TRNAVA

City in Slovakia. It is situated on a plain and surrounded by agricultural land between the river Váh and mountain range Little Carpathians

inhabitants with permanent residence

century - the first written records of Trnava

largest city in Slovakia

of built-up area of the city is the area of the QUARTER

The city of Trnava covers an area of approximately 71.54 km²

The area of the QUARTER has the size of 135 ha
It is located in the eastern part of Trnava near the Družba housing estate

HISTORY OF CITY CONSTRUCTION

The period before the beginning of the settlement formation

The origins of Trnava as a settlement are evidenced by many findings of various settlement forms, whether they are a “sort of” pre-settlement formations of the prehistoric mammoth hunters’ campsites, or numerous settlements from the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Early Iron Age. They were mostly discovered outside the historic centre during the extraction of clay in the local brickworks.

However, there were two extensive Neolithic settlements in the area of the present-day centre – an older one in the south-western part and a younger one in the south-eastern part, extending into the area of the former brickworks. A “favourite” place for “new life” was the area of today’s St. Nicholas Basilica in the eastern part of the centre, where the settlement of the Kalenderberg culture was located and eventually in the 9th century also the early Christian settlement.

The middle ages

The beginning of the formation of the historical centre during the early Kingdom of Hungary in the 11th and 12th centuries

The formation of the town into a more compact settlement takes place in the 11th and 12th centuries. Trnava emerges as a market town with an advantageous location at the crossroads of trade routes to Bratislava, Nitra, Považie, and across the Small Carpathians to Moravia. The relatively scattered settlement began to concentrate around the sacral buildings into settlements on the two loess terraces, with the brook Trnávka flowing between them.

In the east it was the settlement around the aforementioned present-day St. Nicholas Basilica and in the west the settlement in the area of the present-day Church of St. James. In the 12th century, these two settlements begin to merge into a compact settlement enclave in the line of today's streets.

The formation of the city from the 13th to the beginning of the 16th century – “Free royal city”

The year 1238 was an important milestone in the city’s construction, as Trnava was granted the privileges of a free royal city from King Béla IV, which included, among others, the right to fortify itself. The city thus began the construction of the city walls which defined the development of Trnava for centuries to come, clearly determining its extent and shape. As Trnava was being divided into land parcels, it began to take on the character of a typical planned and divided medieval town with typical narrow and long plots oriented perpendicularly to an almost regular street network. The original old structure practically disappeared and only a part of the original area was preserved – the eastern settlement near the church of St. Nicholas, where the lens-shaped street and the oldest buildings are located. That was simply added to the city plan.

In the 13th century, Trnava covered an area of 56 hectares, making it one of the largest cities in Europe. The city was gradually enclosed by city walls. In the beginning, only towers were built and the space between them was formed by wooden ramparts, which were later bricked in. The city was entered through gates – in the eastern north-south line it was the Lovčická and Malženická (Sladovnícka) gate.

At the beginning of the 14th century, when the Upper and Lower Gates were built and the Hlavná and Štefániková Streets began to emerge in their line, the city buildings begin to form the shape of the letter "H". The area around Trnávka was undeveloped for quite a long time due to occasional floods, only long plots of land led into it, or there were technical buildings. On Hornopotočná Street, the Trnávka defined a winding street line.

The most dominant buildings were mainly sacral buildings, including monastery complexes, which were expanding in the 14th century. Houses themselves were originally built as solitaires which begin to be transformed into a typical medieval house in the 14th century – a two-story house with a passage. The city hall was built at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries and in 1584 the dominant feature – the city tower – was erected.

The modern era: The new-age University city



16th century to the third quarter of the 18th century

The second important event for the city was the arrival of the Archbishops of Esztergom who moved here after the lost Battle of Mohács. Their presence is also associated with the most significant building activities in town. Archbishop Mikuláš Oláh initiated notable building projects (the Archbishop's Palace, the theological “Oláh” Seminary) and Archbishop Peter Pázmaň, the founder of the University of Trnava, resumed his activity after him. The most significant building boom that made its mark on the structure of the eastern part of the historic centre is linked with the University. A large university complex was created here, consisting of several seminaries and the university building itself, inaugurated in 1635.

The university buildings brought contrasting large volumes into the relatively small structures of narrow medieval houses. The street network also changed because of the university. In the 18th century, the new buildings of monasteries with churches – Ursulines, Paulines, Trinitarians, as well as the radical rebuilding of the old Franciscan monastery with the church – similarly interfered with the structure of medieval urbanism.

