SACRAL MONUMENTS OF NITRA

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The valuable medieval fresco in Basilica of St. Emeram was discovered by the restaurateurs in 2012. With the origins from 14th Century the fresco is the oldest wall painting of the Cathedral complex.

Nitra CaStLE aND CaStLE arEa Námestie Jána Pavla II. 7 Phone: +421 (0)37/772 17 47, www.biskupstvo-nitra.sk Open to visitors: April – October: 7.00 – 18.00 November – March: 7.00 – 17.00

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Did you know that Nitra Bishopric was founded in 880? Most likely, a seat of the archbishop may have been situated right here, at the Castle.

St. EMEraM CatHEDraL a Renaissance base and a Baroque cabinet.

St. Emeram Cathedral dominates Nitra Town. It is situated within the Castle premises. It has three parts: a northern Baroque nave called the Upper Church and a southern Baroque nave called the Lower Church with an adjoining medieval late-Romanesque chapel. In the first half of the 13th century the Romanesque Chapel of St. Emeram was built on Castle Hill connected to an even older edifice. The Gothic cathedral – the Upper Church was built between 1333 and 1355. In the 17th century both buildings were rebuilt due to damage caused by Gabriel Bethlen’s army. Reconstruction in the Baroque style was carried out thanks to Bishop Erdődy’s efforts between 1710 – 1720. Yet, the medieval Chapel of St. Emeram was preserved. In the 18th century, the well-known masterbuilder Franz Anton Pilgram worked on the cathedral vaulting.

Tomb cellars with names of the buried officials are in the crypt of the Upper Church. In 1995, Pope John Paul II. visited the Cathedral of St. Emeram, and on 21st October 1998, the cathedral was conferred an honour to become a Basilica.

Nitra CaStLE

The eastern wall of the Lower Church is decorated with a late-Renaissance altar, Removal of the Body of Jesus from the Cross. It is the work of Austrian artist John Pernegger from Salzburg dating from 1662. The side altars date back to the 18th century. There are also tombstones of the bishops in the cathedral. The walls of the sacristy are lined with furniture in the Rococo style. Painted decorations in the Lower Church date back to the 18th and 20th centuries and portray the martyrdom and glorification of Jesus Christ. The frescoes are masterpieces of G. A. Galliarti from the first half of the 18th century. In 2012, medieval frescoes from the 14th century depicting the Marian Cycle were uncovered here. The niches with seats divide the walls of St. Emeram Chapel. There is a balcony pulpit and window vitrages designed by the national artist Ľudovít Fulla. Relics of Sts. Svorad and Benedikt are inserted in the niches of the chapel walls.

Nitra Castle towering on the rocky limestone hill is regarded as the most significant and precious historic sight in Nitra. Important historical, political and social events relate to the Castle which, almost the only one of the Slovak castles, has preserved its residential functional character to this day despite frequent disasters, and has not changed its architectural appearance since the 17th century. Archaeological findings testify that the Castle Hill had been already settled in the 9th century, however, the stone castle had appeared only with the Great Moravia decline.

The frescoes by G. A. Galliarti decorate the Upper Church too. The furnishings of the Upper Church include Baroque art masterpieces: a main altar of the Lord Saviour by Italian artist Martinelli made in the first half of the 18th century, Episcopal see, canonical stalls – benches and an Episcopal pulpit. On the left side of the altar stands a Renaissance pastoforion from the 17th century. The altar of All Saints was completed in the 18th century and the altar of St. Barbara in 1860s. In the nave, there are Baroque benches and on the church gallery, there is an organ from the mid-twentieth century with

The Diocesan Museum became part of the castle complex in 2007. There are various objects in the museum documenting our history, e.g. pyxides from Čierne Kľačany, Zobor Letters dating to 1111 and 1113 and many others.

The Castle includes four independent parts: cathedral, bishop’s palace, outbuildings and well preserved outer walls with the only entrance gate leading to the inner castle yards.

