Thurzov Dom is the most historically significant building on Námestie SNP, a Renaissance merchant's palace built for the Thurzo-Fugger mining company in the early 16th century. The Thurzos and Fuggers ran a copper-mining empire from Banská Bystrica that made both families enormously wealthy and helped finance, among other things, the election of Holy Roman Emperors.
The house is recognisable by its elegant arcaded courtyard and decorative Renaissance façade. It now houses part of the Central Slovakia Museum. A short walk through reveals the scale of ambition that once attended this building — this was the headquarters of an enterprise that shaped the finances of half of Europe.