha. Gradually, the following housing estates grew

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up: Levice – Stred, Podlužianka, Rybníky I. – V., and Vinohrady. The construction of the housing estate Vinohrady took a significant portion of the original vineyards. The older buildings in the town centre were redeveloped, mostly with the construction of the Družba Community Centre finished in 1974, Prior Department Store, and Grocery House Zdroj. Due to the redevelopment, the town centre lost its historic character (Švoliková, 2010). After 1989, the production in several state-run businesses was reduced, which led to an unemployment increase. The town solved this situation by building the Géňa Industrial Park. Today, the industrial and technical areas take up about 76 ha. A significant portion of the agricultural land on the north-western edge of the urban space was after the year 2000 taken up by the construction of supermarkets (Hypernova, Tesco...). In the central part of the town, there has been a reduction in the mass residential development, and a gradual suburbanisation has started, mainly in the district of Kalinčiakovo, which has been expanded by several streets with the construction of houses. When comparing the landscape structure in the 19th and 20th century, changes in the agricultural land area can be observed, since it has extended to the benefit of the natural communities. However, the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century was the start of the agricultural land uptake for the construction of residential, commercial and industrial sites and buildings, which is a characteristic trend in the post-industrial society. To conclude, there has been a reduction in tree and scrub vegetation by 1.99 %, and also a significant reduction in grasslands by up to 21.03 %. On the contrary, in comparison with the period 1810 – 69, there has been an increase in agricultural crops (by 8.94 %), the area of surface water and wetlands has increased due to the construction of water dams (by 1.55 %), and certainly the most significant increase has been in the group of settlements and built-up areas (by 12.51 %) (Table 1).

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5 References st Jurkovič, B. – Maglen, C. 1981. Príroda okresu Levice. 1 ed. : Obzor, 1981. 88 pp. Petrovič, F., Bugár, G., Hreško, J.. Zoznam krajinných prvkov mapovateľných na území Slovenska. Geo information. ISSN 1336-7234, 2009, No. 5, pp. 112 – 124. Ružička, M., Ružičková, H., 1973. Štúdium druhotnej štruktúry krajiny na príklade modelového územia, Quaestiones geobiologicae [12], Veda, Bratislava, pp. 5 – 22. st Švoliková, M. et al. 2010 Monografia mesta Levice. 1 ed. Banská Bystrica: Harmony, 256 pp. ISBN 978-80-89151-27-1. http://eia.enviroportal.sk/dokument?id=63918. http://uzemia.enviroportal.sk/main/detail/cislo/89 http://www.levice.sk/historia-mesta-levice.phtml?id3=42128 http://maps.google.sk http://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perec http://www.statistics.sk

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