Patrónka is an area in the western part of

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, the capital of

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, it is also the name of a major transport junction within the area and an important bus stop. Patrónka is located at the boundary of

Bratislava I Bratislava I (; ) is a district in the city of Bratislava. It is identical with its sole borough, Bratislava's Old Town, Bratislava, Old Town (; ; ). With an area of 10 square kilometers, it is the smallest Districts of Slovakia, district of Slov ...

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

and

Bratislava IV Bratislava IV (; ) is an okres (district) of Bratislava in the Bratislava Region of Slovakia. It is the largest Bratislava district and covers the north-western parts of Bratislava, including the boroughs of Devín, Devínska Nová Ves, Dúbravk ...

Karlova Ves Karlova Ves (, ) is a borough in the city of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the city close to the river Danube on the slopes of the Little Carpathians mountains and it is part of the Bratislava IV admini ...

, located in the northwest of the city. The

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

bus and trolleybus stop serves as a main transport hub for residents of Dúbravka,

Lamač Lamač (German language, German: ''Blumenau; Hungarian language, Hungarian: Lamacs'') is the smallest borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, lying in the northern part of the city. Part of the Bratislava IV district, Lamač is home to app ...

Devínska Nová Ves Devínska Nová Ves (, , ) is a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Its western borders are formed by the Morava River, which also forms the national border between Slovakia and Austria. Devínska Nová Ves is notable mainly for its ...

and

Záhorská Bystrica Záhorská Bystrica (, ) is a city borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is located in the northern part of the city, lying on the foothills of the Pezinok Carpathians, part of the Little Carpathians mountain range. It is part of the ...

boroughs of Bratislava and it is among the busiest in the city. It also serves as a minor inter-city bus stop covering the region of

Záhorie , the Romanian village of Dumbrava, called Erdőhát in Hungarian, Pestişu Mic Záhorie () is a region in western Slovakia between the Little Carpathians to the east and the Morava River to the west. Although not an administrative region, it is ...

. The traffic on the Patrónka junction also affects Lamač, Kramáre,

, Dúbravka and Devínska Nová Ves. The area of Patrónka lies at the foothills of the Devín Carpathians and

Pezinok Carpathians Pezinok (; in the local dialect ''Pezinek''; ; ; ) is a town in southwestern Slovakia. It is roughly northeast of Bratislava and, as of December 2023, had a population of 24,443. Pezinok lies near the Little Carpathians and thrives mainly on vi ...

; it serves as the main passageway into the nearby

Bratislava Forest Park Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, a popular recreation area. Patrónka is the location of the

Slovak Academy of Sciences The Slovak Academy of Sciences (, or SAV) is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. It was founded in 1942, closed after World War II, and then reestablished in 1953. Its primary ...

, the Military hospital in Bratislava and the

Bratislava Železná studienka railway station Bratislava Železná studienka railway station (, , ) is a small railway station (technically a train halt) inside the Bratislava Forest Park recreational zone in northern Bratislava, Slovakia. The station is still in use, although few trains st ...

History

The locality of Patrónka was located between today's Dúbravská cesta, Brnianska Street, Hroboňova Street, Gaštanová Street until Horský park, Pri Suchom mlyne, bordered by the Bratislava-Kúty railway line until the Red Bridge, Military Hospital in Bratislava, Kühmayer factory and the current area of

. It is named after a factory producing bullets (''"patróny"''; an old-fashioned

Slovak language Slovak ( ; endonym: or ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech-Slovak languages, Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script and formerly in Cyrillic script. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is ...

word for both

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

s and shells) which stood here from 1872 to 1939. Until 1945 the official name for this locality was ''Westend'' (sometimes simply ''West'') and after 1945 ''Západ''. In the 13th century, there was a settlement in this area which was destroyed during the

Tatar invasions These are lists of battles of the Mongol invasion of Europe. Lists of battles Mongol invasions of Eastern Europe Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1223, 1237–1241) Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria (1223–1236) * 1223: First Mongol ...

and a later settlement belonging to the

Mayor of Bratislava The mayor of Bratislava () is the highest political representative of the Slovak capital Bratislava. The mayor's office is located in the Primate's Palace. Since 2018 the office has been held by Matúš Vallo, an architect. List of mayors of Brati ...

