NATIONAL CULTURAL MONUMENTS - nitra.eu¡rodné kultúrne... · Docu- ments tell us that the present church was built in response ... Church building started in 1742, and during 1756

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NATIONAL CULTURAL MONUMENTS

LOWER TOWN GUIDE

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LOWER TOWN GUIDE

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KRAJSKÝPAMIATKOVÝ ÚRAD V NITRE

NITRA- INfoRmATIoN foR TouRIsTs

PIARIST MONASTERY AND ST. LADISLAV’S CHURCH, Piaristická ulica 8,.......................................................5

CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN THE KING, Párovská ulica ....................................................................................6

ST. MICHAEL’S CHAPEL, Na Vŕšku........................................7

PRESBYTERY, Farská ulica 18.....................................................8

SYNAGOGUE, Pri synagóge 3.....................................................9

TOWN PALACE – DISTRICT HOUSE, Župné námestie 3 ...........................................................................10

ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING, Štefánikova trieda 67......................................................................11

PALACE OF JUSTICE, Štúrova ulica 9 ..................................12

TOWN HALL, Štefánikova trieda 1..........................................13

BANK, Štefánikova trieda 7.........................................................14

BANK, Štefánikova trieda 35.......................................................15

BANK, Farská ulica 3.....................................................................16

POST OFFICE, Sládkovičova ulica 2........................................17

ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION, Ulica Janka Kráľa 65...........20

SCHOOL AND A VILLA, Andreja Šulgana 1.......................21

TOWN HOUSE, Farská ulica 17................................................22


TOWN HOUSE, Farská ulica 24............................................ ..23


TOWN HOUSE, Mostná ulica 60.............................................25

TOWN HOUSE, Štefánikova trieda 2......................................26

TOWN HOUSE, Štefánikova trieda 4......................................27

TOWN HOUSE, Štefánikova trieda 18....................................28

TOWN HOUSE, Štefánikova trieda 26....................................29

TOWN HOUSE, Kupecká ulica 16...........................................30


VILLA, Štefánikova trieda 58......................................................32

VILLA, Štefánikova trieda 59......................................................33

GRAVE WITH A GRAVESTONE OF JÁN DAMBORSKÝ, Town cemetery in Nitra, Cintorínska ulica...............................34

PIARIST MONASTERY AND ST. LADISLAV’S CHURCH Piaristická ulica 8

Baroque complex towers above Lower Town. The foundation stone was laid on

9th June 1701, under Bishop L. Maťašovský. Initially, they built a college and in 1714 a con-

victorium was completed. In 1720, the first construction stage was completed. After the fire in 1723, the buildings were reconstructed and a school building added. Docu-ments tell us that the present church was built in response to a need for additional space to accommodate increasing numbers of clergy and students. Church building started in 1742, and during 1756 – 1759, a third storey was added to the college and school buildings. In 1817, 1899, 1933 and 1942 redevelopment works were carried out within the monastery. In 1927, exterior modifications took place. Other reconstruction works took place in 1940 and 1945. The monastery’s disposition is rectangular, four-winged, with the church set into a courtyard in the centre, with entrances in the west wing. The church has one nave and a rectangular shrine, an antechapel under a chancel on the east side, a rectangular sacristy in the southern part, halls under both northern and southern towers, and a long aisle on the south side above which another aisle runs towards an oratory. The paintings date back to 1941. The artistic work in the shrine is by E. Massányi. Church furnishings date back to the later half of the 18th century.

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CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN THE KING Párovská ulica

The church, originally from the 10th century, stands in the town borough called Párovce. Its 10th century foundations have been documented by archaeological research. The basement of the rectangular nave and a horseshoe-like shrine are the only preserved parts of the original architecture. Seeing the masonry, we assume that the church belongs to a group of decaying Great-Moravian sacral architecture. During the ensuing centuries, the church underwent several adaptations. In the 12th century, a circular shrine replaced an earlier horseshoeshaped one and, at the same time, a chancel was added. In the 13th – 14th centuries, the Gothic sacristy was built. In the first quarter of the 18th century, Bishop Maťašovksý had the church rebuilt since it was destroyed in Turkish raids. Barrel vaults replaced the original flat nave ceiling and shrine conch. An anteroom extended the church and a wooden church gallery was built. The crypts for the noble families Várkonyi and Babothy were added. A voluted roof gable, profiled moulding and joint pilasters completed the exterior in the Baroque style. A wooden belfry at the bottom of the church would replace the tower. In the 20th century, other adaptations in construction were carried out: a tower extension over an anteroom, sacristy addition and a new gallery. In 1967, the church underwent restoration works and parts of medieval masonry were uncovered. Inside, a Roman triumphal arch with fragments of wall paintings dating back to the 13th century and a Roman bowl, comple- ment the interior. A Baroque stone column with Christ on the Cross stands in front of the south nave.

