- published: 17 Feb 2015
- views: 87627
Trnava ( pronunciation (help·info); German: Tyrnau; Hungarian: Nagyszombat, Latin: Tyrnavia) is a city in western Slovakia, 47 km to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a kraj (Trnava Region) and of an okres (Trnava District). It was the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric (1541–1820 and then again since 1977). The city has a historic center. Because of the many churches within its city walls, Trnava has often been called "parva Roma", i.e. "Little Rome", or more recently, the "Slovak Rome".
The name of the city is derived from the Slovak word tŕnie ("thornbush") which characterized the river banks in the region. The Hungarian name (first mentioned in 1238 in the form of Zumbotel) originates from the Hungarian word szombat ("Saturday"), referring to the weekly market fairs held on Saturdays.
Permanent settlements on the city's territory are known from the Neolithic period onwards. During the Middle Ages, an important market settlement arose here at the junction of two important roads – from Bohemia to Hungary and from the Mediterranean to Poland.