The historical role of Bratislava Castle and its architectural antecedents was the protection of the important ford on the Danube, along one of the routes of the famous Amber Road. The town located in the settlement on the left bank of this ford formed from a market community.
8 9 The continuing renovation of Bratislava Castle aims to restore its appearance to how it looked under the reign of Maria Theresa while preserving the valuable architectual details of older reconstructions. Gothic fragments are integrated into the baroque façade of the castle palace (above). Gothicism in the architectural development is well represented by Sigismund Gate (on the right). The remainders of the clerical buildings on the eastern terrace (down) are stone witnesses of the castle’s history during Great Moravia.
10 11 The predominantly Jewish inhabitants living in the area around Bratislava’s rabbi, Chatam Sofer (1762 – 1839), was the castle faced a number of catastrophes in the past. Many of an esteemed authority who drew many significant their houses were destroyed in the fires of 1811 and 1813. Then figures from European Judaism to come and seek during the Second World War the majority of Bratislava’s Jew- his advice. He is buried in The Old Jewish Cem- ish community were exterminated in the Holocaust. After the etery, which has been part of a memorial since war, city clerks struck the settlement a deadly blow by giving 2002 and can be found underground, beneath the castle hill. This final resting place of the famous the green light to a large-scale demolition of the area in order rabbi belongs among the most significant Jewish to make way for part of the new SNP Bridge. Among the few pilgrimage sites in the world. spared monuments is a rococo-style house called House of the Good Shepherd (below), home to the Museum of Clocks.
12 13 The Medieval City
The citizens of Bratislava acquired the right to use irregular streets and small squares was formed and the coat of arms from King Sigismund of Luxem- are still preserved with many of the original medie- burg in 1436. The coat of arms’ depiction of the val buildings to this day. The Middle Ages ended for three-tower fortification with a gate in the center, Bratislava and the whole Kingdom of Hungary with taken from the city’s seal dating back to the 13th cen- the calamitous Battle of Mohács in 1526. Sadly, it tury, is an interesting testimony to the look of me- was not only progressive humanism and the Renais- dieval Bratislava. It is something of a postcard of its sance that were ushered in at the end of the Middle time. The coat of arms depicts the physiognomy of Ages – there were also lasting Ottoman wars and the the city at a time when it had yet to fully construct fratricidal anti-Habsburg insurrections. its fortification. The better off citizens, reliant upon their own protection, built their homes as stone towers; and as there were quite a few well off in- habitants in the prosperous city, traces of more than In the Middle Ages, a free, 20 such structures were found in the foundations of , old houses. However, only one was preserved – the prosperous royal city Old Town Hall Tower. Bratislavians completed the and one of the most important seats stone city walls in the 14th century. The privileges of the Kingdom of Hungary, developed of the free royal city, granted by king Andrew III of Hungary in 1291, were an immense help in this from the settlement below Bratislava endeavor. For several centuries the city walls en- castle on the shore of an important compassed an area of 30 hectares with somewhat of ford of Danube. a triangular shape in which the busy, medieval life unfolded. Within this confined space a network of
St Michael’s Street is among the oldest streets in Bratislava. King Sigismund’s of Luxemburg coat of arms deed Similar to Ventúrska Street, it was formed with buildings from 1436. erected along the trade road from St. Michael’s Gate to the Danube’s ford. 14 15 Medieval City Bratislava
Of the four city gates that allowed entry into fortified, medieval Bratislava, only St. Michael’s Gate has been pre- served. Its dominant feature is St. Michael’s Tower, which houses the Museum of Weapons.
Above the medieval, prism-shaped tower rises the octagonal extension ending in an onion-shaped, baroque roof.
The fortification in front of the gate was strengthened with the addition of the barbican and a stone bridge falling over the moat.
The yellow burgher house adjacent to the barbican houses the Museum of Pharmacy.
16 17