No longer in the shadow of Vienna, Budapest and Prague, the Slovak capital is shaking off its dour Communist-era reputation and rediscovering its position in the heart of Central Europe

“East of Vienna, the Orient begins,” the famous dictum of 19th century Austrian statesman Metternich has been associated by generations of writers with Bratislava, the Slovak capital 35 miles to the east. Visiting in 1933, Patrick Leigh Fermor described an exotic mix of Slav, Hungarian, Jewish and German: “A different cast had streamed on stage and the whole plot had changed.”

But 25 years ago, Bratislava found itself thrust into a new role as capital of newly independent Slovakia. Since then it has carved its own niche in Central Europe, refusing to ape or be overshadowed by its neighbours, and shaking off its dour Communist-era reputation to rediscover a wealth of historic architecture and its enviable location on the Danube.

The engine of Slovakia’s fast-growing economy, the city has developed tech and media companies, while increasing numbers of tourists come to enjoy its baroque palaces, fairytale cobbled streets and affordable bars. The exoticism may be gone, but so is the sense of the city’s position at the edge – Bratislava is at the heart of Central Europe.



“The city has had only quarter of a century to develop as a capital, to develop the structures, while facing all the other issues faced by other capitals,” says mayor Ivo Nesrovnal in his sumptuous office in the Primate’s Palace, where the treaty dissolving the Holy Roman Empire was signed in 1805. “Twenty five years ago there were prophecies that Slovakia was not going to make it. But we did, and Bratislava is a success story because of that. The price of this is that change is very fast.”



City in numbers

907 – the year Bratislava is first mentioned in historical sources, though the area has been settled for thousands of years



1993 – year of Slovakia’s independence



17.9% - proportion of the working-age population in “brain businesses” – the highest of any capital in Europe, according to the European Centre for Policy Reform and Entrepreneurship



14.9% - Slovaks as proportion of the city’s population in 1910, according to [figures compiled by] Lucia Molnar Satinska, a linguist who writes about the city



88.9% - Slovaks as a proportion of the population in 2008



History in 100 words

Bratislava Castle, the whitewashed symbol of the city that looms over the centre, traces its roots back to the Late Stone Age, and was settled by the Celts before becoming a Roman fort. Slavs arrived in the region in the sixth century, part of a wave of invasions from the east.

Between 1563 and 1830, Bratislava served as the coronation city of Hungarian kings, in the wake of Ottoman conquests in south eastern Europe.

The second world war saw Slovakia operate as a Nazi puppet state, with the destruction of its large Jewish community. Post-war, the city was reintegrated into the Soviet-dominated Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. After the crushing of the 1968 Prague Spring, Bratislava became capital of the autonomous Socialist Slovak Republic. It became capital of Slovakia on 1 January 1993.

City in sound and vision

From the second half of the 18th century, Bratislava developed as a musical centre, benefiting from its geographical location, its role as capital of Royal Hungary, and the patronage of noble families.



It was into this environment that composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel was born in 1778. He was taught by Mozart and Haydn, became a friend of Beethoven, and was an important influence on Chopin.

He is primarily known for his piano works and his stirring trumpet concerto. Hummel’s birthplace, a pretty ochre house off Klobucnicka Street, is preserved as a modest museum. At the front is a record shop, a treasure trove of classical vinyl and CD recordings.



Inside city hall

Bratislava has traditionally tended to the centre-right, acting as a counterweight to the populist authoritarianism of the 1990s, says Michal Novota, a local journalist. Now politics are more fluid, and first-past-the-post gives independents more clout.

The far-right, which made some gains nationally in the middle of the decade, has yet to make any serious inroads in the cosmopolitan capital.



The 17 boroughs within the city, each with its own mayor, complicate the picture. The smallest, Devin, has just 1,000 inhabitants.

Frustrated at a perceived lack of progress, urban professionals are rallying behind Matus Vallo, an architect and self-proclaimed “furious citizen” who will run as an independent in next year’s mayoral elections. Vallo has produced a book of 95 potential projects.

Biggest urban risk

Not all construction has been welcome. Citizens complain about green space being crowded out, and poorly planned development putting pressure on infrastructure. Communist-era neglect of public spaces (and the bulldozing of much of the Jewish quarter) has left a damaging legacy. As elsewhere, gentrification has driven alternative culture, including the rave scene, further out.

The concreting over of the Vinohrady (“vineyards”) area and the development of the riverside Park of Culture and Relaxation (PKO) area are particular sore points, while damage to Roman remains beneath the castle during the construction of an underground car park for the adjacent parliament building caused a stir. The development of the site of the Apollo Refinery – bombed by the Allies in 1944 – is impressive on paper, including the Zaha Hadid-designed Sky Park, but critics question its integration into the city, and the risk of contamination from remaining oil.



“People feel that the city is not able to resist developers,” says former mayor Milan Ftacnik.

On the move

Ask Bratislavans what their major beef is and one invariably receives the same answer – transport. Despite being a modest-sized city, its position on two sides of the broad Danube, together with the way it fans out into a range of scattered villages, makes connectivity difficult.

Added to this a historic lack of investment and patchy execution of infrastructure plans. A metro was planned in the communist period, but the impractical project was mothballed after the Velvet Revolution. Popular opposition means Bratislava is reputedly the only EU capital without a parking policy to speak of.

Things are changing, though, albeit slowly. July 2016 saw the return of trams to Petrzalka, but critics point out the system doesn’t extend far beyond the river. Nesrovnal will introduce bike-sharing in 2018, while an electric car-sharing scheme is planned.



Further into the future, there is much local excitement about Hyperloop, a transportation concept developed from an idea by Elon Musk that could in theory carry passengers at speeds up to 1200 km/h. Initial agreements have been signed on a Hyperloop network connecting Bratislava with Vienna and Budapest.

How liveable is Bratislava?

For all the complaints about transport and parking, citizens are unanimous: Bratislava is a very liveable city. The centre is compact and eminently walkable, with a largely pedestrianised core.

Due to its status as a cold war border zone, much of the green belt around the city is pristine. Particularly popular are the riparian forests near the confluence of the Danube and Morava. The Little Carpathians, a range of low mountains stretching north of the city, provide another option for outdoors activities.

Some of the best cycle paths are around Petrzalka. Once a multiethnic village known for its orchards, the district was settled in the postwar period by Slovaks from around the country, with a wave of “panel block” developments followed in the 1970s. The concrete jungle was nicknamed “the Bronx” in the 1990s and was notorious for its drug problems. Now it has a reputation as one of the greenest areas of the city, with easy access to the Old Town.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Petrzalka region in the south of Bratislava. The area is made up almost entirely of flats in high rise concrete blocks left over from the communist era. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

What’s next?



The Nivy district to the east of the Old Town continues to be a centre for development, though not everyone appreciates the faceless architecture.



Bratislava plays heavily on its multicultural past. While some feel this is merely a marketing gimmick, the city’s tumultuous history is one of its main tourist draws.

“Bratislava now doesn’t have anything to prove to anybody,” says Vallo. “The city has a liquid identity that we can shape.”

Closer zoom

Visitors to Bratislava can learn more at Visit Bratislava. Bratislavske Rozky is an NGO promoting the city’s remarkable history. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s A Time of Gifts has a vivid section on his time in Bratislava in 1933, and is a beautiful portrait of a vanished Europe.

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