The Cathedral of St. Emeram in Nitra is the oldest diocesan church in Slovakia. It refers to and follows the period of Archbishop Methodius’ work, as evidenced by the bull Industriae tuae issued by Pope John VIII . , in 880. The cathedral symbolizes the teaching office of the bishop . The Cathedral of St. Emeram in Nitra rises on a 60-meter castle hill ( 190 m above sea level ) . Under the castle bridge on the left stands a sculpture of St. . Cyril and St. Methodius by Ludmila Cvengrošová on the right side a Baroque sculpture of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary from 1750 . Its author is the Austrian A. VÖGERLE and the commissioner is Bishop I. Esterházy . This sculpture commemorates two great plague epidemics in Nitra from the beginning of the 18th century. The castle, originally a drawbridge, was rebuilt in the years 1750-1780 and was decorated with Baroque statues and vases . Above the massive entrance gate , we are greeted by the coat of arms of Bishop T. Pálffy from 1673 . Behind the two gates , the smaller one for pedestrians , there is the coat of arms of Bishop Z. Mošóci from the eighties of the 16th century . On the left side there are old farm buildings , on the right there are stairs from the 17th century ( renovated in 2002 ) that lead to the Cathedral of St. Emeram . Plaques walled up above the entrance to the cathedral announce that its tower was built by Bishop J. Telegdi in 1642 . On another plaque , we can read what Bishop A. Erdödy , the secret prize and chancellor of the king , did for the church . The Cathedral of St. . Emerama consists – historically and architecturally – of three churches . The Romanesque church dates back to the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries . Some associate it with the first church of Prince Pribina . A silver reliquary from 1674 , in which the remains of St. . Svorad and St. . Benedict . The reliquary of St. . Cyril is a gift from Pope Paul VI . from 1969 . The construction of the upper church began by Bishop Meško , originally a Pole, and was built in the years 1333-1355 in the Gothic style . The lower church was built by J. Telegdi in the years 1622-1642 , after the plundering of the cathedral by the army of G. Bethlen . The most valuable is the altar of the Descent from the Cross, which consists of two sculptures . The oldest sculptural monument of the lower church are the tombstones of the bishops ; to the left of the altar of St. . John of Nepomuk is the tombstone of Bishop Jiří of Breznice , on the right the tombstone of Bishop Š. Feherkövy from 1588 . To the left of the stairs is an interesting tombstone of Bishop Z. Mošóci from 1587, on the right the confessional covers the epitaph of Bishop P. Abstémio – Bornemisza from 1579.
The Kapitulská Archive contains the oldest documents of Slovakia, namely the Zobor Documents from 1111 and 1113. The oldest manuscript monument in Slovakia is the Gospel from the 11th century with a binding from the 14th century.
