Bratislava Castle, Bratislava

4 more images

Bratislava Castle is one of the main landmarks of the city. It has 4 towers and 4 gates namely Sigismund, Vienna, Nicholas and Leopold. The castle had many alterations, destructions and fire in its history, but the latest reconstruction has been done in the late 60s. The castle offers beautiful panaroma over Danube and it's one of the best places to start your Bratislava discovery.

3 more images

Bratislava Castle is perched on a hill just outside the old town. It is a pretty white building with a museum inside. We did not visit the museum I think it was closed when we visited. The castle has quite nice gardens but the main reason to visit is for the lovely views over the Danube and the old town.

4 more images

Bratislava Castle (Slovak: Bratislavský hrad (help·info), German: Pressburger Schloss, Hungarian: Pozsonyi Vár) is the main castle of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

The massive rectangular building with four corner towers stands on a quite isolated rocky hill of the Little Carpathians directly above the Danube river in the middle of Bratislava. It is an outstanding feature of the city.

It provides an excellent view of Bratislava, of Austria and, when there is good weather, of Hungary. Many legends are connected with the history of the castle.

The first known inhabitants on the hill were the Celts who founded a fortified settlement called "Oppidum". The border of the Roman Empire - Limes Romanus - ran through the are over four centuries. During the centuries different tribes and rulers have built and rebuilt castles and fortresses on the site.
During the reign of Maria-Theresa of Austria, the castle was furnished for her son-in-law governor Albert of Saxony and Tessen, who collected an huge amount of art. His collection was later moved to Vienna where it was transformed into the Albertina Gallery we can visit today.

A fire devastated the castle in 1811 so therefor is most of what we can see now a reconstruction from works carried out between 1953 and -68.

The castle hosts the Historical Museum as well as the Archaeological Museum. The most valuable object in the latter being the Moravian Venus carved from a mammoth tusk which is estimated to be almost 25.000 years old.

Opening hours to the museums and the castle itself:
Tuesday - Sunday 09.00 - 17.00
Take bus 203 or 207 to get there.

This is a forum answer to a question wondering what to do with a day in Bratislava....

We did a morning trip from Vienna to Bratislava and back all in about 4 hours. I would have loved to have had more time but this is what I would recommend from my brief visit.

1-2 hours at the Castle. Take in the view looking back over Austria and also over the city/river into Hungary.

1 hour in the Primate Palace it was pretty interesting especially the massive wall hanging tapestries.

Allow several hours in the main part of the old city to really walk around and get a feel for it. There are obviously heaps more things to do that I am unaware of but these three were ones I enjoyed.

Great city with a lovely feel. I hope to return one day.

3 more images

Bratislava Castle is located on a plateau, 85 meters on a rocky hill above the rest of the city. It provides an excellent view of Bratislava. The Castle is a big massive rectangular building with four corner towers and a courtyard with an 80 m deep water well.

The 3rd floor houses the exposition History of Slovakia.

The 1st floor in the southern part of the building houses the rooms of Slovak parliament

The Bratislava castle is a massive rectangular building with four corner towers standsing on a rocky hill of the over the Danube river in the center of Bratislava. You can’t miss it!

And so I went up to see the courtyard and was surprised to see two knights having a swordfight over a damsel in distress! Back into the medieval times --- I guess there was some kind of show and it was nice to see these costumed actors (I think it was a Sunday).

I would have worn a costume myself if given the opportunity – as the court jester, hehehe….
Inside is a prehistoric statue called the Venus of Moravany and several other important archeological findings in Slovakia.

But most importantly, the castle provides a stunning view of Bratislava and even of Austria and Hungary in the distance with good weather!

Behind the castle and on its side is a nice grassy ground where you can relax. But what made me curious were these brick structures on the side of the castle and I came to know that these are the stone foundations that are all that remains from the original 13th century fortifications on the site.