Topics

Legend & myth

Take from the rich, give to the poor: how an outlaw captain became a folk hero – and how much truth the tales contain.

Folk-art still life: an outlaw's belt, a valaška and an embroidered linen shirt laid out like relics on a carved chest

Legend & myth

Jánošík – Legend and Truth: How a Robber Became a National Hero

The historical Juraj Jánošík was the captain of a small outlaw band, sentenced in Liptovský Mikuláš in 1713. The folk hero who robbed the rich to give to the poor was made by songs, poets and ideologies – traced here motif by motif.

14 min read

An ornate valaška crossed with a shepherd's crook before the peaks of the Tatras, framed by a border of Slovak folk ornament

Legend & myth

Valaška: the shepherd's axe that became Jánošík's emblem

A long shaft, a small blade: the valaška went with Carpathian shepherds from the time of the Wallachian colonisation. Only the legend turned it into Jánošík's magic axe.

8 min read