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ST. MICHAEL’S CHAPEL Na Vŕšku

A Baroque chapel stands on the hilly slopes called Na Vŕšku within an east-west axis. The single nave chapel, with a semi-circular shrine turned towards the west and with the eastern entrance portal, has barrel vaulting both in the nave and the shrine. The chapel replaced an earlier medieval Franciscan monastery and graveyard. The mayor of the town Lukáč Brezovič had it built in 1739 to commemorate the end of the Black Death. In 1894, Bishop Bende had the tower and sacristy demolished and the chapel renewed. Artistic works were completed in 1930s. A ceiling painting in the nave with a motif of Jesus Christ is by E. Massányi. The nave windows have a figural window pane representing St. Ann and St. Elizabeth and the window panes of the shrine windows represent the Immaculate Conception and St. Mary Immaculate – all by J. Říha from Brno dating to 1932-37. On the nave north wall a commemorative plaque made of black marble by E.J. Mesáros with a bronze relief of Ottokar Prohászka, who was a bishop in Beograd residency baptized here in 1858, has been inserted. A shell-like conch and a statue of St. Michael Archangel on a high gable by J. Bártfay dating to the 1930s completes the eastern facade. The facades are decorated with stone reliefs of Stations of the Cross by E. J. Meszáros from 1936. The chapel furnishing is new, apart from a Classicist altar painting dating back to the end of the 18th century which is a part of the main altar dating from 1930s.

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PRESBYTERY Farská ulica 18

The corner building of the Roman Catholic Presbytery Nitra – Lower Town is situated where the streets Na vŕšku (“On the Hill”) and Farská meet. The Roman Catholic Presbytery was built between 1774 and 1776. The Baroque-Classicist style is highly demonstrated in material and construction. In 1886, under the bishop Augustín Roskoványi, the presbytery underwent reconstruction and gained its present appearance. The most significant work of this construction is a cellar cut into the rock. Taking into consideration the important town locality and the cellar which does not correspond to the building section above the ground it might be possible that an older building once stood there. This corner two-winged buil-ding with a ground plan in the “L” shape, consists of a main two-storey east wing oriented towards Farská and a one-sto-rey north wing turning to Na vŕšku. Since the building was built on a slope, the second storey appears as a ground floor viewing from the yard and as the first storey from Farská. The building’s disposition is two-winged with a corridor open towards a yard. A main staircase in a letter “U” shape with stairs made of red marble and iron cased banisters was probably modified in 1886. At either sides of the entrance hall there are rooms with Prussian vaulting on bands, while the U-shaped arched rooms are at the street end of the east wing. The rooms on the second floor have flat ceilings with cavetto windowsills.

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SYNAGOGUE Pri synagóge 3

The synagogue was built in 1911 to designs by L. Baumhorn. Art Nouveau and Neo-Romanesque elements and oriental Moorish decorations form the synagogue’s architectural interpretation. Originally built in a Neologi-cal style, it was altered into the orthodox style in 1946. The synagogue’s main facade has windows decorated with Tudor arches and circling panelling, accentuated by a risalit holding a support with a panel featuring the Ten Commandments. The main entrance into the building, with a portico in a donkey-back shape, is situated in the two-tower street entrance section. The synagogue facades are decorated with small glazed bricks. The building is topped with the central and corner domes. The main entry opens to an anteroom – a pulis with a barrel vault. On the west side of the anteroom, the stairs climb to a gallery, while the east side of the anteroom serves as a cloakroom. In the centre of the west vestry wall an ark stands in the form of an edicule with a gable. Dominating architectural fragments are semicircular blind arcades, pilasters and a balustrade. Rich plant and geometric orna-ments used on column and pillar capitals, ceiling and vault bands suggest that the in-spiration came from Byzantine and oriental architecture. Building reconstruction (1983–2003) was aimed at roof, interior and exterior repairs. These days the Synagogue is under the auspices of Nitra Town municipality and is used for concerts and exhibitions.