The city became denser in the remaining structure, using mainly the passage type of house, thus closing the street fronts into complete lines and extending the courtyard wings. In the Baroque period, palace-type houses with large courtyards, which are often built on land reserves at street corners, begin to appear. In contrast to these – the city walls, which lose their function in this period, are enclosed by peasant houses – small dwellings of the urban poor.

An important urban technical object was erected in the 16th century – a mill atypically situated inside the fortification system. Significant buildings and complexes are created outside the historical centre as well – the new city brickworks to the east, the city brewery to the north near Trnávka, to which the brewer's residence (Káčerov majer) was added later in the 18th century. In its vicinity, the infirmary and the Calvary with a cemetery were built. The university also greatly influenced the area outside the fortified city – it owned the gardens and parks there.

Gradual opening of the city into the countryside



The late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century 

In the last quarter of the 18th century, the development from the previous stage is still visible. The University of Trnava builds the last of its buildings – especially the new Faculty of Medicine (1770–1772), but it soon leaves Trnava in 1777.

More significant construction activities are, however, taking place outside of the city. Although it was fully urbanised in its historic centre until the end of the 18th century and there were a few specific buildings of a more technical nature in the surrounding area, there is now a gradual opening out into the countryside. Solitary buildings, connected to the landscape, begin to appear – such as various summer residences that were added to the existing green areas of ornamental and functional gardens, and especially large farmyards – farm estates, mainly concentrated in a line west of the historic centre. Moreover, from 1815 onwards, the city began to gradually eliminate parts of the walls due to their poor technical condition, seeing them more as a barrier to the development of the city. In 1820, the Upper and Lower Gates were demolished. At the same time, the original moats were transformed into parks.

South of the historic centre, near the Trnávka, in the area of the former university gardens, a significant and important complex was built in 1824 – the county hospital. An important event in the city’s history that would strengthen its economic position and accelerate the development of industry in the following periods was the railway construction in 1846, connecting Trnava with Bratislava and later with other cities. The station itself was built to the southwest of the historic centre. The railway route also became another functional as well as linear compositional element in the structure of the growing city, together with the Trnávka, with which it intersects.

Other buildings and grounds outside the historic centre which gradually emerge in this period are mostly of an agricultural or production nature. Often they are original university gardens that were transformed – such as Anton Valec's wine cellars from 1813. The city brickworks was nearby, and north of it, in the line of agricultural buildings to the east of the historic centre, the Vaymár brothers' sugar refinery, the first in town, was in operation between 1840 and 1863.

The development of the industrial city

The second half of the 19th century

During this period, the industrial development of the city begins in full. Several industrial zones situated around the historic centre are built. The most significant is the area near the north-western tip, where a sugar factory was established in 1869 in relatively close contact with the town near Trnávka.

The factory contributed significantly to the development of the area, not only in terms of the production facilities themselves but above all in terms of the social and technical infrastructure. It is also often used by ordinary townspeople as, for example, the “klidtajch” – a cooling tank for technologies – used as a swimming pool. In the last quarter of the 19th century, other production sites were built in the vicinity of the sugar refinery (malt houses, match factory, etc.), and the whole production zone stretched to the cemetery on Terézia Vansová Street and was connected to the older agricultural zone located along the Trnávka west of the historic centre.

In 1879, a rail connection between the sugar refinery and the station was even established here. To the east of the historic centre, there was a line of brickworks that ended south of the historic centre, where a malthouse was built in the late 19th century on the site of the aforementioned wine cellars. The malthouse essentially formed the southern edge of the city.

Development of the city in the southern direction

The beginning of the 20th century (1900–1918)

The trend of industrial development continued in the 20th century, resulting in the formation of new districts. The line of agricultural buildings to the west of the historic centre extends southwards, where the Fischer Chocolate Factory – later Figaro which is still operating to this day – is founded before the railway line. South of the railway the local Tulipán district begins to emerge, and an interesting district with urban villas is built alongside the new production facilities.

The area near the historic centre is also expanding southwards, where a small suburb with eclectic and Art Nouveau architecture is beginning to emerge. An important event in the city's development and economic history is the founding of the Coburg Ironworks (later Kovosmalt, or TAZ) in 1917. Along with the production plants, a residential colony with its own amenities is built next to the railway. As they are situated quite far from the historic centre, they essentially become a separate district, just like Tulipán.