Among other well-known castle parts are Vazul’s Tower and a well, casemate and a Gothic ditch.

StatUE OF St. JOHN OF NEPOMUK

Did you know that the Nitra Plague Column belongs to the most precious and significant ones in the whole of Slovakia?

The statue of John Nepomuk stands on Castle Hill below the Nitra Castle walls. It was erected on Bishop Révay’s order in 1783. The statue became an exterior decoration of the priory. The statue represents a composition on three pedestals of differing heights. In the middle a saint stands and alongside him the smaller kneeling naked praying angels (at present, a right pedestal with a little angel is missing) and a plastic premium plate with missing cartouche sign and carved inscription (however, weathered and illegible at present). The sculptural composition culminates in the standing figure of St. John of Nepomuk. It has been carved in sandstone in almost life size. The saint stands leaning slightly forward, his head tilting towards his left arm. In his left hand he holds a cross with Crucified Christ, squeezed to his chest. He wears a vest over which a rochet with short fur cloak hangs. On his head, he wears a birrete, with stars about his head (five original stars are missing, however, a circular ringlet has been preserved). The sandstone statue of St. John Nepomuk is a representation of the high quality work of Viennese Baroque in the last third of the 18th century.

PLaGUE COLUMN – StatUE OF iMMaCULatE An imposing group of High Baroque statues “Virgin Mary Immaculate” (immaculate conception), also called “Column dedicated to the Virgin Mary” or “Plague Column”, lie on the

PLaGUE COLUMN StatUE OF iMMaCULata Námestie Jána Pavla II.

StatUE OF St. JOHN OF NEPOMUK

southern slope of the Castle Hill. Bishop Esterházy had the group of statues erected in 1750 to commemorate major black death epidemics in 1710 and 1739. The artist of the statues was an Austrian, Martin Vogerle. Several repairs and restoration works were carried out in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Námestie Jána Pavla II.

The statue group is made of several stone types, originally polychrome and gilded. The statue support has four volutes. On the inside parts of the volutes there are seated angels and the space between the volutes is filled with reliefs portraying a part of the Virgin Mary cycle (Visitation, Annunciation, Betrothal and Assumption). Then there are four statues of Hungarian kings and saints: St. Steven, St. Ladislav, St. Imrich, and the bishop of Prague, St. Adalbert. On the capital, the Virgin Mary Immaculate stands.

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FraNCiSCaN MONaStErY aND tHE CHUrCH OF StS. PEtEr aND PaUL Bishop Telegdy had a Franciscan monastery complex, which replaced the earlier Chapel of Sts. Peter and Paul, built in 1630. A stone relief above an entrance to the monastery testifies to this fact. The monastery complex consists of the Roman-Catholic Church of Sts. Peter and Paul and the Renaissance Franciscan Monastery. The Roman-Catholic church was originally built in the Renaissance style, later rebuilt in the Baroque style. It is connected to the monastery from the east side. The church interior dates back to the 18th century. Thirty three reliefs depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi are considered to be the most precious art works in the church. They were carved by a monk Francis Xaver Seegen from Vienna around 1760. An altar painting dates back to 1935 and depicts the church patrons. At the front facade there is a relief from 1663 depicting Sts. Peter and Paul. The relief was discovered in the church paving where it was placed during the Turkish wars. The Renaissance monastery with the Baroque style modifications adjoins the church. It is a one-storey building with an enclosed yard. The present appearance dates back to 1763 when extensive rebuilding took place. A small Baroque Stations of the Cross can be found in front of the monastery entrance gate.

FraNCiSCaN MONaStErY aND tHE CHUrCH StS. PEtEr aND PaUL Samova ulica 2 Phone: +421 (0)37/651 30 90

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Did you know that the Church of Sts Peter and Paul has seven altars? A main altar and six others in the side chapels – Altar of St. Joseph with a painting of St. Agnes and a statue of the Jesus Child, Altar of St. Marry with a painting of St. Apollonia, Altar of Saint Cross with Christ on the Cross and the painting of Sts. Magdalena and Michael, the fourth and fifth chapels at the sides of the main altar with the statues of the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary, and the sixth chapel of Lourdes dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes.