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TOWN PALACE – DISTRICT HOUSE Župné námestie 3

A District House stands at the southwest foot of the hill where the oldest part of Nitra Town, Nitra Castle and Upper Town are situated. In the basement of the District House west wing, in the 1990s archaeological work uncove-red remains which it is supposed are fragments of Middle Aged walls and a gate leading into Upper Town. A district house had originally been built on the present site in the 17th century. At the end of the 18th century, it was replaced by a large late Baroque palace. The building underwent several alterations during the 19th century. More significant Neo-Baroque rebuilding took place around 1874 to the designs of E. Dümmerling. The definitive appearance of the District House came about from 1905 to 1908 when it was significantly rebuilt applying neo styles already dying away, but predominately, incoming Art Nouveau. The designer was architect G. Czigler, who respected the building’s proporti-ons; in the exterior he underlines a principal front oriented onto District Square and the west facade of the west wing onto Jesenského. Official rooms were concentrated into its north wing where he employs in particular, geometric Art Nouveau. The most valuable rooms are the halls on the ground and upper floors of the northern wing together with lobbies and principal three arm stairs with a font in a mirror. The District House northern wing reconstruction was carried out in 2007 – 2011.

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ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING Štefánikova trieda 67

An administrative building for District Healthcare Insurance Office in Nitra to designs by František Faulhammer, a Czech architect working mostly in Slovakia. It reflects superior functionalistic architecture of the interwar period. It was built during 1938 to 1940. It consists of two dominating four-storey wings arranged in a “T” shape and a smaller two-storey building adjoining the north wing. The building has a skeleton bearing system in the four-storey wings which in the south wing is three and in the north two-sectioned. Spacious corridors dominate the clear and transparent disposition. Originally, open spaces on each floor were built at the point where the corridors of both wings connected; these were later adapted during 1996 – 1997. The main entrance into the building in the south front of the southern wing is defined by wide levelling stairs covered in a domina-ting reinforced concrete canopy thus creating the characte-ristic architectural element of the whole building. Both north side wings have protruding stairs risalits. In the second half of the 20th century, the Healthcare Centre occupied the premises. MUDr. Pavol Strauss would be the one to work there. A memorial plaque set in one of the National Heritage Building front commemorates him.

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PALACE OF JUSTICE Štúrova ulica 9

The Palace of Justice is a monumental representation building in Art Nouveau and palace-like style. It is one of the most notable features in Lower Town, situated behind the town military barracks near the Wood Marketplace built to the designs of professor Štefan Kiss. Construction commenced in August, 1901, terminating in 1903. In 1906, the building of a prison with ca-pacity for 113 prisoners re-located from the District House, was added. The palace is of symmetric disposition on a four-winged ground plan. The northern and southern wings are vertically connected with a staircase dividing an inner courtyard into two yards. The principal frontage is domina-ted by a striking entrance risalit; above a semicircular entrance there are stone statues of Justice and Themis – Roman and Greek goddesses. The front is decorated with plants and animals. Under three high semicircular windows in a central risalit sit owls with spread wings symbolising wisdom; the upper risalit is decorated with laurel branches. The owl decoration is repeated in the main trial room. In line with the entrance hall a principal single-arm stairs made of pink marble with stone balustrade banister can be found. At the ends of the southern wing yard section there are additional single-arm staircases with landings of pink marble and cast-iron banisters. The palace is almost completely preserved in its authentic Art Nouveau style from 1901-1903.

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TOWN HALL Štefánikova trieda 1

An almost completely preserved building from 1880 built in the historical Eclectic style bearing Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque traces, with a regular four winged disposition around a central courtyard with corner risalits. It is the last remaining example of a town planning structu-re of the no longer existing Jacob’s Square, portraying Lower Town as it was towards the end of the 19th century. Originally, it was part of a row of terraced houses, several of which were bombed down during World War II. Very probably before the 1750s, the reeve’s office would always reside in the reeve’s private house. It was not until bishop Gustíny purchased the premises to build the town hall on the square next to St. Jacob’s Church. The original town hall from the 18th century would have been a major ground building with a saddle roof and roof tiles, as well as the Holy Cross Chapel. After Nitra town became a municipali-ty in 1848, the necessity to have more suitable self-govern-ment residence increased. In 1878, the town council decided to start building the seat for the local government, built to designs by Ján Lyka, constructed by Graf and Feszty. Bishop Roskoványi had a column of the Virgin Mary erected by sculptor A. Brandl, to replace an earlier statue from the 18th century. In 1905, a police station was set up in the courtyard and in 1911–1912 the building was extended by adding the west section to M. Gyulai’s designs.

