Bratislava Castle
History
Dendrochronological examination of the wooden material from the ramparts of Bratislava Castle suggests that the trees used for the beams were felled in the 10th century. The structure of the ramparts — which once protected an area of about six hectares — featured lattice and coffered designs. It is likely that this wooden palisade fort burned down in that same century, which also altered the terrain.
During King Stephen I’s reign, a fortification likely stood there, a stronghold that neither Emperor Henry III of the Holy Roman Empire could take in 1052, after eight weeks of siege, nor Emperor Henry V in 1108. After the Battle of Mohi in 1241, King Béla IV also retreated to Bratislava, whose castle the Tatars were unable to capture. Later on, the castle came under Austrian, Czech, or Hungarian control at various times.
In 1429, Sigismund of Luxembourg, newly crowned as Holy Roman Emperor, held the first Imperial Diet in the castle; this marked Bratislava not only as a central city of Hungary but also as one of the centers of the Holy Roman Empire. After the Battle of Mohács, the Crown of St. Stephen was stored in the castle’s southwestern tower.
From that point, Hungary’s national assembly convened there, and in 1536 the decision was made for the government seat, essentially the capital of the country, to be Bratislava. From 1580 onward the Pálffy family held the captaincy, turning the castle into a residence palace and a venue for events of national significance. In 1620, Gabriel Bethlen was elected Prince of Hungary there. In the 1741 Diet held in Bratislava, the estates pledged “life and blood” for Maria Theresa.
The National Archives were housed there until 1784, when they were moved to Buda. The archives thus escaped destruction during the Napoleonic wars and the French artillery bombardment of Bratislava in 1809; however, a fire almost destroyed the castle in 1811. Afterwards it largely served as a military barracks.Style
The castle’s Gothic period was defined by renovations in the 1420s. At that time, royal apartments were established, and in the eastern wing a “Knight’s Hall” was built. A decade later, a ceremonial (state) hall was added, as was the ornate Sigismund Gate.
About a hundred years later, in the Renaissance period, Gothic windows were replaced with rectangular ones, significantly changing the castle’s external appearance. The southern wing’s courtyard loggia was removed, and two roundels (small towers or bastions) were added in front of the façade. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Pálffy family remodeled the entire castle in Baroque style, which greatly shaped its current form. They also modernized its fortifications: on the southern side they built terraced ramparts with bastions.
It was also during this period that the two ceremonial gates were built on either side of the main courtyard (Dísztér), the formal gardens were laid out, and Farkas Kempelen designed a water system using lifts to bring water from a well by the Danube up into the castle.Famous residents
According to the Chronicon Pictum, during the siege of 1052 by Henry III’s army, King Andrew I’s soldier named Zotmund sank enemy ships anchored on the Danube by boring under them — a story confirmed by other sources. The Hungarian poet Mihály Vörösmarty later commemorated him in his poem “The Diver Kund,” recognizing him as a forebear of Hungarian divers.
Present day
After World War I, Bratislava became part of the Czechoslovak Republic, and later the First Slovak Republic. There were plans to completely remove the ruins of the castle, which reminded people of Hungarian rule, but these were never carried out.
In 1953, the communist Czechoslovak authorities decided to restore the castle. The restoration included providing space for a Historical Museum and representative halls for the Slovak National Council, though further works to utilize the castle are still ongoing.
