Modor - History

History

The first traces of habitation go back into the 3rd millennium BCE and the first permanent habitation comes from the time of Great Moravia, when the Slavs were living there. The first mention about Modra was in 1158 in a document of the Géza II of Hungary, when it belonged to the bishop of Nitra. After the Mongol invasion of 1241 the settlement was reconstructed by the German colonists. The first mention about vineyards goes back to 1321. The settlement received its town privileges in 1361 and became a free royal town in 1607. The town fortifications with three gates were constructed in 1610–1647. Since the 17th century it was one of the leading craft centres in present-day Slovakia. The ceramic industry and majolica production started in the 19th century and in 1883 a school of ceramics was established, where through the skillfulness of Habaners the so-called Slovak ceramics were created. The railway track from Bratislava to Trnava bypassed the town in the 1840s, as the local magistrate refused to allow construction of the railway.