CHUrCH OF St. StEPHEN tHE KiNG The Church of St. Stephen the King stands in the town borough called Párovce which became part of Nitra town in 1886. Originally a preromanesque church from the 10th century, it is a precious medieval example with the remains of the Romanesque frescoes and an old graveyard. During the next centuries the church underwent several construction alterations. A circular shrine replaced an earlier horseshoe-shaped one (the 12th century) and a chancel was added. In the 13th – 14th centuries, the Gothic sacristy was built. In the first quarter of the 18th century, Bishop Maťašovský had the church rebuilt in the Baroque style since it was destroyed in Turkish raids. The church is a simple one-nave edifice. A Baroque altar dating to the 18th century is part of the interior furnishings. Inside, a Roman triumphal arch with fragments of wall paintings dating back to the 13th century and a Roman bowl, complement the interior. Research carried out within the church interiors and its surroundings unearthed, apart from the oldest church basements, also a graveyard dating to the 10th – 11th centuries and a modern cemetery. Did you know that the research unearthed the earliest basements of the church? The original church must have been dedicated to someone else since St. Stephen was canonised only in 1083, and the old documents dating to 1301 write about the church of St. Ondrej founded by Matúš Čák.

CHUrCH OF St. StEPHEN tHE KiNG Párovská ulica

PiariSt MONaStErY aND St. LaDiSLaV’S CHUrCH The Baroque complex consisting of a college, church and school was built in several stages. The foundation stone of these buildings was laid on 9th June 1701, under Bishop L. Maťašovský. Initially, they started to build a monastery with a chapel in the left wing and a school in the right wing. The first church was built between two wings in response to accommodate increasing numbers of clergy since the chapel was too small. After the rector Adolf Nemčéni provided the necessary finances he had the church pulled down. The construction of the present two-towered church started in 1742. In 1759 the whole complex was destroyed by fire, but once finances were again provided its reconstruction and completion were started. In 1789, the church was consecrated by Bishop of Nitra, František Fuchs. The whole complex towers above Lower Town and includes several buildings. During 1701 – 1702 a monastery section for the Piarist

order was completed. The monastery building has two storeys with a cellar partly underneath. The premises are accessible from a square via two main and two side entrances. The building architecture forms a yard within enclosed from all sides. The Church of St. Ladislav is an early-Baroque one nave building situated in the centre of the monastery premises. Current painting dates back to 1941. It is the work of well-known Nitra artist E. Massányi. The shrine paintings, also from E. Massányi, cover older wall paintings from the Baroque period and the 19th century. A main altar, side altars, a pulpit, benches and organ date back to the 18th century. An entrance to the church is at the main facade with massive side towers with copper roofs. In the south tower there are three new bells from 1928, while the oldest one dates back to 1429.

Did you know that Mother Teresa was visited Nitra and the Piarist Grammar School in 1990?

PiariSt MONaStErY aND  St. LaDiSLaV’S CHUrCH Piaristická ulica 8 Phone: +421 (0)37/772 72 51 www.piaristi.sk

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St. MiCHaEL’S CHaPEL The Baroque St. Michael’s Chapel replaced an earlier medieval Franciscan monastery and graveyard and stands on the hilly slopes called Na Vŕšku. The mayor of the town Lukáč Brezovič had it built in 1739 to commemorate the end of the Black Death. In 1894, Bishop Bende had the tower and sacristy demolished and the chapel renewed. This appearance has been preserved to these days. A ceiling painting in the chapel with a motif of Baptism of Jesus Christ is by E. Massányi. An altar painting dating back to the end of the 18th century is part of the main altar dating from the1930s. The nave windows have a figural window pane representing St. Ann and St. Elizabeth. The window panes of the shrine windows represent the Immaculate Conception and St. Mary Immaculate. The visitors are attracted by a statue of St. Michael Archangel by J. Bártfay dating to the 1930s inserted in a niche above the main entrance. In 1949, a monument to victims of World War II was unveiled in front of the chapel.