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BANKŠtefánikova trieda 7

A functionalistic corner building stands in Lower Town at the intersection of Radlinského and Štefánikova. Based on actual findings, Slovak architect Ferdinand Silberstein who in the second half of the 1920s worked for Milan Michal

Harminec, was considered to be the architect of Všeobecná Bank in Nitra. From 1931 to 1933,

construction went on under the supervision of Ján Tomaschek’s company. The bank premises occupied the ground floor of the corner building, whilst apartments occupied

the upper storey. A combination of both skeleton and wall supporting systems form the

building structure. The high quality functionalistic architecture is based on simple but sophisticated cubic solid composition arranged horizontally and vertically. Architec-tural emphasis was put not only on the presentation of the street facade but a particularly creative look was given to the courtyard facades, above all the vertical of the stairs area and open horizontal communication rooms accessing the apartments. In the first half of 1990s, the building under-went its last architectural alteration on the bank’s first floor.


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BANK Štefánikova trieda 35

The building was probably built during 1904 to 1905 to serve as a new seat for Nitra Central Bank, the second oldest bank within Nitra territory. A branch office would be on the ground floor, while apartments would be on the upper floors. In 1921, the ground storey was leased out to the Nitra branch of the Savings Bank Uherské Hradište. From an architectural and artistic point of view, the building belongs amongst the most valuable houses in Lower Town. It portrays the beginning of the 20th century first-class architecture with some Art Nouveau and modern style traces built for the more prosperous. It was built on a rectangular plan running west to east. The bank ground plan has an untypical “H” shape, with two risalits on the west and east sides on the first and second floor levels. The western risalit, finished with gables and with mansard roofs, have two longitudinal partially raised bays on the first and the second floor levels. On the street wall, terraced-like glass loggias are situated between the avant-corps. On the east side of the building, there are balconies between the avant-corps which face the courtyard. The grand staircase is in the south courtyard risalit, while the apartments occupy the north side. The unique architectural and artistic intention of this house has resulted in a high level of artistry and handicraft owing to its basic dimensional segmentation and the disposition of its interior elements.

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BANK Farská ulica 3

Situated in Lower Town, this former bank is a corner building at the Farská and Mostná

crossroads. Eclectic architecture employs predominately Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo

styles. The building was built in 1896 as documented by the date set in the terrazzo pavement within the main entrance. On the ground-floor, there was a branch office of the Credit Bank (“Hitelbank”), and on the first floor the director’s apartment. On the right side of the first floor, the Hungarian Educational Society (“FEMKE”) had its offices. In the second half of the 20th century, the District Library used the building. A section plan of the three-winged building is arranged into a letter “U”. The west and north wings have two sections, while the south wing only one. A spacious lounge has walls decorated with pilasters with profiled capitals. Situated in the north wing is the grand stone staircase with cast iron banisters. A porch draws attention to the main entrance with a semicircular vaulting. Lateral sides of the porch are constructed as oblique turned pilasters comple-mented with vases. Large stylised stucco gauged brick and organic stucco adornments decorate the semicircular vaulting. Windows on the ground floor of the street facade are in semicircular vaults while the first-floor windows are in segments. Above the windows on the first-floor facade open to the street there are the suprafenestras with a cartouche, plant shoot motifs and opened-up pediment.

