Nitra Castle ()

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Project was co-financed by ERDF
„Investícia do Vašej budúcnosti“
„Investment into your future“
NITRA CASTLE
discover the place, live the story
The Castle of Nitra and the Castle Area
Phone: +421 (0)37/772 17 47,
www.biskupstvo-nitra.sk
Open for public:
April – October: 6.30 – 18.00
November – March: 6.30 – 17.00
The Castle of Nitra is considered to be one
of the most significant features of Nitra.
It was built on a limestone rock, which is
surrounded by the meander of the Nitra
River from three sides. The Castle of Nitra
is a cultural heritage and together with
the Upper Town on the southern slope
of the castle hill was proclaimed a Town
Conservation Reserve. The Castle of Nitra
consists of four independent parts: the
cathedral, bishop palace, outbuildings
and outer walls with one entrance gate.
The Parts of the Castle of Nitra
The castle area can be approached by an entrance gate with
an oblique ground plan. The inner renaissance gate of Bishop
Mošóci was built in the 16th century. The outer gate of Bishop
Pálfy from the year 1673 with the great support of artillery
had a very important role in a defence of the castle in the past.
There is located the Cathedral of St. Emmeram in
the castle area. It was created by the connection of
three buildings of different architectural styles. These
are the Romanesque Church of St. Emmeram (11th
century), the Upper Church (14th century, originally
gothic) and the Lower Church (17th century).
The Church of St. Emmeram is considered to be the
oldest part of the cathedral. The Romanesque church
has a Romanesque apse in a shape of a horseshoe, which
is separated from a square nave by an arch from the 14th
century, and similarly as the nave dates back to the 14th
century. The original building was damaged and then
shortened, to make enough space for supporting pillars of
the Upper Church in 1328. After finishing the constructions
of the gothic church, a part of it was used as an archive.
In 1465, after it burnt down, the Romanesque part of the
castle church was raised and vaulted by ribbed vaults.
Interior part of the church was rebuilt to its present form
during years 1930 and 1931 as a part of the preparations for
Pribina Festival in 1933. It was artistically decorated by works
of Slovak artists: J. Poslíšil – stylized state, county and
Slovak emblem on the western wall; Karol Kmeťko –
relic remains of St. Cyril; Ľ. Fulla - colourful stained
glass windows with the figures of St. Andrew
and St. Benedict. Other precious works include
a beaten silver chest from 1647, which hides
remains of saints and patrons of the church
and a relief sculpture from the 13th century,
which was found in 1930. For it depicts a donator sitting on
the model of the church, it is known as the donator relief.
The Upper Church (gothic church with one nave) was
built on the highest point of a rock elevation between years
1333 and 1355. The church ensured its gothic appearance
until the beginning of the 18th century. The Upper Church
was modified – the Lower Church was built to it. The
whole inner part was united; outer adaptations involved an
erection of baroque Chapel of St. Barbara. The author of
frescos and paintings of the chapel is an Austrian painter
of Italian origin A. Galliarti. The main altar of St. Saviour
with massive columnar architecture sanctified in 1732
belongs to most valuable relics of the Upper Church. The
renaissance font (1643) was placed to a
niche. The font was created by M.
Weigel in Banská Bystrica. On
the occasion of Cyril and
Methodius celebrations
in 1933 the Upper
Church was
enriched by a huge
organ made by
O. Važanský.
The Lower Church was added only at the period
of conquering troops of Gabriel Bethlen and is the
youngest part of the castle cathedral. Interior of
the Lower Church is decorated by a beautiful altar
from 1662. It is considered to be one of the most
precious artistic relics of the whole cathedral.
The main part of the altar is a work of an Austrian
sculptor J. Pernegger, a plastic relief called the Deposition
from the Cross. Under the main plastic a marble relief
named the Saving to the Grave was placed. Except these
two plastics there are also three side-on altars from
the 18th century and three tombs of Bishops of Nitra
from the 15th and 16th centuries in the Lower Church.
One of the last discoveries in this part of the cathedral
is a gothic fresco. Painting techniques and style of
uncovered fragments lines this fresco to significant
examples of spreading the Italian Trecento in the
Middle European painting around the year 1400.
