Lomography

Trnava
written by tom_ashor_bhaan on July 31st, 2008 (0 votes)

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The city lies at the crossroads of two roads of international importance; from the Czech Republic to southern Slovakia and from Bratislava to northern Slovakia. The D1 motorway connects the city to Bratislava, Trenčín and Žilina and the R1 motor road connects it to Nitra. A part of a planned bypass is currently under construction.

The city also has an important station on the Bratislava-Žilina railway, with two tracks from Sereď and Kúty (near the Czech border) ending in the city. Although there is a small airstrip at the north-eastern edge, closest international airports are in Bratislava and Vienna. The city also operates a public transport service, currently represented by 16 regular and other lines.

The name of the city is derived from the Slovak word tŕnie (“thornbush”) which characterized the river banks in the region. The Hungarian name (first mentioned in 1238 in the form of Zumbotel) originates from the Hungarian word szombat (“Saturday”), referring to the weekly market fairs held on Saturdays.

As early as in the Middle Ages, Trnava was an important centre of Gothic religious and lay architecture – St. Nicolas’s Church, St. Helen’s Church and several church monastery complexes (Clarist, Franciscan and Dominican) were built in this period.

The Renaissance (16th century) added a town tower to Trnava’s silhouette. Nicolas Oláh ordered the erection of the Seminary and Archbishop’s Palace. Peter Bornemisza and Huszár Gál, the leading personalities of the reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary, were active in Trnava for a short time. The town ramparts were rebuilt to a Renaissance fortification as a reaction to the approaching Turkish danger from the south.

The 17th century was characterized by the construction of the Pualinian Church that bears badges of Silesian Renaissance. Trnava was gradually redesigned to Baroque. The erection of the St. John the Baptist Church and of the university campus launched a building rush that continued with the reconstruction of the Franciscan and Clarist’s complexes. Builders and artists called to build the university also participated in improvements of the burgher architecture. The Holy Trinity Statue and the group of statues of St. Joseph, the Ursulinian and Trinitarian Church and Monastery are of recent construction.

The District hospital was built 1824. The building of the theater started in May 1831 and the first performance was played at Christmas. Both of the Trnava synagogues, historicist structures with oriental motifs, date back to the 19th century.

more at – http://www.trnava.sk