The Renaissance Town Tower

The Renaissance Town Tower is situated in the heart of Trnava. It became a symbol of prestige and prosperity of the town. It was established to improve the defence system when the Turkish threat was most intense. As a watch tower it actually provided a clear view of the Trnava flatlands and of what was happening outside the town borders. At the same time, an equally important task was to protect the town from one of the biggest “inside” enemies of any historic town: fire. In addition to alarm signals provided by bells (two are preserved from 1692), a mouthpiece was part of the inventory. The constables were required to use it to shout in Slovak and German to declare the location of the fire. The sundial on the tower provided residents with the time of day, a task taken over in 1729 by Franz Langer’s mechanical clock, which is still functional today. The life of the permanent sentries inhabiting the top floor was not ideal. Families of the sentries occasionally bred small game in the interior of the tower, and every day they had to climb 135 steps to bring water from the municipal wells in the square. The first, and at the same time the last technical innovation improving the functionality and facilitating the non-standard life of the sentries and their families, was the construction of a toilet during the Baroque period. This toilet was discovered in one of the walls during the last reconstruction of the tower. It had a wooden seat and a lid. The sentries lived in such conditions until they were dismissed after World War II.Since 1739, the gilded statue of the Immaculate decorates the baroque onion-shaped roof top. The double-faced statue symbolizes a faith and hope that the Virgin Mary will never turn her back on Trnava. The tower almost lost its Renaissance appearance in the 19th century due to plans to radically transform it into a neo-gothic style. Fortunately, these plans were never implemented. And so today we can admire this unique Renaissance monument - the work of Trnava craftsman Jacob from 1574.