The Chapel of the Holy Cross is quite some distance from the town, northwards of the town lake, and has been there for almost twenty years.Events taking place on the other side of the world affected also the lives of Trnava people at the beginning of the 19th century. Cholera struck in the area of the Ganges River in India in 1829. The infection spread through Russia to North America, as well as in the opposite direction through Ural to eastern and central Europe, with the exception of the British Isles. Its spread was also supported by “colonial globalisation” of the 19th century.As it spread through the territory of Slovakia, the infection reached Trnava in the summer of 1831. It struck on 1st August, 1831 with the last victim recorded on 24th September. Around 1,300 people fell to victim to it in less than two months. Illnesses do not distinguish differences among people, thus the victims included the archbishop’s assistant, Ján Iváni, who had been elected to the position that year. The funeral chapel was probably built above his grave. It is a simple structure of circular design with an entrance emphasized by a buttress with a triangular tympanum. In addition to the brick top of the altar, the inscription plaque of Ján Iváni has been preserved in the interior.The cemetery and chapel stood isolated, outside town until the 20th century; however, the gradual expansion of the local residential neighbourhood of Kopánka led to the gradual spread of development here. Still, in the first half of the 20th century, requiems were served here. In the 1970s, several tombstones were still present; however the cemetery definitively gave way to residential terraced housing at the end of the century. Since this time, the Chapel of the Holy Cross has remained the only reminder of the tragic outcomes of the second cholera pandemics in Trnava.

 

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