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POST OFFICE Sládkovičova ulica 2

The post office building occupies central premises within Lower Town. It was built for the post and telegraph office in Nitra town as one of the first functi-o-nalist administrative buildings on town grounds on the site of earlier ground floor houses. It demonstrates an example of post office building dating from the interwar period in the 20th century with a clear de- finition of functional units within its architecture. The architectural design comes from Jozef Marek, Czech architect working in Slovakia, dating back to 1928. Construction of the building was completed in 1931. Since then the building has been used as the central town post office, preserved almost in its original authentic form. The shape of the premises consisting of a three-sec-tioned building with an inner courtyard was designed to make full use of the ground available. The post office is divided into two parts considering mass, and architectural and operational demands. The asymmetric layout corresponds almost to the letter “A” and the public areas can be found at the section convergence. The public areas consist of vestibules and two above-ground storeys. An inner part with three above-ground storeys occupies two sections connected with the third one running directly towards public areas. Both parts are grouped around a relatively large light shaft.

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Th e location of the monuments on the map according to the numbers of the parties

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ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION Ulica Janka Kráľa 65

The building of an electrical substation now at Párovce originally stood within a rural area of the town. The authentic historic setting of Párovce does not exist any more. The building is an example of Art Nouveau architectural expression applying Art Nouveau geometric formative elements. It is preserved in its original building form. The former electrical substation is important evidence of industrial architecture of the initial period of electrification in Slovakia and portrays a high level of technical engineering in our country. This is one of the first electrical substations in Slovakia, built in 1913, the same time as the town power station. This was followed by further town electrification continuing until 1915. Electric lighting was used before in the town here and there, for example, in mills in 1890 using their own sources, in 1911 in the cathedral using an oil-fired power station in Hlohovec. After the operation of the substation was closed down, it was used only sporadically. In about 1986, it was abandoned. The original machinery and technical equipment have not been preserved. When altering the building in the 1990s, the interior of the electrical substation was divided into two storeys which serve as an administrative building and a gallery these days.

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SCHOOL AND A VILLA Andreja Šulgana 1

These remarkable functionalistic premises include a school and Headmaster’s Villa within the “Číneš” area were deve- loped in the 1920s and 1930s once the old river Nitra riverbed was reconstructed and filled in. Designed by architect Oskar Singer in 1933 – 34, it served as a former State Town School’s mission. The construction carried out by Jozef Dolejš’s building company was completed in 1937. The former State Town School belongs amongst the most significant functionalistic buildings built in Nitra. A sophisticated asymmetric composition of a school three-winged ground-plan arranged into a letter “S”, with vertically connected wings, is a result of a graphic principle strictly meeting its purposes. The building, especially the classrooms, open in the cardinal point directions, so that individual rooms would be well lit during the lessons. A gymnasium is situated in the south part of the south-eastern section. Main stairs are at north-west and central wing connecting points. The building with a two-part disposition structure is an example of a corridor school. The Headmaster’s Villa has a relatively simple cubic shape with an additional terrace that is covered with a canopy made of reinforced concrete identical to the ground plan. The building has one underground and two above-ground storeys, complemented with a flat roof. Stairs are on the building’s west side corner.

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TOWN HOUSEFarská ulica 17

A town house called „At Bruckner’s“ („U Brucknera“) connects Kupecká and Farská streets close to an area called “On the Hill” („Na Vŕšku“). It is a corner building with a narrow yard, and is one of the oldest preserved town houses in Lower Town. Its centre part might date back to the mid to late 17th century. The preserved high hipped roof probably relates to reconstruction in the 2nd half of the 18th or the 1st half of the 19th centuries. In the first years of the 20th century, the building was refaced in Neo-Baroque style. In the west section of the premises, the block material construction may be found. The house consists of one underground, two above-ground storeys and an attic. Three small rooms in the basement in various depths are connec-ted with stairs and narrow corridors. All have barrel vaults.

In the north section of the house, the preserved rooms have segmental sail vaults; four on the

ground floor and one on the first floor. Double-armed stairs with cast iron banisters climb up to the upper floors. The attic with reconstructed roof timbers dating back to

probably the second half of the 18th to the first half of the 19th centuries introduces valuable

spaces belonging to the oldest (yet known) preserved timber works of profane buildings within Lower Town.

