Inhabitants: 4482 (1992)

Location: 14 km of Bratislava, the Capitol of Slovakia, 165 above the sea level

The history of a little town Svaty Jur (Saint George) has beginnings in old past. The archaelogical finds date the beginnings of settlerment of Saint George, till the beginning of 4th millenium B.C. In this period the people of younger Stone Age settled the area of primeval forest Sur. The settlement continued during the next centuries, that prove the finds of central Bronze Age and older Iron Age. The rise of a big Slavonic fortification, which became an important object at the area of Big Moravis (Moravia Magna), was probably a reason for a systematic settlement of this place. The oldest written memory concerning to St. George is a donative document from 1209. Hungarian king Ondrej II. gave a domain called St. George together with 4 villages to main royal chief cupbearer Sebes. St. George became a property of magnates of St. George for more than 300. years. In 1598 - 1602 town bought out off pawn itself and emperor Rudolf II. gave to this town the rights of independent royal town. The privilege of Matej II. from 1615 confirms the gained privilegs (full lawful power with a right of sword, right of free choice of a village-mayor, right of councillors vine right, fair right, right to enact the statues).

In busy 16. and 17. centuries the town St. Georges lived its "golden times" due to St. Georges vine, which was the best from all surroundings. It was exported to Poland, Bohemia and Silesia.

The inhabitants of St. George suffered from many wars and elemental catastrophes for many years, the town was often destroyed up till the foundations, but the untiring people of St. George rebuild their town always again.

The church of St. George from 13. century is a dominance of St. George. It's a gothic building without the spire with many the sights as an altar St. Juraj made of white sandstone (1527), a fresco of a saint (14. century), a gopthic marble tomb of a count George (1467), a renaissance sarcophagus of a count Gaspar from Sered (1550).

There are many other impertant historical monuments: the church of Holy Trinity built in 1651 - 1654, piaristic church coming from period after 1720 with a famous grammar-school, which many important personalities of same noble manor-houses attended (Palffy, Zichy, Armbruster), the Jewish synagogue from 1790, the castle Biely Kamen (White Stone) from the beginning of 13. century, the evangelical church built in 1783 by rebuilding of a civic house of the Segner family and many others.

The houses in a core of the town around the square and in the near streets have highly situated flats with small windows, there are the old type of buildings of German colonists and there are few these houses in Slovakia now. They come from 16. - 17. centuries and mostly the old gothic walls from 15. century are used in them.

The whole town is surrounded by the vineyards, on some places with ancient small stone walls, which give an individual picturesque looks to St. George.

The important building is also a partly well-preserved historical town fortifications with the bastions nd two small additional gates to the vineyards. The fortifications were built in 1603 - 1664 and they are preserved on the both circle sides.

For all these facts, the historical monuments and historical core of a town without other present interferences in the original architecture St. George was declared in 1990 for the town memorable reservation.

Mgr. Beata Vlasakova, Frantiska Hlavacikova, The Museum of St. George.

• Ruins of the castle Biely Kamen, 13th Century
• Archeological locality - remains of a big former slavonic fortification
from the 9th Century, from the perios of the Great Moravian
• Parochial Churche of St. George, catholic, 13th Century, earlyGothic, reconstructed
• Wooden belfry, 17th Century
• Castle in the Renaissance style from the 17th Century, reconstructed
in the 19th Century (1997 is being restaured)
• Piaristic closter, 18th Century
• Armbruster's manor-house
• "Lower" churche, catholic, 17th Century
• Churche of Augsburgian confession, 18th Century
• Chapel of St. Mary, 15th Century
• Town fortification, 17th Century
• Houses of the wine growers
• Civic houses and houses of landed gentry
• Renaissance statue of St. George, 16th Century, in the parochial churche
• Bulding of the first horse railway