St. John the Baptist Cathedral (Trnava)

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Slovak Katedrála svätého Jána Krstiteľa ) is located in the historical center of Trnava / Trnava in western Slovakia. It is dedicated to John the Baptist and is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Trnava.

The church building is the first all- baroque church in today's Slovakia and was originally a part of the building complex of the old Trnava University, hence the alternative term university church. It was built by the Jesuits and is considered the largest and artistically most important monument of the Counter-Reformation in Slovakia. The construction was financed by the Palatine Miklós Esterházy and 1629 given in the Italian architect Antonio and Pietro Spazzi in order. The unfinished church was consecrated in 1637.

The cathedral is a church hall with pilasters, between which there are chapels. The representative twin tower forms the western front, the altar wall just the eastern end. The building is 61 meters long and 28 meters wide. Above the main portal there is a sign with a sitting angel figurines and stone coat of arms of the Esterházy.

The main room wearing a barrel vault with lunettes, the side chapels vaulted ceiling.

The heart of the cathedral is the 1640 finished wood-carved altar screen that fills the entire east wall, a work of Austrian Master B. Knilling and V. Knoth and the Tyrnauers V. Stadler and the Master Ferdinand von Cífer. It is 20.3 meters high and 14.8 meters wide. The ornamentation of the church is the work of Italian masters GB Rossa, G. Tornini and P. Conti. The ceiling fresco comes from Carl Ritzch and Franz Iohanes Graff stone.

The church had originally not only a liturgical function, but also served as University Auditorium at about promotions.

In 1978 the church was raised to cathedral of the Archdiocese of Bratislava - established in the previous year Trnava. In 2003, she visited Pope John Paul II.