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TOWN HOUSEFarská ulica 24

A town house consisting of an original two- -winged building standing within terraced houses in Lower Town. The building was probably built on the site of an earlier building, or its present appearance results from reconstruction of an earlier building, dating back to the first two decades of the 20th century. The terraced house with a passage forms the original two-winged building in “L” shape and a wing added in 2002 – 2004 thus closing the yard from the west. Art Nouveau style plays a dominant role in this building on the National Heritage List. On upper floors, the main wing consists of two sections, while the yard wing of just one. The main entrance and stairs area are situated on the south side of the main wing. The stone, single arm, right hand central staircase in irregular “U” shape has an Art Nouveau banister with flower and abstract-linear motifs. Compact architectonic and artistic solution of a central façade; central staircase, stairs, courtyard gallery and avant-corps balcony banisters; wrought flower sets on windowsills of the central facade at the level of the first floor; original doors with door frames, original wooden double windows with windowsill; ceiling, upper part facing with interior blinds and ceramic tiles at the central staircase’s landing – – they all illustrate artistic and inventive workmanship.

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TOWN HOUSE Farská ulica 39

The town house stands in Lower Town as part of the western side of terraced houses in Farská which were erected during the late Middle Ages. The principal house frontage faces towards the street with a public passage yard of a house in Štefániková where low green vegetation with a dominating tree (Ailanthus altissima – tree of heaven) still can be seen. The town house stands on an earlier construction site of which the cellar with barrel-shaped vaulting has been preserved. In a cadastral plan dating from 1892, a building ground plan has been discovered corresponding to the present one. The date of the last significant architectural alteration in 1897 is carved in the terrazzo pavement of an entrance landing. The house represents a type of terraced town house dating from the end of the 19th century, with the frontage preserving the appearance of the late Eclectic artistic period and handicraft details from the end of the 1890s. The frontage is decorated horizontally with a plinth and a profiled corona moulding with a tooth ornament at the bottom. On the southern frontage, a slightly projecting entrance risalit emerges. The facade is decorated with small ceramic bricks. Edicule window opening decoration consists of the side pilasters with styled capitals which bear a triangle with a profiled perimeter, fronton. The house is well preserved with no significant signs of later alteration.

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The town house is situated in Lower Town at Farská and Mostná crossing. It is the corner building consisting of two ground and one underground storeys. Regarding building architectural features it can be assumed that it was founded in Classicist period during the 19th century. It was probably built on earlier sites on what might have been the earlier foundations. The construction consists of two wings arranged into an “L” shape. The southern side has three sections and the western side two wings. The town house has a chamfered corner overlooking Farská, Mostná and Ďurková. The principal frontages of the building are decorated with corona and cordon mouldings, and running window sills. In the past, two-storey portico of two Doric columns, entablature, profiled moulding, finished with a triangle gable and a saddle roof would draw attention to the chamfered corner part. However, the whole portico was removed in the 20th century.

TOWN HOUSE Mostná ulica 60


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TOWN HOUSE Štefánikova trieda 2

The town house forms an important part in the Lower Town housing centre, being at the corner of principal streets opening into a main square. The house illustrates Baroque building from the 18th century built on earlier Renaissance foundations that date back to the 16th century. The house demonstrates several building stages, and the present stage connects what once were separate buildings. Major Baroque rebuilding at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries relates to the Grammar School foundation in 1698 by the Piarist order. The Piarist Grammar School would occupy this building from 1698 to 1701. From its start, the school was attended by 300 pupils. Ostrihom’s Chapter had the house rebuilt and offered to the Piarists. In the first third of the 18th century, the existing buildings on three plots had been connected into one monumental two-storey corner building. The basic disposi-tion comes out of the school’s needs. The house would serve both school and administration purposes. The building had a mansard roof with shingles. This stage shows an example of the pure Baroque style used in Slovakia. After the Piarists moved to a new complex in Na vŕšku the house was rebuilt as a lodging gallery house. The third major stage represents the Classicist adaptation in the first third of the 19th century contributing to present its style and architectural look. In the 19th century, the ground floor changed into a merely business area, and during 1925-1930, Dunajská Bank had its seat there.

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This town house built in the second half of the 19th century, forms part of an original line of terraced houses along Štefánikova very close to a square. It is a fine example of a building in historical style employing Neo-Renaissance artistic features. The street section has rich plastic stucco architectural and artistic facade decoration; a passage runs within the southern front centre line. Its portico is finished with a profiled arch with a central valuted gauged brick. The pilasters stand on either side with a profiled entablature resting on them. The next storey has a profiled cordon moulding separating it from the ground floor; mouldings above and below the windows provide for horizontal face segmentation. On the window sides, there are pilasters with Corinthian capitals and window sills defined with balustra-de. At the top floor, a profiled arch with gauged brick determines the windows, separated by twin pilasters with cannel shaft and profiled capitals. Laurel garlands with bows are in suprafenestras, and the front is finished with a massive profiled corona moulding. At roof level, a running low attic completes the front. The house highlights the town housing character being part of the street interior with its’ preserved formative front style. It depicts the life style of the Nitra townsmen in the second half of the 19th century.

