Trnava

A market settlement grew up here in the Middle Ages at the crossing of two trade routes, from Bohemia to Hungary and from the Mediterranean to Poland. First recorded in 1211, Trnava became in 1238 the first town in present-day Slovakia to receive a royal charter. Walloon and German settlers shaped the early town, and long walls were built around it from the turn of the 14th century. The Hussites captured it in 1432 and held it until 1435.

After the Ottomans took most of Hungary in 1541, the archbishops of Esztergom moved to Trnava, and it became the centre of the Counter-Reformation in the kingdom. The Jesuits arrived in 1561, a printing house followed in 1577, and in 1635 Archbishop Péter Pázmány founded Trnava University, then the only university in the Kingdom of Hungary; it moved to Buda in 1777. So many churches went up that people called the town "Little Rome". In 1787 the priest Anton Bernolák based the first standard Slovak on the local dialect. After blood libels, 14 Jews were burnt in 1494 and the community was expelled in 1539.

The archbishops returned to Esztergom in 1820, but railways revived the town: the horse-drawn line from Bratislava reached it in 1846, and steam trains in 1873 brought a sugar factory, a malt-house and engineering works. By 1918 Trnava was one of the most industrialised towns in Czechoslovakia. Most of its Jews were deported in 1942. In 1977 Trnava became the seat of a Slovak archbishopric, and in 1996 the capital of its own region.

Trnava's character comes from its churches. The cathedral of St John the Baptist, the Gothic basilica of St Nicholas, which served as the archbishops' cathedral, and several monastery churches within the walls earned it the nickname of Little Rome, and the archdiocese's archives keep the Camaldolese Bible, the first known complete translation of the Bible into Slovak. Much of Slovak literary history runs through the town, from the old university, where half the students were Slovaks, to Bernolák's grammar and the St Adalbert Association, founded here in 1870 to publish Catholic books in Slovak at a time of Magyarisation.

Cultural life today centres on the Ján Palárik Theatre, the Ján Koniarek Gallery, which uses the former Status Quo Ante synagogue as its contemporary art space, and Malý Berlín, an independent cultural centre with concerts, theatre, film and discussions. The 19th-century Orthodox synagogue became a café in 2016, a use that has drawn criticism. The town has two universities, the University of Trnava and the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, each with about 7,000 students.

Sport is a large part of local life. FC Spartak Trnava is one of the best-known clubs in Slovak football, playing in a stadium also used by the national team, and the town has an ice hockey club, rugby, American football and baseball teams, and a women's international tennis tournament, the Empire Slovak Open, held since 2009.

About 63,000 people live in Trnava, which is the seat of the Trnava Region. The city is divided into six urban districts, from the walled old town to the housing estates and suburbs around it and the former village of Modranka. Two universities, with about 14,000 students between them, add a student population.

The town has been known for engineering since the early 20th century. The communist-era Trnava car works collapsed after 1989, but car-making returned with the Stellantis plant, which opened in the 2000s and is one of the largest engineering companies in Slovakia. Suppliers, a ZF plant, railway workshops and a glass-fibre factory add to the industrial base.

The rhythm of life is that of a busy regional centre: commuter trains and rush-hour traffic, shopping in the malls on the edge of town and around the stadium, and cycling on one of the best networks of cycle paths in Slovakia. The town's green spaces include Ružový park, Bernolákov sad, the Štrky recreation zone and the Trnava ponds.

Trnava eats as western Slovakia does. Bryndzové halušky, small potato dumplings with bryndza sheep's cheese, are the national dish, and kapustnica, sauerkraut soup often cooked with mushrooms, meat and sausage, is a staple. A festive menu traditional in nearby Slovenský Grob is the goose or duck feast: roast goose with goose liver, lokše, potato pancakes baked straight on the stove, stewed red cabbage, and strudel with sour cherry and poppy seed.

The town's own pride is its beer. Trnava is one of the few Slovak towns with its own brand, Sessler, brewed just north of the centre in light, dark and special versions and served at the brewery's restaurant and in a pub on the main street. The vineyards of the Little Carpathians are close, and local wineries make wine from the grape varieties grown on their slopes.

Most of the restaurants are in the old town along Hlavná and around the main square, and the City Arena mall beside the stadium has a food court.