Partizánske, a town in western Slovakia at the confluence of Nitra {see planet  (9543)} and Nitrica rivers, was known as the village of Symoni from 1260 and as the town of Baťovany since 1938, when Ján Baťa built a shoe factory there. Since 1949 it has been called Partizánske. A public observatory was opened there in 1988. (M 43196) _ _.