1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nagyszombat

NAGYSZOMBAT (Ger. Tyrnau), a town of Hungary, in the county of Pozsony, 115 m. N.W. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 12,422. It is situated on the Trnava, and has played an important role in the ecclesiastical history of Hungary. It gained prominence after 1543, when the archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary made it his residence after the capture of Esztergom by the Turks. In consequence numerous churches and convents were built, and the town acquired the title of “Little Rome.” It possesses a Roman Catholic seminary for priests, and was the seat of a university founded in 1635, which was transferred to Budapest in 1777. In 1820 the archbishop’s residence was again removed to Esztergom. It has an active trade in cereals and cattle.