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A building at Štefánikova 18 is situated in Lower Town in a pedestrian zone and represents a passage town house from the end of the 19th century. It was built during 1890 – 1891 in an integrated architectural concept for a district GP Dr. Karol Thuróczy (1850 – 1909). At the bottom of the grand staircase in a terrazzo pavement, the inscription “1890” confirms the date of this Neo-classicist architecture. The compact block shape of the principal section occupies a rectangular layout. The basement house has two storeys. An entrance both into the town house and a courtyard forms a long passage on the south wall of the building. The building disposition consists of three sections with a great self-supporting double-armed staircase accessible from the passage lit by a skylight. The town house main facade faces Štefánikova. The facade is decorated with band rustic work on ground level. Higher, on the storey level, the main facade has very well preserved original decoration. The edicule framed by triangle pediments emphasises five dominating windows on the upper floor. The main facade is finished with strong console cordon moulding. On the grounds of the original courtyard and

ground courtyard sections, a new building was erected in the 1990s for business purposes.

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A building at Štefánikova 26 stands in Lower Town in a line of terraced houses along a pedestrian zone and features a passage town house. The house was built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with Neo-Renaissance features prevailing in its architecture form. The basement house has two above-ground storeys. The three section building surrounds an irregular courtyard. The principal house wing has two sections with a passage along the southern side, while the courtyard wings have one-section disposi-tion. Stairs in the passage bring the street and courtyard to the same level. The staircase in a stair risalit connects to the courtyard gallery on the first floor. Similarly, a one-arm staircase accessing the courtyard gallery is at the west courtyard wing. The main front with the first floor altered for the business purposes is symmetric and defined by slightly prominent side avant-corps with richer plastic decoration finished with an attic. Attics and sills of the windows have a balustrade motif. Gauged bricks of risalit openings draw attention to their mascarons.

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TOWN HOUSE Kupecká ulica 16

The town house in Art Nouveau style in Kupecká forms one of the street’s dominant features. The three-storey gallery town house with stairs was built on the site of two originally Middle Age sites on the northern side of the street. A terraced house complex was set down within this area only in the 18th century. Original narrow long lots were built with typical houses with long yard sections. Sto-nes of houses date from 16th and 17th century, however, most are dated from the 18th and 19th century. The town house was supposedly built in about 1910. The house has three wings with a west main side turned towards a street. Architectural features show an integrated conception with unique decorative elements and forms in Art Nouveau style. Within the Nitra town context, the town house front with rich ornamental decoration with plant motifs is unique and, up to the present day, preserved almost in its unaltered form. In addition, the sophisticated structure of the self-supporting stone staircase with original preserved wrought banisters and ornamental pave-

ments is very special. The building plays a significant role as a historic document.

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TOWN HOUSE Farská ulica 10

A town gallery house is situated in the historic centre of Lower Town in Farská. The building sits on earlier foundations. The present building known as “Kramer’s house” dates back to the last decades of the 19th century. A two-storey symmetric single-win-ged building with two avant-corps in a courtyard section which formed the original building has been recorded in a cadastral map since 1892. The single-storey outbuilding wing would adjoin the north part of the building. The ground floor is defined by the pilasters with diamond- -shaped square stone bossage. Both a central avant- -corps line and a front one are formed by an entrance portal with a semicircular finish, above which lies a balcony with a cone-shaped balustrade. The front of the building is decorated with a cordon moulding with a tooth ornament, finished with architraves with richly decorated corona moulding; and an attic above which the risalits form a repeated motif of the cone-shaped balustrade, lies. In the first half of the 20th century, the building served as a lodging house; the addition of a two-storey south gallery wing and elevation of the north wing are from the same period.

