Have you heard about the so-called West Slovak pentapolitana? Behind this head-scratching expression hides a fifth of cities that used the privileges belonging only to free royal cities. This included Bratislava, Trnava, Pezinok, Modra and Svätý Jur.
The territory bounded by the cadastre of St. George was already attractive in the times before the birth of Jesus Christ. Traces of the oldest settlement date back to the 4th millennium BC. From the Great Moravian Empire, the remains of the Neštich hillfort, about three hectares in size, have been preserved.
Svätý Jur received the status of a city monument reserve in 1990 and deservedly so. There are a lot of monuments here for a town of this size. Judge for yourself: it is dominated by the church – dedicated to the patron saint of the city – St. Juraj with the nearby wooden belfry. Originally, a smaller Romanesque sacral building stood on this site. This tabernacle began to change into a Gothic church, as we know it today, only at the end of the 13th century. It is impossible not to mention that liturgical objects such as chalices and candlesticks have disappeared from the church. They were stolen by the Turks during their incursions in the 17th century. In this cruel period, the nearby Biely Kameň castle, first mentioned in a document from 1209, was also burned. Between 1603 and 1647, they therefore built the city walls, which are partially preserved today. They originally surrounded the triangular building of the historical part of the city, had five circular bastions, nine bastions, two small secondary gates to the vineyards and four main gates.
Other rare architectural monuments are related to a strong viticultural tradition. It was precisely the quality wine and craftsmanship that earned St. Jur in 1647 the privileges associated with the title of free royal city. You can recognize the vineyard houses by their high gateways and vaulted cellars. The sought-after wine came mainly from the Pálfiovské vineyards, which belonged to a mansion with an inner courtyard from the 17th century. Stagnation in the 18th and 19th centuries deprived the city of its status, but the winemaking tradition was preserved.
Other monuments add to the atmosphere of the small town under the Small Carpathians - the Church of the Holy Trinity from the 17th century, the Evangelical church and the Piaristic monastery - both from the 18th century, the noble manor of the Zichy family from the 19th century and others.
Galéria