Did you know that there is a crypt under the floor with thirty graves which date back to 1771?

St. MiCHaEL’S CHaPEL Na Vŕšku

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VirGiN MarY COLUMN Bishop Augustín Roskoványi had the Virgin Mary Column built at the present Svätopluk Square in 1882 to commemorate the black-death epidemic in 1739. The author of the column is Anton Brandl. In 1912, the column was renewed and during the Slovak State its desks were restored by the sculptor František Gibal. The Slovak inscriptions replaced the earlier original Hungarian inscriptions. A statue features Virgin Mary standing on the globe with a moon, with a sceptre in her right hand and baby Jesus on her left arm with a crown on her head. The column was consecrated by the residential Bishop of Nitra See Ján Chryzostom Korec. PrESbYtErY

Farská ulica 18

PrESbYtErY The Roman Catholic Presbytery was built between 1774 and 1776. Bishop Ján Gustínyi had the late-Baroque building of the Lower Town Catholic presbytery built in 1764. In 1886, under the bishop Augustín Roskoványi, the presbytery underwent reconstruction and gained its present appearance. The most significant work of this construction is a cellar cut into the rock. The presbytery building has two storeys, with the east wing oriented towards Farská. Since the building was built on a slope, the second storey appears as a ground floor viewed from the yard and as the first storey from Farská. In the second half of the 18th century the presbytery played a significant role in religious life. Writers and national leaders such as Š. Súľovský, Š. Potocký, J. Ščasný, J. Wittek, M. Ďurkovič, J. Vagner and V. Nécsey used to work here.

VirGiN MarY COLUMN Svätoplukovo námestie

SYNaGOGUE The synagogue was built in 1911 to designs by Leopold Baumhorn, well-known architect in Austro-Hungary. Nitra Synagogue has a central square ground plan. A doublewing door richly decorated with ironwork and wrought handle forms the main entrance. It is on the southern facade. Behind the main entrance, there is a commemorative plaque with the names of the founders, sponsors who provided finances to build the synagogue. The interior synagogue decorations are modest. Neither paintings, statues nor other Godly images can be found there. The facade is decorated and defined by oriental elements, laminating; the interior is in white. Initial owners of the synagogue were the Jewish Community in Nitra Town. Since 1982, Nitra District National Committee, and in 1991 complying with the law on ownership it became the property of the Town of Nitra. In 2003, the building was opened to the public offering valuable premises to organize cultural and public events. Exhibitions, such as displays of the Museum of the Jewish Culture of the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava under the title Destiny of the Slovak Jews, and a permanent display of paintings of the significant Israeli artist Shraga Wiel, a native and an honorary citizen of the Nitra Town, have found their place here.

Did you know that Nitra Town used to be one of the important Jewish centres in Slovakia? The first written reference to a Jewish settlement on our territory specified as Mons Judeorum can be found in the second Zobor Letter from 1113.

SYNaGOGUE

Pri synagóge 3 Phone: +421 (0)37/652 53 20 Opening times: Tue: 13.00 – 18.00, Wed, Thu: 9.00 – 12.00, 13.00 – 18.00, Sat, Sun: 13.00 – 18.00

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CHUrCH OF tHE rEFOrMED CHriStiaN CHUrCH

CHUrCH OF tHE ViSitatiON

The Church of the Reformed Christian (Calvinist) Church was built in 1910. An inscription engraved in Arabic figures above the porch of the main entrance on the eastern facade of the tower supports this fact. The church was designed by the architect Jozef Gere from Gödöllő. Local Protestants of Augsburg helped the Calvinists to build this church. The church has one nave. The original mosaic pavement has been preserved within the church.

