At the beginning of the 9th century, Prince Pribin of Nitra consecrated the first church in our territory, which laid a solid foundation for Nitra to become a city with many important religious monuments (a city of churches). In the last article, we presented the religious monuments located on the Zobor hill, and now we will present the other important religious buildings in Nitra. It is clearly the most important Basilica of St. Emeráma on the castle hill, which needs no further introduction, but what about lesser-known churches or other buildings connected with Christianity?
Diocesan Museum
Museum , located in the former farm buildings of the Nitra castle, is divided into two parts. The first part is devoted to expositions of written documents from the beginning of Christianity, and the second part to liturgical objects from the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods. After complex preparations, the museum was only opened in 2007. You can get to the museum from the hotel by going down the hill to the roundabout, where you will continue through the birch grove to Námestie sv. John Paul II
Seminars on Pribin Square
Pribin Square is located a short distance below the Diocesan Museum, dominated by the buildings – Malý and Veľký seminár. Both today serve the interdiocesan Priestly Seminary of St. Gorazda. A small seminar is a classicist two-story building built on medieval foundations from 1884. It has been rebuilt several times over the years. The Great Seminary was built in 1770, namely its first part decorated with rococo and neoclassical elements. Nine years later, the western and eastern tracts were added to it. There are two chapels in the seminary. The first is richly decorated with frescoes, and the second chapel has a beautiful golden coffered ceiling.
Jewish synagogue
Nitra was an important center not only of Christian but also of Jewish life in Slovakia. The oldest mention of Jews dates back to 1113 and was mentioned in the Second Zoborská listin. The building synagogues it was built in 1911, has two towers and is located in a side street in the city center on a pedestrian zone. Since it is an important architectural monument, it is registered in the Central List of Cultural Monuments of the Slovak Republic. It underwent a long-term renovation and was reopened in 2004, creating a rare space used mainly as a concert and exhibition hall. The route to it from the hotel leads down Zobor to the roundabout, through which you pass and continue along Mostná street, from there you turn left onto Svätoplukovo námestie and then left again onto Štefánikova classe.
Church of St. Ladislav
The church is located on Piaristicka street. You can easily reach it by bus no. 10 from the cable car stop, which is located 220 m from the hotel. After eight stops, get off at the Palárikova stop, and from there it's about 300 m to the church on foot. The complex is one of the most prominent landmarks of the city and consists of a church, a monastery and a gymnasium. The construction of the church was associated with many complications. Although the foundation stone was already laid in 1706, it was almost finished only 15 years later. However, at that time it was hit by a devastating fire and a new one kostol was only started to be built in 1748. It was consecrated in 1789. The twin-towered church has Prussian vaults and late-baroque wall paintings or fresco decoration with motifs from the history of the city of Nitra.
Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel
Just a short distance from the church of St. Ladislava is located a small church, or rather a chapel. This newly-reconstructed baroque building was built in 1739 by the mayor at the time in gratitude for the end of the plague epidemic. You can reach it by continuing along Piaristicka Street, at the end of which you turn towards Mariánska Street and you are there. It was probably built on the site of a Romanesque church from the 12th century. There was an extensive medieval burial ground in its vicinity, and dozens of graves were found here. In the center of the building there is a statue of St. Michael and around the perimeter of the church are reliefs of the Way of the Cross by Nitra artist Jozef Meszároš.
Church of St. Stephen the King
This Early Romanesque kostol is located in the Nitra part of Párovce in the middle of the settlement, but its roots go back to the 10th century. However, only the foundations have been preserved from the original building. The new church was built in the 12th century, while they tried to preserve the floor plan. The church was again almost completely destroyed and it was restored only in the 18th century. The reconstruction was also carried out in the 60s, as the statics of the masonry and the tower were disturbed. A burial ground from 10-11 was found in the vicinity of the church. century. An interesting fact that was later discovered is that the church was not dedicated to St. Štefan, as he was declared a saint only in 1083. It was originally called the church of St. Ondreja and the backup was Matúš Čák. You can reach it in about half an hour. From the hotel, go down towards the roundabout, from where you continue along Mostná Street, from where you continue 400 m along Ďurkova Street, until you reach Párovská Street, where the church is already located.
Of course, the city of Nitra also contains many other important historical monuments that are definitely worth a visit. We already talked about the most iconic ones in the previous post article. However, if you would like to explore the sacred ones, here it is complete list all of which you will find in Nitra and where you will discover a lot of ancient history, culture and, last but not least, spiritual wealth.