Cathedral Church – the Dome of St. Emmeram
Open to public:
April - October
Mo – Sa: 9.00-12.00, 13.00-18.00
Su: 10.00-12.00, 14.00-17.00
November – March
Mo – Sa: 9.00-12.00, 13.00-16.00
Su: 10.00-12.00, 14.00-16.00
Services: Mo – Sa: 7.30, Su: 7.00, 9.00
The entrance to the Lower Church is also the entrance to
the cathedral. In 1642 a church tower was added to the
southern wall, next to it is situated a two storey sacristy
with a high number of artistically valuable
liturgical objects (chalices – late gothic,
baroque and classicistic, baroque
monstrance from 1692, baroque
incense from 1775, which
originally belonged to Zobor
Monastery and many
other exceptional works.
On the territory of the Castle of Nitra are situated some
crypts. One of them is a crypt under the sanctuary,
which was ordered to be created by Ladislav Adam
Erdődy, the Bishop of Nitra between 1706 and 1736.
The crypt was a burying place of bishops and canonists.
Today, the entrance is from the outer side, in the
wall of the Upper Church from Vazul´s tower.
The first Bishop buried at this place was Bishop Ján Gustíni
– Zubrohlavský. There have been several Bishops buried
in the crypt after 1988: Ján Gustíni, Jozef Kluch, Jozef
Vurum, Imrich II. Paluďaj,Augustín Roškováni, Imrich III.
Bende, Karol Kmeťko, Eduard Nécsey and Ján Pásztor.
The canonical crypt is situated in the eastern part of
the castle hill courtyard close to the castle well. The
crypt was created from the artillery casemats of a
northern bastion, the entrance was covered with a stone
plate. Canonics have been buried here since 1863.
Late baroque Bishop Palace was added to the castle
cathedral from the western side. It consists of three floors
and a courtyard. Its present appearance dates back to
years 1732 – 1739. Recently the Bishop palace was used
by Archaeological institute of Slovak Academy of Science,
but it is a seat of Nitra Bishop again today. In front of the
entrance to the courtyard of the Bishop Palace is situated
a courtyard of the castle with a park and a terrace.
Diocesan Museum
of Nitra Diocese
The part of the castle area is also
Diocesan Museum, which was opened
for public in former outer building as
the first diocesan museum in Slovakia
in 2007. On the ground floor of the
museum are deeds, different documents
connected to the beginning of the
Christianity at our territory, models
of archaeological discoveries, for
example pyxidis from Čierne Kľačany,
the oldest manuscript on the territory
of Slovakia – the Nitra Gospel from
1083, copies of Nitra Deeds from 1111
and 1113. There is a collection of liturgical
objects in a basement, such as chalices,
monstrances and crosiers. The most interesting
are the chalice of Udalric de Budy, baroque
chalice and monstrance of Bishop Jakub Hašek.
Diocesan Museum
of Nitra Diocese
Phone.: +421 (0)37/772 17 47
Opening hours:
April – October
Tu – Su: 10.00 – 18.00
November – March
Sa – Su: 10.00 – 15.00
Vazul´s tower and the castle well
Once on the place of the present Vazul´s tower stood a
fortress which was gradually being rebuilt. Vazul´s tower
originally had two floors with two entrances from courtyard
and the castle gallery. Downstairs were situated loopholes
for cannons, upstairs two windows were placed eastward
and one northward. Vazul´s tower doesn´t have a sloping
roof on older photographs. It was built only during the last
reconstruction of the castle. The wall and the tower form
a small close with the castle well, which depth used to
be 60 metres at least. There was the pumping equipment
with a big wooden drum for hauling water above it.
The Casemates
The exposition of the casemate is situated in a
south-eastern bastion of the castle. It is an
archaeological exposition presenting ventricular
Great Moravian wall and changes of a
fortification system of the Castle of Nitra.
The Casemate was created during the
reconstructions of walls after the war
between Turks and imperial army in 1664,
when the whole fortification of the castle
was severely damaged. From this period
also comes the new bastion fortification.
Western and southern walls of the bastion
form walls of the present casemate. Though, this
space was filled with filling fortifying masonry
walls in those times. A surface of the terrain was on
a level of a lower part of a vault. In 1663 the castle was
conquered by Turks. A year later imperial army to capture
the castle dug so-called conquering corridors on western and
eastern sides of the castle hill. One of them, which also led to
a south-eastern bastion, joins the southern wall of casemate,
can still be seen today in this exposition. After these battles
Bishop Tomáš Pálffy built a new castle fortification. The
older south-eastern bastion was fenced by a new wall on
the southern side. The space between walls of old and new
bastions was not filled up, but vaulted and remained empty.
