Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Trnava)
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist ( Slovak Katedrála svätého Jána Krstiteľa ) is located in the old town of Trnava / Tyrnau in western Slovakia . It is dedicated to John the Baptist and is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Trnava .
The church building is the first purely baroque church in today's Slovakia and was originally part of the building complex of the old Tyrnau University , hence the alternative name University Church . It was built by Jesuits and is considered the largest and most artistically significant building of the Counter Reformation in Slovakia. The building was financed by the Palatine Nikolaus Esterházy and commissioned in 1629 from the Italian architects Antonio and Pietro Spazzi. The unfinished church was consecrated in 1637.
The cathedral is a hall church with pilasters between which there are chapels. The representative double tower front forms the western end, the straight altar wall the eastern end. The building is 61 meters long and 28 meters wide. Above the main portal there is a shield with figurines of seated angels and the stone coat of arms of the Esterházy family .
The main room has a barrel vault with lunettes , the side chapels have cross vaults .
The heart of the cathedral is the wood-carved altarpiece , completed in 1640 and filling the entire east wall, the work of the Austrian masters B. Knilling and V. Knoth as well as the Tyrnauer V. Stadler and the master Ferdinand von Cífer . It is 20.3 meters high and 14.8 meters wide. The ornamentation of the church is the work of the Italian masters GB Rossa, G. Tornini and P. Conti. The ceiling fresco is by Carl Ritzch and Franz Iohanes Graffenstein.
The church originally not only had a worship function, but also served as a university auditorium for doctorates .
In 1978 the church was elevated to the status of the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Bratislava-Trnava, which was established in the previous year. In 2003 she visited Pope John Paul II.
literature
- Dumont - Travel Paperback Slovakia . Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7701-7268-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - Trnava , slovakia.travel ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See Dumont - Reise-Taschenbuch Slovakia p. 145
- ↑ História katedrály , abu.sk (Slovak)
Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 49.7 " N , 17 ° 35 ′ 17.7" E