KREMNITZ (Hungarian, Normoczbcinya), a mining town in the cis-Danubian county of Bars, Hungary, lies in a deep valley, and on the Hungarian state railway, 82 miles north of Budapest, in 48° 42' N. lat., 18° 46' E. long. It is the seat of a board of mining control, and of the management of the mint, and has an office of woods and forests. As noteworthy buildings may be mentioned the castle, several Roman Catholic and the Lutheran churches, a Franciscan monastery (founded 1634), the town-hall, and the mint where the celebrated Kremnitz gold ducats are struck. The great bulk of the inhabitants find employment in connexion with the gold and silver mines, which, though far less productive than formerly, still yield considerable quantities of ore. By means of a tunnel 9 miles in length, constructed in 1851-52, the water is drained off from the mines into the Garam or Gran. In 1880 the population was 8552, mostly Germans.

According to tradition Kremnitz was founded in the 8th century by Saxons. In 1100 it was raised to the dignity of a royal free town. In the middle of the 12th century the population was much augmented by German colonists, and in 1328 the commune received special privileges at the hands of Charles Robert of Anjou. From 1424 to 1433 the town was frequently at the mercy of the Hussites. After the catastrophe at Mohacs (1526) it suffered repeatedly from the Turks, and during the 17th century both from the forces of successive Transylvanian princes and from Ottoman hordes.