The Bishop Imrich Palugyay had the Church of Visitation built. The church construction started in 1852. A Viennese architect J. Szmatos took over the construction after František Částka’s death in 1855. Finally, the church was completed by the Nitra architect A. Herwerth in 1861. A benefactor is commemorated on a memorial board within the church interior. A cross was erected on top of the tower on 5th November 1856. However, the founder of the church did not live long enough to see it completed therefore the church and the monastery were consecrated on 8th September 1861 by his successor Bishop Augustín Roškoványi.

Until 2000, the church used to be a house of prayer for the Protestant and Reformed Church. Since the mentioned date, the church is managed by the Slovak Reformed Christian Church and serves its needs. In 2002, new tower roof timbers with a copperplate roof and a new tin roof on the nave replaced the old ones. In 2011, the facades of the church were resurfaced. Did you know that in a yard behind the church, the first open-air theatre in Slovakia was opened in the 1930’s?

CHUrCH OF tHE rEFOrMED CHriStiaN CHUrCH Fraňa Mojtu 10

Of all the churches in Nitra Town, the Church of the Visitation is the most visited. The New-Romanesque three-nave church with three galleries has a central nave roofed with star-shaped vault. A wooden altar with three pictures by the Viennese artist Schiller, depicting St. Imrich, St. Vincent de Paul and Virgin Mary with St. Elizabeth dominates the interior. Below the picture stand twelve statues of the apostles. Another valuable part of the furnishings is a richly decorated and gilded pulpit as well as a gift to the pope John Paul II, given to him by the towns of Nitra and Považská Bystrica in 1996 to commemorate the first anniversary of his visit in Slovakia (nine metres high statue of Christ on the Cross). Under the church there is a crypt with an altar where the sisters of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (Vincentians) were buried. The church underwent reconstruction in 1911 and in the 1940s and 1970s. It was badly damaged during the World War II when the ceiling and a part of the tower collapsed.

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Did you know that the crypt under the church was last used for burial ceremony in 1964? 35 sisters and 7 civilians, who were employed in the monastery, rest here.

CHUrCH OF tHE ViSitatiON

Farská ulica Phone.: +421 (0)37/ 652 20 08

CaLVarY The stations of the cross, one of the most impressive features, are situated in the southern part of the town. The first Stations of the Cross were erected in the last third of 18th century. As was the standard they were built outside the town dwellings as were similar Calvary systems in our regions in the Baroque period. Very probably it was an iconographic programme of the Stations of the Cross with seven stations. The present stations (14) were built in 1885 when the monastery complex was renewed under Karol Mayer. An older Chapel of Holy Cross rebuilt as the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, became part of the Calvary complex. Gradually, in the 19th century, the town development started to move towards Calvary and in the 20th century houses surrounded it completely. The Stations of the Cross consists of twelve Neo-Romanesque chapels of the Stations of the Cross, built as Italian lorretas, arranged along the path starting at the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin climbing to the hilltop Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. The station entrances are oriented towards the east. At the hilltop, there is the twelfth station, the group of statues of the Crucifixion with a statue of Christ from the 19th century, with copies of the Baroque statues of St. John Evangelist and Holy Marry, and statues of the rogues by J. Bártfay dating to 1923. The copies were made in 2012 and the original statues accommodated in a crypt of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin. The Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is the fourteenth station with a ground plan made into a hexagon with a little hexagonal tower.

