Touring Burgher Houses.

Burgher houses create really unique, and at the same time, the most numerous group of historical landmarks in Trnava. Most of the time they are noticed only as a background to important buildings, but actually they are the foundation of every town. By gaining the rights of a free royal town in 1238, Trnava formally became a town, but as a settlement it had existed much earlier. Back then, its built-up area was formed by wooden houses, since bricks were only used to build the most important sacral buildings. However, German colonists brought not only new construction procedures but also economic capital, and soon the first brick burgher houses were built. First, only in small numbers, today we know of 35 of them within the whole town. All of them, at present time modified by later reconstructions, are located in the main streets of the town. Especially prestigious is Hlavná ulica (Main Street). The houses here belonged to citizens that were promoted to burgher status. Every man could become a burgher, if he owned a house, had lived in Trnava for at least 10 years, and had a proper living as well as good manners. A citizen of such status was entered into the town registry, after paying a certain fee, of course. Women did not have such an opportunity; they could become burghers only after their father or husband. Other citizens who owned a house but did not have the status of burgher were a lower social group. The bottom social group were the poorest. This diversified social structure created a varied architectonic mixture in the town, where there are simple and luxurious burgher houses resembling small town palaces standing next to modest craftsmen houses or small houses of the poorest in the suburb areas. This variety is not only reflected in the street appearances of the houses. Thanks to their continuous expansion and reconstructions, the interior of individual houses offers an interesting exhibition of architectural styles, from early gothic wall grouting through late gothic portals, renaissance arcade corridors and bays, baroque arches and frescos or classicistic gates, to historical stuccos on facades which prove the permanent economic strength and prosperity of Trnava citizens in every historical period.

 

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