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Bratislava & the West
BRATISLAVA: Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is the country’s political, economic and cultural centre. Located on the River Danube (Dunaj in Slovak), the city is not, however, another fairytale city like Prague and far more buildings have been destroyed since the last war than were bombed during it. Known for centuries in the German-speaking world as Pressburg and in the Hungarian as Pozsony, it was the Hungarian capital from the Battle of Mohác (1526) until the Turks were finally driven from the Hungarian plains. Until 1918 the city was largely Hungarian, German and Jewish, rather than Slavic, and it was only renamed Bratislava – after the last leader of the Moravian Empire – after World War I.
Matthias Corvinus established the first Hungarian university, the Academia Istropolitana, in 1465; however it constantly lost ground to those in Vienna, Prague and Kraków and closed in 1490. The centre of the Old Town (Stavé Mesto) is compact with much that is worth seeing near the Old Town Square; Trinity Church is noted for its magnificant trompe l’oeil frescos and the nearby Corpus Christi Church (kaplnka Bozieho tela) is now a museum packed with icons, jewellery and other aspects of ecclesiastical wealth. The Town Hall (Stará radnica) is a delightful mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and 19th-century styles, and the nearby Jesuit Church and the wonderful stucco decor of the Mirbach Palace are major tourist sites. The 15th-century hrad (Bratislava Castle), on the hill above the city, was burnt down by its own drunken soldiers in 1811; recently restored, it houses half of the Slovak National Museum, but visitors’ time is better spent with the wonderful views across the Danube plain. The Slovak National Gallery on the waterfront houses Bratislava’s most important art. The only other important site near the waterfront is Ödön Lechner’s Modrý kostolic (Little Blue Church), an Art Nouveau masterpiece dedicated to Bratislava’s one important saint, Elizabeth, born in 1207. The controversial most SNP (Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising) with its single support column dominates the area; views from the restaurant at the top are superb. Between the Old Town Square and the Bridge is the graceful boulevard, Hviezdoslavolo námestie; at the eastern end are the great late-19th-century Slovak National Theatre and the more Sessionist Reduta Theatre.
THE WEST: Devín with its famous ruined castle is 9km (6 miles) northwest. Near here the Germans were heavily defeated in 864 and 871 and the area is of immense Slovak Nationalist importance. The Small Carpathians stretch from Bratislava’s northern suburbs to the Váh valley and are a major wine-growing and walking area. Kamzík is the first major hill and the cafe, which offers superb views, can be reached either on foot or by chair lift. Modra is a major centre for wine and folk pottery. Trnava survives with its walled medieval character relatively intact and was the centre for Hungarian church administration from the 16th to the 18th century. Nitra is the country’s agricultural capital. Along the walk up to the ruined hrad (castle) are statues of saints, a fine plague column and two enormous gateways. The Gothic katedrála (cathedral) at the castle contains the remains of two tenth-century saints; next door is the Baroque Palace of the Bishop of Nitra. Two important spa towns on the Váh river are Piestany with its opulent late-19th-century Thermia Palace Hotel and Trencianske Teplice, best reached by narrow-gauge railway.
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