That was the time then the present image of casemate with
loopholes was shaped to protect an access to the castle gate.
The Gothic Ditch
An inner ditch of the castle formed a fortification system
in Middle Ages. Today, after the reconstructions in the
year 2011, is being used as a summer open-air theatre.
During the summer months outdoor film projections and
concerts take place there. The Gothic ditch
is freely accessible for each visitor. It
is situated in the south – eastern
part of the castle area.
Casemates
Phone: +421 (0)37/772 17 47
Opening hours:
April – October:
Tu – Su: 10.00 – 18.00
Permanent exposition “From the Great
Moravian wall to the baroque bastion”
The Castle of Nitra from the point of view of Regional Monuments Board in Nitra
According to a historical part of the town the castle hill
formed a kind of an island on the northern edge of the
settlement structure, defined by a watercourse of the
Nitrička and a meander of the Nitra River. In a southwestern part the Upper Town with separate fortification
was built. The castle hill, which was inhabited since
ancient times, provided a shelter for Slavonic people
already in the 7th century. During the 9th – 10th centuries
an early medieval castle was built on this place, which
formed a power centre of Nitra Princedom. In 828, on
the estate of Prince Pribina a church was sanctified by
Adalram, Archbishop from Salzburg. Archaeological
discoveries do not deny its construction on the castle hill.
In 880 there was a diocese founded in Nitra. The seat of
Archbishop could be with high probability located here.
In those times an outer palisade fortification of the castle
was improved by a wall, which surrounded the whole hill
including the present Upper Town. The importance of
the castle did not fade even after 955, when Hungarians
overtook the territory and the castle became the property
of Árpád dynasty. During the reign of Stephen I the
castle of Nitra became an administrative centre of royal
commit and from the beginning of the 12th century
the seat of renewed diocese. In this period a masonry
wall with full gallery and parapet with battlements
was started to being constructed and is well-preserved
even today, as a part of northern castle wall of the first
ward. To the place of the Lower Church was added a
sacral building with corners reinforced with blocks. To
the sacral building on the place of the Lower Church
also belonged a churchyard at a field of present Eastern
Courtyard (first ward), where people were buried since
the beginning of the 12th century. Architecture of the
11th and 12th centuries can be seen at the rooms of the
northern wing of the palace, it probably belonged to the
secular build-up area of the castle. During the 13th century
a more winged palace was constructed, some of its overground structures form component parts of northern
and western wings of the palace can be seen even today.
Also the reconstruction of the sacral building took place
in that century. Even though the strongly fortified castle
area withstood onslaughts of Tatars in 1241, the troops of
Otakar Přemysl II burnt it down during a siege 30 years
later. The army of Matúš Čák ravaged the castle during
1311 and 1317. Bishop Meško renewed and completed
the sacral building between years 1328 – 1335. A new
gothic one nave cathedral – the Upper Church - with
polygonal presbytery emerged. Its northern wall stands on
a Romanesque wall in the outer line of the fortification.
Palace and the fields of the present Eastern courtyard
were rebuilt; a new masonry building of rectangular
footprint was added to a Romanesque rampart.
A significant overhaul
and a separation
of a castle
was connected to a lower damaged Romanesque
church. During the reconstruction a huge tower
was added to the southern facade of a new Lower
church. From the Romanesque complex only a late
Romanesque chapel of St. Emmeram remained.
acropolis
from
the Upper
Town took place
during the second
half of the 15th century; a
new southern fortification with outer ditch was built,
it determined the areas of two separate wards. The
fields of a higher lying ward were accessible by a bridge
over the ditch – approximately at the position of a
present baroque staircase. Its fortification consisted
of four square brick bastions connected by a palisade
wall with wooden construction and wicker weave,
which was replaced by a brick wall until the half
of the 16th century; corner bastion was rebuilt to
a closed tower and a well was hollowed out on the
courtyard. The brick fortification with a gateway
building was strengthened with brick bastions.
After the sacral complex was damaged by a rebel
army of Gabriel Bethlen in 1620 its renewal and
radical reconstruction took place under Archbishop
Ján Tegledy within 1622 – 1642. The gothic cathedral
When Turks conquered the castle in 1663, it caused
the need of improvement of the fortification and
modernization of the renaissance bastion fortification.
