The town of seven lime trees, the cultural and administrative centre of the northern part of the Hornotorys region, this is the town of Lipany.
The town of Lipany is situated between the Šariš Highlands and the Čergov Mountains, on the upper reaches of the Torysa River.
For the first time the town of Lipany is mentioned in documents from the beginning of the 14th century, when the Lipany parish priest Henrich participated as a member of the delegation of the „Fraternity of the Upper Thorian plebs“ in a meeting with the Archbishop of Esztergom Thomas in Levoca. The first written mention of the town dates back to 1312, when Lipany belonged to the Kamenica manor. According to historical data, a sacred Old Slavic linden grove grew on the place where Lipany was founded as a symbol of Slavicism. From there, the names of the town in various speech variants "de Septem Thiliis", !Siebenlinden or "Hétháras" were derived. To this day, the town has seven symbolic lime trees in its coat of arms. Lipany had a favourable location on the old trade route from Potisia to Poland and was a subject of the Kamenice castle estate. In the 16th century it was one of the largest towns in Šariš. In 1880, the town was hit by a great fire and, together with the persistent emigration, this affected its demographic development.
In 1909 Lipany became the seat of the district, which was moved to Sabinov in 1924 (until 1960).
Until the 1850s the inhabitants were mainly engaged in agriculture and small crafts. In the following years, several industrial enterprises were established here, which changed the social structure of the town.
The city experienced its greatest economic growth after World War II. Gradually, textile and engineering production developed and agricultural production intensified. Health care and education also developed with the economic growth.
In 2012 the town commemorated the 700th anniversary of its first written mention.