Efforts to build a garden city



The period of the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938)

The post-war period and the formation of the republic are manifested by major building development within the city. A significant contribution to its form was made by the urban development plan, prepared by Ing. Ivo Beneš since 1921. In it he divided the city into four districts, designed the transport concept (underpasses under the railway were a progressive idea), and proposed to place the industrial centre at the southern periphery of the city.

Thanks to him Trnava began to develop as a “garden city”, with the majority of people living in detached houses. To the west, it was the Spiegelsal district, to the south the Tulipán district, to the northeast the Kopánka district and to the southwest the Vozovka district, which was formed in contact with the newly established state-owned railway carriage repair shop built in 1925 (today ŽOS).

A square with a park designed by architect Jozef Marek is built in the area of the demolished Lower Gate in proximity to the historical centre. In the 1930s, the centre also opens up to the west – by opening the city walls with the new large Bernolák Gate, through which the boulevard continues to the new Študentská Street. Many schools, healthcare, as well as technical buildings – which are also highly valued in professional circles, – are constructed, such as the premises of the NUPOD large capacity silo on Bratislavská Street (1933, arch. Miloš Svitavský) and the premises of the NUPOD automatic mill on Suchovská Road (1938, arch. Emil Belluš), or the water tower (1942–1946, arch. Emil Belluš), an important city landmark.

The socialism period I.



Ca. the late 1940s–late 1960s

In the 1940s, several residential houses are built, at the beginning mostly by industrial enterprises. Apartment buildings are also on the increase on Študentská Street, and new housing estates gradually emerge – the Linčianska housing estate south of the city, the Ľudmila Podjavorinská housing estate southeast of the malthouses, and on Hospodárská Street, after the whole area of the old farmyards was redeveloped, the first part of the SNP I housing estate is created. From the planning and architectural perspective, these are regular rectangular structures of brick apartment buildings. In the detached houses development, it’s mostly traditional "cubes" with pyramid-shaped roofs.

In the southern and northern parts of the city, new industrial zones begin to emerge, partly connected to the older ones. A mono-functional zone in the form of a sports complex is built in the northern part of the historic centre.

The socialism period II



The period of prefabricated development (the 1970s–1989)

From approximately the end of the 1960s onwards, a further development stage can be defined in the city's development, characterised mainly by prefabricated, standardised construction of housing estates. At the end of the 1960s, the development of the second stage of the SNP II housing estate, typical in its composition of apartment buildings in clusters of “trefoils” or “constellations”, named after the planets of the solar system, continues on Hospodárská Street. The Prednádražie housing estate is built on the western outskirts of the town, and to the south, the Linčianska housing estate is developed further. To the north-east towards Kopánka, the ČSM housing estate is built and to the east, it’s the Vodáreň housing estate, which is followed by the smaller Hliny housing estate.

What is particularly interesting in the context of the assignment is the building of the Družba housing estate from 1975 onwards. This estate is, together with Hliny, in fact, a rehabilitation of the brownfields left by the defunct brickworks. The design came out of an urban planning competition held in 1971, won by the architects Filip Trnkus, Ján Kavan, Tibor Alexy and Ján Antal.  An interesting aspect is the implementation of the terrain features of the site – of banks and slopes created following the extraction of brick clay – as a landscape element, or the installation of terraced houses of a part of Spartakovská Street into the slope. The design was awarded the prize of the Association of Slovak Architects for urban planning in 1973.

There are significant across-the-board redevelopments of entire areas and streets taking place in the historic centre due to planned new buildings. This changes the structure of the centre considerably. A bizarre feature is the creation of a smaller housing estate on Vajanského Street, which is, nonetheless, designed interestingly. Other buildings in the historic centre are viewed in a similar contradictory and controversial way, despite their distinctive architectural qualities – such as the ROH House of Culture, Tatrasklo (arch. Jozef Danák), Jednota Department Store (arch. Lumír Lýsek) many others.

The present-day



Roughly since the 1990s

The current distinct development can be perceived, apart from smaller individual projects that have influenced the character of the city (such as the City arena building – arch.  Adamec), mainly through development projects. The most distinct apartment building development is Arboria – a housing estate in the northeast part of the city close to an older Zátvor housing estate.

The construction of detached houses includes developments such as Pekné pole in Kopánka, which seamlessly follow the older development; the upcoming project near Suchovská cesta, or the not very well-managed development Za traťou – in the location within the range of the Kamenný mlyn recreational area.

Bratislava

distance 45 km from Trnava

Vienna

distance 100 km from Trnava