Modra (English) Modra (English)

Modra (English)

HISTORY OF MODRA

The town of Modra is located on south slopes of Little Carpathiann Mountains. The first signs of settlement of this area date back to 3 thousand years B. C. The beginnings of permanent settlement of this area in the 9th century has been confirmed by well-preserved walls of the castle on Zamăisko in Modra-Harmonia, as well as the discovery of the burial-ground in the north-east of the town. The first written notice of Modra town dates back to the 12th and 13th century. Modra received a privilege of servile Royal Town by Hungarian monarch

Ludovit I. in the year 1361. Modra has got more rights and freedom by the privilege of Maximilian II from the year 1569. The monarch Rudolph II promoted Modra to a Free Royal Town in the year 1607 and he has also conferred to the town its own coat-of-arms. Between the years 1610-1646 the town has built its own fortification with three gateways. Some parts of the fortification as well as gateway called Upper Gate („Horna Brana“) are preserved up to the present. Modra has belonged between the most important towns in Hungary during the 17th century, with a developed viniculture, forest management, guild system, educational system and culture.

Many historical and cultural sights are situated in the town area. The Church of St. Stephan King with the town tower at the square, Town Hall, where the museum of Ă…Ĺľudovít ·túr is situated, Lutheran churches on Dolna Street. The main square has kept the original appearance with the typical single-floor bourgeois houses and houses of the winegrowers.