Historic Background Of Bratislava

The first urban settlement in the environs of Bratislava was a Celtic one, established in the first millennium BC. By the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the Romans had conquered this part of Europe and constructed a watch tower, a miniature fortress, so to say- at the site; soon a military town called Gerulata came up around the tower on both banks of the River Danube.

Down the centuries, waves of invaders and settlers arrived at Gerulata- the Slavs and the Magyars being the most prominent among them. Sometime around 1000 AD, the Magyars made the city (and much of the rest of Slovakia) a part of the Hungarian empire; for several centuries, Bratislava Castle even remained the official residence of the Hungarian king.

Before the Turks invaded Bratislava in 1536, the city had made considerable progress; a number of important buildings had been constructed, and a university had also been established. After the Turkish invasion and its subsequent restoration to Hungarian domination, the city became an important part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and by default, the capital of the Hungarian Empire. The city even became the favoured site for the coronation of successive Habsburg kings.

Although Bratislava lost its status as the Hungarian capital in the 1800s, the city’s progress didn’t falter. By 1919, it had been made the capital of Slovakia, and when the Slovak Republic was formed in 1993, Bratislava was the obvious choice for the capital of the country. Today, it’s the nation’s largest city, the political and commercial centre as well as the cultural and social hub.