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VILLA Štefánikova trieda 58

The villa stands within the housing development area which commenced at the end of the 19th century, and offers a fine example of an historical eclectic style with Art Nouveau traces. At the beginning of the 20th century it was owned by Mr Gyurky. The villa on an almost square ground plan has a partial basement of one vaulted room. Its facade is defined by risalits on the east and south fronts. The main entrance is accessible from the street. The whole building has a hipped roof, and the main risalit is finished with a helmet roof with two pinnacles on top connected by decorative metal latticework. A side risalit on the south front has a shed roof under which stands an arcade with wooden carved beams. The fronts are decorated with a profiled plinth, richly profiled mouldings, pilasters and stucco window surrounds with stylised plant ornament, suprafenestras of slim windows, and the main entrance decorative supraporte. In the interior, altered decorative wooden facings and ceilings, original door panelling with coffers, glass windowpane above the stairs, floor around the stairs, cast iron banisters, original glass panelling of door opening wing on an upper floor, and wrought iron banisters have been preserved. A preserved original fence with a wrought iron gate complements the villa appearance. With its architectural expression, decorative interior and exterior dressing along with its generous layout and disposition, the villa mirrors comfortable living of the higher social class.

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VILLA Štefánikova trieda 59

The villa is part of the Štefánikova historic agglome-ration at the southern end of Lower Town which started to appear at the end of the 19th century due to dynamic town development related to the railway and a need to connect the inner town to the railway station. It was built in an historical Eclectic style with Art Nouveau traces for the prestigious constructer in Nitra Town, Mr Ján Tomaschek. The villa is a one-storey basement building in an “L” shape, with a three-sided avant-corps in the northeast corner. The main entrance with a lobby is situated at the north part and runs towards and opens to a great hall. The building has a hipped mansard roof, topped with small profiled metal towers. The fronts are decorated with a profiled plinth, pilasters and mouldings. Grey oblong mirrors occupy the space above the windows and on the left side of the north facade. Stylised Ionic capitals rest on the tops of the pilasters. In the interior, decorative altered wooden facing, wooden timbered ceiling in the hall with shaped panels, original door panelling and wooden doorframes, original stone floor behind the lobby, and glass and wooden walls have been preserved. The well preserved original fencing with a wrought iron gate within the central street line at the eastern border of the premises also form part of the villa. With its architectural expression, decorative interior and exterior dressing along with generous layout and disposition, the villa mirrors the comfortable living of the higher social class.

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GRAVE WITH A GRAVESTONE OF JÁN DAMBORSKÝTown Cemetery in Nitra, Cintorínska ulica

A grave with a gravestone of Ján Damborský (1880-1932), priest, teacher, linguist and editor stands at the southern end of the graveyard. The sculptor of the gravestone was one of the founders of interwar national and historic sculp-tural art in Slovakia, artist Ján Koniarek (1878-1952). The gravestone’s artistic concept bears a monolithic stele on a plinth where a vertical board with an epitaph, metal portrait medal of the deceased and a relief of Christ on the Cross can be found. The plinth is made of stylized concrete stone sculpted in the form of natural rock. The monument itself erected on the plinth forms a high column enlarged at the bottom left to hold a commemorative plaque – an epitaph with a relief portrait of J. Damborský commemorating his date of birth and death. Relief layers of several background planes, with a frontal plane corpus of Christ in a high relief, create the monument. The rear plane is made of a flat py-lon wall out of which a huge cross emerges. The area between the cross arms is sculpted to resemble a rock face. Christ’s body on the cross with his hands symbolising eternal life – two upright fingers showing that life wins over death. On the upper part of the cross is a scroll with slightly crimped corners to which a plastic inscription INRI is fastened.

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COMMENTS

NITRA- INFORMATION FOR TOURISTS National Cultural Monuments Lower town guide

Published by: City of Nitra, 2011 Text: The Regional Monument Board in Nitra- I. Bábiková, Z. Švikruhová, A. Valeková, R. Viršík and the City of Nitra Grafic design: Peter Jánsky Photographs: archive of The Regional Monument Board in Nitra, M. Havran, P. Rafaj Print: Patria I., spol. s r.o.

Edition: 4.000 units

Project was co-financed by ERDF - EU funds „Investícia do Vašej budúcnosti“ „Investment in your future“

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NATIONAL CULTURAL MONUMENTS - nitra.eu¡rodné kultúrne... · Docu- ments tell us that the present church was built in response ... Church building started in 1742, and during 1756