Old Town Hall ( sk, Stará radnica, hu, Régi városháza) is a complex of buildings from the 14th century in the Old Town of Bratislava, the capital of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. It is the oldest city hall in the country and it is one of the oldest stone buildings still standing in Bratislava, with the tower being built approximately in 1370. The town hall was created in the 15th century by connecting three townhouses, and then went through several reconstructions in the course of the centuries. It houses the oldest

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

in Bratislava, the

Bratislava City Museum The Bratislava City Museum ( sk, Múzeum mesta Bratislavy, abbr. MMB) is a museum in Bratislava, Slovakia, established in 1868. Its headquarters are located in the Old Town, near the Main Square at the Old Town Hall. The museum is owned by one o ...

, founded in 1868, featuring an exhibit of the city history and an exhibit of

torture devices Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts carr ...

. The outlook from the top of the Old Town Hall tower offers a round view of Bratislava Old Town and its environs.

Location

The Old Town Hall is located in the heart of the Bratislava, between the Main Square and the Primate's square at: . It is next to the Jesuit Church and near the Greek and Japanese embassies. It is easily recognizable by its colorful tiled roof.

History

Finished in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style in the 15th century, it resulted from the joining several buildings: Jacobus' house with a tower, Pawer's house, Unger's house and the Apponyi palace ( sk, Pawerov dom, Ungerov dom, Aponyiho palác, hu, Pawer ház, Unger ház, Apponyi palota). The principal building adjacent to the tower and facing the Main Square was built by the town Mayor Jacobus II (also called ''Jakab'', ''Jakub'') in the 14th century, while the tower (originally

) was erected in the late 13th century. Towers made of stone were part of some

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

townhouses in order to provide safety in case of war or protection of wealth in case of fire. Although exact date cannot be specified, details of the gothic windows suggest it was built approximately in 1370. The tower's ground floor was one meter lower than today's street level. The tower was reinforced and modified several times over the next centuries; at one point it contained mechanical clock, a large sphere depicting the current phases of the moon and above that there were bells. The Apponyi Palace was built by

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

György

Apponyi The Apponyi, also Apponyi de Nagy-Appony, were a prominent and powerful Hungarian family group of the high upper nobility of the Kingdom of Hungary, whose's members remained notable even after the kingdom's dismemberment in the successor states ...

, a Hungarian nobleman and King's advisor, in place of two older townhouses in 1761–1762. The architect is unknown but older literature attributes the project to F. A. Hildebrandt. Only two wings survive from this residential representative town residence - western and the short southern. The ground floor was both residential and used for storage. The staircase included baroque stone sculptures of saints until the 1930s. First floor is the representative piano nobile with preserved rococo-classical interior decorations. Second floor was used for the accommodation of the Apponyi family, ceilings are lower here and wall decorations are less elaborate. The attic was used for accommodation from the 18th century until the first half of the 19th century (it was common for visitors to coronations and other major events to sleep in the attics of townhouses and palaces of the noble), today, the wooden booths for sleeping were removed. Until the second half of the 19th century the palace used to have another two wings around a

trapezoid A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium (). A trapezoid is necessarily a convex quadrilateral in Eu ...

-shaped courtyard, used by the servants. Later, the Old Town Hall underwent many transformations and enhancements, namely a

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought a ...

reconstruction in 1599 following

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

damage, Baroque restyling to the tower after a fire in the 18th century, and the addition of a

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

wing built in 1912.

Use

The building was used as a town hall from the 15th century through the late 19th century. At times during that period, however, it also served other purposes, including housing a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

and

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

, and being place of trade and celebrations. It was also used as the city's arsenal depository and municipal archive. Today it hosts the

, displaying exhibitions of Pressburg's history. Exhibited items include

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

instruments, the old town

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...

s, antique weapons and armour, paintings and miniatures. One of its curiosities is a cannonball embedded in the tower wall, shot by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's soldiers in 1809 during bombardment of the city from

Petržalka Petržalka (; german: Engerau / Audorf; hu, Pozsonyligetfalu) is the largest borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Situated on the right bank of the river Danube, the area shares a land border with Austria, and is home to around 100,000 ...

. During the summer its courtyard hosts concerts. The attic of the Apponyi Palace is used as a Study Depository of Glass and Ceramics. The top of the tower is accessible as part of the Bratislava City Museum exhibition. It offers a view of the Old Town of the city.

Current state

Despite some reconstruction efforts, the structure is in need of renovating some outside parts.

References

Notes

* PhDr. Štefan Holčík, CSc., article "Radnicu upravili z meštianskeho domu" (The town hall was adjusted from a townhouse), Page 11, Bratislavské Noviny 38/2010.

External links

The Old Town Hall; official site

Gallery

File:Bratislava14Slovakia65.JPG, Old Town Hall in Bratislava File:Stará radnica Bratislava October 2006 016.jpg, Detail of the building File:Stará radnica Bratislava October 2006 015.jpg, Detail of the building File:Bratislava (building).jpg, View from the courtyard File:Partyslava 2007 06.jpg, Concert in front of the Old Town Hall {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Bratislava City and town halls in Slovakia Tourist attractions in Bratislava 14th-century architecture in Slovakia Former seats of local government