In the streets of Bratislava

After almost 6 weeks of vacation we are back in Switzerland. We spent our last day in Slovakia in Bratislava. It's halfway between the place where we live in Switzerland and the place where my family lives in Slovakia. Ideal stopover to relax and meet friends.

Usually, we would stay for a night and leave early in the morning but this time we stayed until the afternoon as the weather was so nice and we wanted to explore the streets.

Let's have a look around the city together!

Our hotel was located just a few minutes from The St. Martin's Cathedral (Dóm Svätého Martina) so we started right there.

When I lived in Bratislava for a couple of months almost 20 years ago (this makes me realize that I'm getting old! 🙂) I walked by this cathedral almost every day to work. I have never entered it as at that time I had other interests than history and religious buildings. In the meantime, I have understood the historic value of this place and I was actually excited to visit it this time.

St. Martin's Cathedral was built in the 11th century as a small chapel. Later, when Bratislava had more and more inhabitants, the church was enlarged to accommodate the attendance.

Up until now, it's an active church with a couple of services every day. There is an info point where you can get tickets, small souvenirs as well as books/guides about the church. Normally, you can also visit the crypt with catacombs, but we were not allowed to as we visited it on Sunday and we only had about 30 minutes between the masses.

From outside, the church looks like almost any other church in Slovakia. It doesn't have the common features of other Cathedrals (in my opinion). It was rebuilt to its current Gothic appearance in the 15th century to become part of the city walls after Bratislava received the privileges of a town. Link

When you walk around the Cathedral you will pass by a small chapel called The Chapel of St. John the Merciful (Kaplnka Svätého Jána Milosrdného). His remains are stored in this chapel.

Once you come back to the Rudnay Square (Rudnayovo Námestie) don't forget to admire beautiful lanterns which were placed together with the columns in 1909. Up until recently, these lanterns were painted black and were not functioning. They were renovated 2 years ago when it was found out that they were originally golden, so they were adjusted to their former appearance and in the evening they are lightning the way to the church now.

Let's go inside!

There is a glass tunnel to the info point from where you can see the square with the lanterns.

Since we only had 30 minutes to visit the church we didn't have to purchase the tickets. But we did purchase some local pottery which I'm collecting 🙂

St. Martin's Cathedral is known as the coronation place of Hungarian royalty. Between 1563 and 1830 ten kings, one queen and seven royal wives from the Habsburg Dynasty were crowned here. Who was the one queen crowned here? It was Maria Theresa herself! Her coronation was celebrated on the 25th of June 1741. Link

The interior of the Cathedral is not as impressive as I was expecting. You can see that the construction lasted several decades due to different architectural styles present in the church. However, I admired the long arched windows decorated with beautiful stained glass.

There are many valuable objects present in the church. Next to each object there is a sign with some information about what you are looking at.

One of the objects is the stunning The Statue of St. Martin (Socha Svätého Martina). It was created in 1735 by Georg Rafael Donner. According to tradition the figure of St. Martin bears portrait of Archbishop Imrich Eszterhazy and the features of the beggar resemble those of Donner.

It is said that it was the most beautiful statue in the Hungarian empire. But who knows...

Let's admire the altars before going back to the city...

The church is surrounded with statues of famous personalities. In Slovakia, we learned about all of them at school.

Anton Bernolák was one of the most important people in the history of Slovakia as he is the author of first Slovak language standard.

Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer with many famous pieces played even today.

Ján Hollý was a Slovak poet born in the 18th century. He was the first poet to write excusively in the new Slovak language.

I think there was enough of history for today. Let's see what more Bratislava has to offer.

There are many narrow hidden streets from where you can enjoy nice views, such as this. Here, we can see a tower of the Bratislava castle.

There are also buildings which are not so well maintained and it gives the old town its special charm...

We have also found two photographs painted in former windows. They were taken by one of the most famous photographers of Bratislava Karl Körper (1845 – 1923). He was born in Milan and after his studies he moved to Pressburg (old name of Bratislava) where he fell in love and spend the rest of his life.

This time, we stayed in the old town and we only enjoyed the views of the castle...

Michael's Gate (Michalská Brána) is one of the most famous landmarks of the city. It's connecting two busiest streets and it's the most lively place during the summer evenings with terraces and people enjoying the weather.

Michael's Gate is the only preserved gate of the fortification from the 14th century. Today, it serves as The Museum of Weapons. The museum has been closed for about 2 years due to the reconstruction but I think it will be open again this year. We have visited it several years ago already.

It shows various weapons as well as development of firearms. Part of the exhibition is located at each floor, so be ready for some exercise. Once you get to the top of the tower, you will be able to go on the balcony and enjoy the views. Believe me, it's worth it!

But today, we will continue exploring the streets...

This is probably the most charming street which will lead us to the Franciscan square (Františkánske Námestie)...

Franciscan square is a calmer square in the old town which offers quiet atmosphere among the old historical buildings.

One of such buildings is The Franciscan Church (Františkánsky kostol) which dates back to the 13th century and it's the oldest church in the city. It included it a monastery which was used to elect the city mayors during the Middle Ages.

On the opposite side of the church is The Mirbach Palace (Mirbachov Palác). It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Bratislava built in Rococo style. Today, it hosts a City Gallery.

In front of the gallery we found these sets of teeth replicas. It looks like a random bunch of famous people and we had a good laugh reading the names...

The square is overlooked by this statue...

And here we have the most beautiful building of the city - The Primate’s Palace (Primaciálny Palác). But I might be biased as I love pink color 🙂

Inside of the palace is a courtyard with The Statue of St. George and the dragon (Socha Svätého Juraja a Draka).

A legend has it that George was an officer in the Roman army who came upon a town terrorized by a dragon. People selected the victims by tossing a coin. When the king's daughter was chosen, he killed the dragon with a spear. Legend

Bratislava changed a lot in the last 20 years and I enjoyed walking around and remembering places that I have visited long time ago. This city will always have a special place in my heart and I am happy that I was able to make new memories there.

I hope you have enjoyed our trip.

Thank you for reading,
Cheers,
Martina