It was done by Bishop Tomáš Pálffy. Works were
finished around the year 1673. Older structures of
renaissance bastions were rebuilt to more modern
with pointed ground-plans. Defence of a northern fore
was developed by two new bastions. New entrance to
the castle in a south-eastern curtain wall continued
in kinked passage which joined the older renaissance
gateway building. New fortification suffered a siege
and plundering of the castle by an insurgent army of
František Rákóczi II in 1704. Because of significant
damage of the sacral complex Bishop Ladislav Adam
Erdődi realized an extensive baroquisation of interiors
of both churches during 1710 – 1720. Between the
years 1732 – 1739 also the Bishop palace was rebuilt.
The distinctive dominant of the area became a
church tower with a bulbous roof with lucerne. When
the inner fortification of the castle didn´t function
any more, some parts of the inner ditch were filled
up during the reconstruction and some parts of a
medieval walls were removed. A solid lower courtyard
came into existence (the castle courtyard II) with a
dominant stony staircase leading to the cathedral.
The late renaissance reconstruction gave the castle
an image, which has been preserved up till today.
Did you know what does the Cathedral Treasure covers?
THURIBLE (late
renaissance, around
the year 1670) from
Augsburg, decorated
with angel heads
and sunflowers
GOSPEL BOARD
WITH RELIQUARY (early
gothic, 14th century)
CROSIER (late gothic,
2nd half of the 15th
century – 1st half
of the 16th century)
there is a relief of
Madonna in a coil
CROSIER (baroque, 1716) with an
enamel emblem of Bishop Ladislav
Erdödy with an enamel picture
of Assumption of Virgin Mary
and other enamels with pictures
of saints in a coil of the crosier.
CHALICE (late
renaissance, around the
year 1670) presented
by Bishop Tomáš Pálfy,
imported from Augsburg
with a later emblem of
Bishop Imrich Palúdzky
CHALICE (late gothic, 2nd
half of the 15th century - 1st
half of the 16th century) filigree
techniques and granulation
CHALICE (around
the year 1600) with
pearls, enamels,
gemstones and an
emblem of Bishop
František Forgáč
CHALICE (early baroque,
1692) with enamel pictures
of saints and an emblem
of Bishop J. Hašek
COPE, MITRE
AND STOLE
of Bishop Augustín
Roškováni, Bishop
within 1859 – 1892
LITURGICAL VESTMENT
(2nd quarter of the 17th century)
on a dominant back part is
Madonna and an emblem
of Bishop Ján IV Telegdy
CANDLESTICKS (late
gothic, 1st half of the 16th
century) polished opal
and mountain crystal
A RELIQUARY for the relics of St. Andrew Svorad and St. Benedict, form 1674, goldsmith
workshop in Augsburg. The reliquary was
made for Bishop Tomáš III Pálfi (1669 - 1679).
NAVICULA (late renaissance,
around 1670) a thyme container in a
shape of a small boat, decorated with
leaves and mulberries, probably an
import from Augsburg during the
functioning of Bishop Tomáš Pálfy
CHALICE (classicistic,
1803) of simple shape and
decoration, probably the
chalice of Bishop Jozef Kluch
ZOBOR DEED FROM THE
YEAR 1111, the oldest preserved
original document in Slovakia.
The original can be found in
an archive of Nitra Diocese.
BULL OF THE POPE JOHN
VIII INDISTRIAE TUAE to
Svätopluk from 880, a facsimile.
Copies of documents from
original office register of the Pope
John VIII. They date back to the
11th century and are preserved
in Secret Archive of Vatican.
Sinai Euchologia, facsimile. Reproduction is from the 11th century, from the library of St. Catherine
monastery in Sinai, Egypt. It is preserved in State Library of Saltykov – Ščedrin in Saint Petersburg.
Project was co-financed by ERDF
„Investícia do Vašej budúcnosti“
„Investment into your future“
európska únia
NITRA CASTLE
Published by: City of Nitra, 2012
Text: P. Ostovrchá, A. Pivarčiová, Diocese of Nitra
Translation: M. Srnková
Grafic design: Peter Jánsky
Photographs: Archive of Nitra Diocese, M. Plekanec, J. Macák,
M. Havran, P. Rafaj
Print: Patria I., spol. s r.o.
Edition: 3.000 units