MiSSiONarY HOUSE OF tHE HOLY MarY The Missionary House built in 1928, stands on the northern hill of Calvary. It is owned by the God Word Society (Verbists) using the premises to accommodate the friars, as well as administrative and pastoral purposes. At the same time it houses the Missionary Museum and Social Service Home. The God Word Society (Societas Verbi Divini SVD) was established by the German priest P. Arnold Janssen. In 1901, it was approved by the pope. It was an idea of Bishop Viliam Batthyány (1911 – 1920) to invite the Verbists in Nitra Town; however, his intention came into being only under Bishop Karol Kmeťko (1920 – 1948), who entrusted upon them spiritual management of the Church of Assumption of the Virgin at Calvary and rented out the premises of the former Monastery of the Nazarenes. Since the premises of this monastery were not big enough to serve their purposes, construction of an independent Missionary House started south-west of the monastery. The project engineer was Milan Michal Harminc (1869 – 1964) and the constructor Ján Tomaschek from Nitra. The Missionary House was completed and consecrated in 1928. The edifice

invited by Bishop Ján Gustíni – Zubrohlavský to take care of the church and pilgrims. At that time, the church of the Assumption of the Virgin used to be an important pilgrim site. A tradition of pilgrims arriving to see the Holy Mary, a wooden Pieta on the side altar of the church became very popular. The Bishop had a single-storey monastery with cells and a yard built for the Nazarenes. However, in 1767 the Nazarenes left as the order was dissolved. Retired priests took their place. In the second half of the 19th century, the church was altered in the Neoromanesque style, the interior was decorated and the altars renewed. Initiated by Bishop Roskoványi, the monastery was also rebuilt. In 1925, the members of the Word of God Society – Verbists, who had the church renovated again, settled in the monastery. During this period, the single-storey monastery building was elevated and another wing built. In 1948, the Chapel of St. Teresa, an oratory, a sacristy and an outside field altar were added to the church, with yet another wing to the monastery. In 2010, reconstruction of the underground church area was carried out to restore its original use as crypts. has four storeys with an attic and the ground- plan arranged into a letter “L”. Missionary House architecture employs some elements of the Romanesque as well as other historical styles such as Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque. In 1950, the Missionary House was occupied by the Teachers’ Grammar School, later on by the Agricultural University. In 1990, the building was returned to the God Word Society.

MONaStErY aND tHE CHUrCH OF tHE NaZarENES The church of the Assumption of the Virgin with the Monastery of the Nazarenes is situated at the foot of Calvary Hill. Original late-Baroque buildings from the second half of the 17th century were later rebuilt. The church has an oblong shape with a vertical nave, a square tower and two chapels. A four-winged monastery adjoins the southern side of the church. The Spanish order of the Nazarenes was established by John Valera in 1750. The members of this order arrived in Nitra Town in 1766 having been

There is the Pieta, the Holy Mary with a crucified Jesus in her arms dating to the end of the 17th century situated on the main altar.

CaLVarY

Kalvária (Mariánsky vrch)

MONaStErY aND tHE CHUrCH OF tHE NaZarENES Kalvária 1

MiSSiONarY HOUSE OF tHE HOLY MarY Kalvária 3

CaLVarY

Did you know that there is the crypt with the graves of the Užovič family under the church?

into the ground plan. In 1791, the church underwent rebuilding in the Classicist style and was extended with an addition and a tower, and a sacristy with a round end and flat ceiling. The interior of the church is decorated with the Neo-Gothic altar dating back to 1883 with an older Baroque painting of All Saints. Beside the altar there are the Rococo paintings of Sts. John Nepomuk and Elizabeth in Classicist frames dating back to the second half of the 18th century, and a Classicist shell-shaped stoup made of red marble in the church.

CHUrCH OF St. UrbaN

aLL SaiNtS‘ CHUrCH Kynek

aLL SaiNtS‘ CHUrCH An apparently original Roman church was rebuilt in the Baroque style in 1728. It is a single nave building with a semi-circular shrine, a sacristy, with an organ gallery and a tower. Rebuilding of church was arranged by the Užovič family who acquired the village of Kynek in 1694. At rebuilding, the Roman semi-circular shrine was included

