SEREĎ
County: Trnava
District: Galanta
Region: Podunajsko
Coordinates: 48° 17' 11" N
17° 44' 15" E
Altitude: 129 m
Area: 30,72 km2
Population: 17 526
Density of Population: 567/km2
Frist Written Reference: y. 1313
Address: Municipal Office of Sereď,
Námestie republiky 10, 926 01 Sereď
Website: www.sered.sk
Mayor: Ing. Martin Tomčányi
The town of Sereď lies on the bank of the Váh river and its existence is closely linked just with this longest Slovak river. The first written reference to the town of “Zereth“ can be found in the document of ecclesiastic churchshots´earnings dated 1313. With its crossing over the Váh river Sereď was a border municipality of the Bratislava and Nitra districts. The significance of Sereď as well as its establishment was actually conditioned by the importance of a trade route from Budín to Prague, so-called the Czech Route which stimulated the rise of famous cattle and grain fairs in Sereď. The tradition of fairs in Sereď has lasted up to the present – on June 24, the day of St. John the Baptist, the Sereď Traditional Fair and the Beer Festival take place here.
Sereď has one of the most beautiful locations for recreational and tourist purposes. Fishing and water sports on the Váh river or in a nearby reservoir called Kráľová may become an unforgetable experience for tourists.
Historically, the most important building of the town, the Sereď Church, lies in the place of previously famous castle. The Church of St. John the Baptist was built in 1781 on a hill opposite a place where an old church previously stood. However, this burnt down several times and after the last fire in 1777 Esterhazy´s lordship decided to build a new church at the present place.
The municipal office was built in 1909 by a builder named Tomaschek, a native of Sereď. There is a large council hall where the town council previously worked and wedding ceremonies are nowadays held. It is decorated with valuable paintings, pictures of St. Petersburg, which Mikuláš Esterházy brought in 1761 from his diplomatic mission at the imperial courtyard.
A new rectory was built in the place of an original baroque (perhaps almost renaissance) rectory where the liberal writer Juraj Fándly formerly served as a parson. The rectory was built by the builder Tomaschek, just like the municipal office.
Esterházy´s Church in Sereď originated after the last reconstruction of buildings as a classisist building with an angular built-in bastion, the remainder of a former glorious anti-turkish fortification. At the courtyard of the church there was an extensive archaelogical research going on in the period from 1981 to 1992 during which foundations of a medieval castle of Zigmund of Luxembourg were discovered. The 10th century´s remainders of crossover keepers´ fortification on the Czech Route were also found under the medieval castle.
