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Bratislava, Slovakia

This morning was a sailing morning so we got to sleep in a little and relax on the boat. Not much to write about that, but we did pass a couple of castle ruins. First was Hainburg Castle. There was initially a castle here built in 1050. The major part of today’s ruins was built using the ransom money obtained from holding Ric*************heart captive at Dürnstein Castle (see previous blog post). On July 11, 1683, the Second Ottoman Campaign destroyed the city along with the castle. It was rebuilt again in the 1700s but is only ruins today. The other castle we saw was Devín Castle, the remains of which sit at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers. There may have been a castle here as far back as 864. The castle that is now in ruins was built in the 13th century. It was destroyed by Napoleon’s army.

The afternoon was in Bratislava, Slovakia. This is the capitol of Slovakia and occupies both banks of the Danube. Until 1919 it was mostly known in English by its German name, Pressburg. There has been a permanent settlement in this area since around 5000 BC. From the 1st to the 4th century AD it was under Roman control and was made part of the Limes Romanus, a border defense system. It was granted its first known “town privileges” in 1291 by the Hungarian King Andrew III. During the 18th-century, Bratislava became the largest and most important town in Hungary, but later the city declined in influence. After WWI, Bratislava and all of Slovakia were incorporated into the new country of Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent Slovak Republic in 1939, but fell under Nazi control during WWII. After the war ended it fell under communist control and became part of the Eastern Bloc. In 1993 Slovakia and the Czech Republic split into 2 separate countries.

We walked through the old town in Bratislava. St Martin’s Cathedral was used for the coronation ceremonies of Hungarian kings and queens between 1563 and 1830. The current gothic cathedral was constructed from 1311 to the 1500s. In 1760, the top of the Gothic tower was struck by lightning and later replaced by a Baroque one, which was subsequently destroyed by fire in 1835 and reconstructed in 1847, and topped by the crown of St. Stephen, which is a 330 lb gold-covered crown in commemoration of the coronations. Right next to the cathedral there used to be a Jewish Temple and the Jewish quarters of the city. These were all removed by the Communist government to make way for a new street.

Michael’s Gate is the only gate that has been preserved from the medieval fortifications of the city and it is among the oldest of the town’s buildings. The Old Town Hall was built in the 14th and 15th centuries. Bratislava Castle is on a hill overlooking the old town. A stone castle was built in the 10th century an converted to a gothic fortress, then a Renaissance castle, and the rebuilt as a Baroque castle in 1649. It was destroyed by a fire and was in ruins until it was rebuilt in it’s Baroque style in the 1950s. We did not get a chance to climb up to the castle.

In an effort to overcome the dull nature of the city left behind by Communist rule, Bratislava repainted many buildings in brighter colors and had various odd sculptures installed. One is known as Cumil, who his sticking his head up from a manhole. He apparently has been hit by a couple of cars and now there is a “mat at work” sign over him in an effort to protect him. In the town hall square there is a statue of a Napoleonic soldier leaning over a park bench. Apparently there are other similar statues around the town.

Bratislava is not a big town to explore, but is well worth your time.

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