Bratislava History

Bratislava, formerly known as Pressburg in German or Pozsony in Hungarian, is a city with rich history dating back to the times of at least six thousand years ago.

Situated in the very heart of Europe, on the banks of the river Danube, Bratislava has become crossroads of ancient trade roads and the centre of many cultures. The site of Bratislava had been inhabited as early as in the Stone Age. In the course of the later centuries the Celts, the Romans, the Slavs, the Germans and the Hungarians have ruled the area.

Although the economic and political boon started here in 1291, as the city was granted extensive municipal privileges, the real heyday of Bratislava begun in 1536, when the greater part of Hungary was seized by the Turks and Bratislava became the political centre of the country.

During the reign of the empress Maria Theresia, Bratislava became the most important and largest city in Hungary. After the defeat of Turks by the Habsburgs, the most government office moved back to Buda and Bratislava fell on hard times.

After WWI and the collapse of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Slovakia with Bratislava as its capital integrated into a new Czecho-Slovak state. During the WWII, the Slovaks declared independence serving as a puppet state to Nazi Germany. With the end of the war, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain and the reestablished Czechoslovakia spent another 40 years in the Communist dictatorship powered by the Soviet Union.

The so-called Velvet revolution of 1989 brought freedom to the country. In 1993, the Czech and Slovak Federation broke-up and the independent Slovak Republic was born, with Bratislava as the capital.

After the great changes, Slovakia has entered the EU in 2004 and Bratislava region is considered to be the most promising one in Europe.