Becherov

Becherov (Бехерів, Biharó) is a municipality (village) in Slovakia in the Bardejov Districtin the Prešov Region near the border with Poland.

It had 284 inhabitants in 2006 (274 according to the 2001 census, out of which 133 Ruthenians, 82 Slovaks and 45 Ukrainians). It covers an area of 1909 ha.

The village features:
 * the Greek Catholic church of Virgin Mary built in 1847
 * an Orthodox church with features of Old Russian Baroque
 * the Natural Nature Reserve Becherovská tisina – Becherov yew forest (declared in 1954, area 24.13 ha, features: rare fauna and flora, a sulphatic water spring
 * World War I memorial and cemetery built in 1933 which was projected by Dušan Jurkovič
 * World War II memorial
 * a border crossing point to Poland (opened in 1994)
 * an annual folklore festival called Stretnutie pri vatre Bonfire meeting

History
Before the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, Becherov was part of Sáros County within the Kingdom of Hungary. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the Slovak Republic. On 19 January 1945, the Red Army dislodged the Wehrmacht from Becherov and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia.

Genealogical resources
The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Presov, Slovakia"


 * Roman Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1695–1895 (parish B)
 * Greek Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1841–1898 (parish A)