KYNEK, ZObOr aND CHrENOVá

The Church of St. Urban stands at Zobor in the vineyards and it is dedicated to St. Urban, the winegrowers’ patron. It dates to the 18th century; in 1872 relics of St. Xavier were buried within the church premises, and a year later the church was enlarged; however, its present appearance dates from 1940. In 1948, the mayor František Mojto and curator Dr. František Stupka initiated a new organ construction. The organ was consecrated by the prelate Rudolf Formánek. In 1985, a bell was installed in the tower. So far, the last adaptation of the church was carried out during 1994 - 1995, when the administrator of the presbytery František Kapusňák had roof tiles replaced. During these years, the church tower and badly damaged pedestals in the belfry were also replaced. CHUrCH OF St. UrbaN Zobor

CaMaLDOLESE MONaStErY aND tHE CHUrCH rUiNS The Baroque monastery premises situated at the foot of the Zobor Hill completes the traditions of the ancient Nitra Town. Originally, the Benedictine abbey monastery of St. Hypolit from the 10th century was situated here, however, it had disappeared by the second half of the 15th century. It was the oldest monastery in Slovakia. Later, the premises became an institution providing education for the priests of Nitra Diocese. The monastery at Zobor is also mentioned in the Zobor Letters which date back to 1111 and 1113. Its termination dates to 1468. It is presumed that a new monastery for Camaldolese monks built between 1692 and 1697 replaced the original Benedictine monastery. The Bishop Blažej Jaklin together with his cousin – a Baron Nicolas Jaklin, a nobleman from Lefantovce had the monastery built. They signed a document where they pledged to build a new monastery for twelve monks at the former Benedictine monastery site. The whole monastery complex was built by an unknown Viennese architect. Construction was completed in 1695. During the reconstruction works, the ruins of the original monastery were razed to the ground, a new one-storey monastery with two side wings was erected and in the garden on a gentle slope a church with three entrances and a tower with two bells was built. A crypt would have been under the church where the deceased monks at one side and the members of the Appony’s family at the other side, would be buried. At present, the church is all but in ruins and the former Camaldolese Monastery is home to a Specialised Clinic for Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases.

Did you know? Both the Slovak experts and the international specialists came to the conclusion that Prince Svätopluk had died here at this place, however, no grave site has been discovered yet.

CaMaLDOLESE MONaStErY aND tHE CHUrCH rUiNS Kláštorská ulica 134, Zobor

CHUrCH OF St. MartiN An original Chrenova church, dating from the 9th – 11th centuries, once stood on a hill called Martinko (Little Martin). This church was pulled down in 1911 and replaced by the present Church of St. Martin in 1941 - 1943. The church was consecrated on 14th November 1943 by a Bishop Karol Kmeťko of Nitra. The central painting on the ceiling is by the Nitra artist Edmund Massányi (1907 – 1966) and represents the charitable deed of St. Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar. Behind the saint, the original church can be seen. On 31st January, 1992 a sacral building of the church was connected to a hall of the culture house. CHUrCH OF St. MartiN

Chrenová Phone: +421 (0)37/733 67 21, Nitra – Chrenová Parish Office

tHE CHUrCH OF birtH OF St. MarY

Did you know that the mass in the Church of Birth of St. Mary is held only once in a year?

The originally late Romanesque Church of Birth of St. Mary was rumoured to have been built at the end of the 13th century by the Zobor Benedictines. The church stands on a sloping cemetery terrain behind the Nitra – Nové Zámky railway line. In 1752, it was enlarged and at the beginning of the 19th century rebuilt. In 1922, the church was damaged by fire, but however, not reconstructed until 1937 - 38. At this time, medieval frescos picturing Zobor Monastery and the Last Supper of Christ were discovered on the west wall of the shrine dating to the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. The paintings were restored in the 1940s by artist Jelínek, and in 2010 by artist and conservator V. Úradníček. Interior furnishings of the church are modern. A painting of the Birth of St. Mary and wooden polychrome statues of Sts. Ann and Joachim once part of the main Baroque altar, have been preserved. A stucco relief of St. Teresa with the Church of Birth of St. Mary in the background from the 20th century belongs to the interior sculptural decorations.

