Trnava is a city in western Slovakia, 47 km (29 mi) to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a kraj (Trnava Region) and of an okres (Trnava District). It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric (1541-1820 and then again since 1977). The city has a historic center. Because of the many churches within its city walls, Trnava has often been called "Little Rome", or more recently, the "Slovak Rome".

As early as in the Middle Ages, Trnava was an important centre of Gothic religious and lay architecture - St. Nicolas's Church, St. Helen's Church and several church monastery complexes (Clarist, Franciscan and Dominican) were built in this period.

The Renaissance (16th century) added a town tower to Trnava's silhouette. Nicolas Oláh ordered the erection of the Seminary and Archbishop's Palace. Péter Bornemisza and Huszár Gál, the leading personalities of the Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary, were active in Trnava for a short time. The town ramparts were rebuilt to a Renaissance fortification as a reaction to the approaching Turkish danger from the south.

The 17th century was characterized by the construction of the Paulinian Church that bears badges of Silesian Renaissance. Trnava was gradually redesigned to Baroque. The erection of the St. John the Baptist Church and of the university campus launched a building rush that continued with the reconstruction of the Franciscan and Clarist's complexes. Builders and artists called to build the university also participated in improvements of the burgher architecture. The Holy Trinity Statue and the group of statues of St. Joseph, the Ursulinian and Trinitarian Church and Monastery are of recent construction.

The District hospital was built 1824. The building of the theatre started in May 1831 and the first performance was played at Christmas. Both of the Trnava synagogues, historical structures with oriental motifs, date back to the 19th century. The Synagogue Status Quo Ante currently houses the Jána Koniareka art gallery.