the oldest known undifferentiated reference to the peaks on or near Gerlachov's municipal lands, Gerlachfalvenses montes (Latin with Hungarian elements for the "Gerlachov Village Mountains"), in a drawing of the High Tatras from 1717. It also paralleled the name Gerlsdorfer Spitze (Gerlachov Peak) used by the first person to identify it as the highest peak in the Tatras in 1838 (see below), which was rendered as gerlachovský chochol (Gerlach crest) in a Slovak version of his report in 1851. Several other mountains in the High Tatras have acquired their names from villages in the foothills. Once it was determined that the mountain was the highest point in the region, the succession of the authorities that held control over it took an interest in its name and changed it periodically for symbolic reasons. In 1896, as part of Austria-Hungary, the highest peak of the Carpathians received its first government-sponsored name − after the contemporary head of state Emperor Francis Joseph I. Guidebooks sometimes did not catch up on these name changes. After the dissolution of the monarchy in 1918, the mountain continued to be known simply as Gerlachovský štít because it belonged to the village of Gerlachov. The Polish government, claiming the territory of the High Tatras for Poland, simultaneously called the mountain Szczyt Polski (Polish Peak), but never gained control over it. The new Czechoslovak government changed the name to Štít legionárov (Legionnaires Peak) in honor of the Czechoslovak Legions in 1923, but the name was dropped in favor of the earlier Gerlachovský štít in 1932. As a result of the Communist coup d'état in 1948, the mountain was renamed once more − to Stalinov štít (Stalin Peak) in 1949. Its traditional name Gerlachovský štít was restored yet again a decade later and has remained unchanged through the present. History Gerlachovský štít was not always considered the highest mountain in the Tatras. After the first official measurement of peaks in the Tatras during the period of the Habsburg monarchy in the 18th century, Kriváň (2,494 m) was considered the highest. Other candidate peaks for the status of the highest mountain at that time were Lomnický štít (2,633 m) and Ľadový štít (2,627 m). The first person to accurately name Gerlachovský štít as the highest peak was the forester Ľudovít (Ludwig) Greiner in 1838. Greiner's measurement was formally confirmed by an Austrian Army survey party in 1868. However, it was generally