Today was the planned excursion to
Trnava and Pietstany. We left bright and early and headed to Trnava
where our first stop was to the museum.
The main building is located in a
monastery once belonging to the Little Sisters of St. Clair. The
former church here was first concentrated to the Virgin Mary and All
Saints in 1255. The tour began with a walk through some rooms that
held some truly beautiful and fascinating religious items. The tour
was, of course, in Slovak, so I could only understand a few words
here and there. Imagine my surprise when we turned the corner and I
found myself in a room filled with Natural History collections. I
certainly did not expect to be admiring religious figures one minute
and walk into a room featuring foxes, racoons, bugs, and the like in
another. Not to mention animal bones and a whole wing devoted to
minerals. At this point, I realized that we were walking through a
museum devoted to much more than the religious order that once lived
here.
Some of the highlights included Kroj,
folk costumes from various areas in Slovakia, along with ceramics.
The museum also holds a collection of church bell gathered from
around Slovakia.
We walked through the convent gallery
which was built in the 17th century and featured reliefs
dating back to 1690. The collections also included musical heirlooms
as well as many other varied items.
Two items that really took me by
surprise were gravestones that were clearly inscribed, dating back to
the early 1800's, and moved to the museum from the Village of Dobra
Voda. This would be a genealogist's worst nightmare! Who would ever
dream that their ancestor's gravestone would be on view in a museum
in Trnava when the family lived Dobra Voda?
After the museum, we headed into to
town to see a few of the historical sites. We were so glad that
Lubos had taken us on a tour of this lovely city earlier in our
visit, because the women who accompanied us today spoke very little
English. Thanks to Lubos, we were already familiar with the
churches along today's tour. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that
today's tour guides thought that we actually understood them, when in
fact, we could only surmise what they were saying from what Lubos had
told us.
One thing of note: the altar in St.
John the Baptist Church is supposedly the largest altar in all of
Europe. I don't know if the photo can capture the enormity of it,
but it is truly spectacular to view.
At this point, we boarded the bus, and
headed to Piestany, which is a spa town in Slovakia. The students
had brought their bathing suits so that they could swim in one of the
spa pools, but that was of little interest to Amy and me. We
entertained ourselves walking through the town, but with today's high
heat, four hours was really a bit too long to be meandering through a
town.
The bus ride home was hot, and it
appears that we are headed for some more steamy weather. So glad
that I bought that fan!
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