tHE CHUrCH OF St. ONDrEJ

Dolné Krškany Phone: +421 (0)37/741 49 52, Nitra – Dolné Krškany Parish Office

tHE CHUrCH OF St. ONDrEJ

tHE CHUrCH OF birtH OF St. MarY

Horné Krškany, Phone: +421 (37) 7414952, Nitra – Dolné Krškany Parish Office

This originally one-nave Baroque–Classicist church was rebuilt by the Thuroscy family during 1738 – 1744 replacing the earlier sacral edifice. In 1902, the original one-nave church was rebuilt and altered to the present three-nave building. The Church of St. Ondrej stands in the graveyard in the centre of the city borough Dolné Krškany. Interior furnishings of the Church of St. Ondrej date back to the 19th and the 20th centuries. The building is a fine example of an original Baroque church with Classicist adaptations being sensibly rebuilt into the three-nave church at the beginning of the 20th century.

CHUrCH OF St. FraNCiS XaViEr

Ščasného ulica 26, Dražovce

CHUrCH OF St. FraNCiS XaViEr The Classicist church of St. Francis Xavier and its premises which include a presbytery and a crypt were built in 1802 – 1803 at the expense of the Bishop of Nitra and Archbishop of Jager F. X. Fuchs (1744 – 1807). It is a one-nave building extended by a sacristy and anteroom. Interior painted decorations in the church date back to its construction, however, the paintings on the nave and shrine vaults date back to the 1960s. A Classicist pulpit and a font both made of red marble are part of valuable interior church items. In front of the church, there is a crypt with a Baroque group of statues of Calvary made of sandstone delivered from a former Camaldolese Monastery on Zobor. The presbytery building became the memorial home of the national revivalist and last significant Bernolák follower, Jozef Ščasný. A plaque made of black marble set on the presbytery front by the villagers in cooperation with the St. Adalbert Society in 1943, commemorates his work as a priest in Dražovce in 1847 - 1850.

KrŠKaNY, DraŽOVCE

CHUrCH OF St. MiCHaEL arCHaNGEL

In 1947 – 1948, 55 graves were uncovered in the church surroundings; their inventory included coins, decorations and parts of clothing. The graveyard has evidence of burial ceremonies from the 11th to 17th centuries.

DraŽOVCE

The Church of St. Michael Archangel in Dražovce stands on a rocky hill at the ancient Romanesque settlement. The one-nave church built of stone and mixed brickwork has a rectangular shape with a semicircular shrine and a brick pyramid-shaped tower. The original uncovered church dates back to around the latter half of the 11th century, however, it is probably even older. The foundations and parts of masonry from the earliest building have been preserved. This territory was originally owned by the Zobor Monastery. The church became an independent parish in 1787. Construction of the present building started on the completely destroyed original edifice and goes back to the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. Building adaptations in the 12th century resulted in the Romanesque features. The nave was extended and the shrine ground plan was changed to semicircular. At the beginning of the 13th century, a chancel was built and a tower erected and the following periods brought only minor alterations to the church. In 1993 – 1999, the church underwent reconstruction stressing its Romanesque character.The earliest church, of which foundations and parts of above-foundation masonry have been preserved, had a rectangular nave and semicircular shrine. In the shrine, a wall of an original altar has survived.

CHUrCH OF St. MiCHaEL arCHaNGEL Dražovce Phone: +421 (0)37/656 21 09

Project has been cofinanced by ERDF „Investícia do Vašej budúcnosti“ „Investment into your future “

európska únia

SACRAL MONUMENTS OF NITRA Published by: City of Nitra, 2012 Text: The Regional Monument Board in Nitra; P. Ostovrchá, A. Pivarčiová Grafic design: Peter Jánsky Photographs: H. Mišovič, P. Rafaj, M. Oravec Translation: A. Spačková Print: Patria I., spol. s r.o. Edition: 3.000 pieces