Jakub. In 1870 the bullet factory of J. Roth was constructed here at the place of a

water mill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

. It was one of the largest armament factories of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, employing approximately 3,000 workers. The factory featured a freight cable car connecting it with Bratislava hlavná stanica railway station. In 1912,

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

service connected the area with Bratislava city center. Patronka was the location of the holding area for Jews being deported from western Slovakia during 1942 - which was carried out by Slovak Fascists who handed them over to the Nazis - and 1945 for the Carpathian Germans from the Bratislava region. In 1969, the first high-rises in Slovakia built using the curtain wall technology were finished at Patrónka, close to the road junction; the Lignoprojekt building and the building of the United Nations Computing Center (). The buildings were designed by architects V. Ferančík, F. Ohrablo and R. Fresser in 1960-1962 and their construction lingered for many years. The United Nation building today serves as the seat of the Institute of Informatics and Statistics INFOSTAT. In July 2000, the reconstruction of the Lignoprojekt building by J&T commenced. The building was stripped down to its

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

shell, heightened, a new facade was constructed and it was renamed to Westend (later changed to its current name Westend Tower). By reconstructing other two buildings originally belonging to Lignoprojekt and Wood Research Institute (), J&T created Westend Court and Westend Point. In 2006, J&T sold Westend Tower to the

AXA Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

Group's real estate branch as part of a larger deal coupled with some logistic parks. The building is administered as part of an investment fund, whose majority investor is the

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, founded to invest funds on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi. It manages the emirate's excess oil reserves a ...

(ADIA).

Today

Next to the crossroads, there is the building of the Geological Survey of Slovak Republic (State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr). Nearby there are the building complexes of

, the area of the former Military hospital in Bratislava and the access road to

and

. Patrónka features an administrative complex called Westend, owned by the J&T Group and parts are currently under development by J&T Real Estate. The complex includes the ''Westend Tower'' and ''Westend Square'' high-rises, ''Westend Court'' and ''Westend Gate'' (known originally as ''Westend Quadrant''). ''Westend Point'' has been torn down and is being replaced by ''Westend Plazza'' (known originally as ''Westend Crossing'') to be finished in April 2018. Westend features 107 000 m2 of office space and 7 000 m2 retail space and comprises an investment of 216 million €.

Patrónka bus and trolleybus stop

Patrónka is also the name of a major public transport stop and a minor inter-city bus stop, located next to the crossroads. The busy public transport bus and trolleybus stop serves as a main transport hub for residents of Dúbravka,

and

boroughs of Bratislava and inter-city buses depart from here towards

and beyond. The terminal in the direction from the city center lies in the borough of

, District

while the opposite terminal, direction towards the city center, lies in

, District

. The terminals and the pedestrian underpass are administered by the Department of Road Management of the Bratislava City Magistrate (). The two massive grey terminals (one in each direction, connected by a pedestrian underpass) are striking examples of socialist realism in Bratislava and when built decades ago, they were among the most luxurious in the city, featuring

newsstand A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American English, American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and oft ...

s and

buffet A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of '' service à la française'', buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social eve ...

s. In an unknown year, the workers of the Department of Road Management of the Bratislava City Magistrate removed several benches and

plant pot A flowerpot, planter, planterette or plant pot is a container in which flowers and other plants are cultivated and displayed. Historically, and still to a significant extent today, they are made from plain terracotta with no ceramic glaze, wit ...

s and installed metal fencing at certain points, reducing the capacity of the public transport terminal, despite being in use daily by thousands of people. For an unknown reason, some benches were left intact and now can be seen from the crowded bus stop, inaccessible to the public. This action was explained by the Bratislava City Magistrate as an effort to prevent homeless people from sleeping there, in spite of the fact that there was never any publicized issue with the homeless at the bus stop. In 2008 a semi-automatic ramp for the handicapped was installed at both exits from the pedestrian underpass, making it the first handicapped-accessible underpass in Bratislava.

References

Gallery

Image:SGUDS.JPG, State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr at Patrónka Image:SAV Geol 2009.JPG, Institute of Geology of the

at Patrónka Image:Geothermal anywhere headquarter.jpg, The 16 stories high Westend Tower {{DEFAULTSORT:Patronka Old Town, Bratislava Transport in Bratislava

History

Today

Patrónka bus and trolleybus stop

See also

References

Gallery