Museums, Bratislava

This is an activity kind of place, similar to kids museums in the USA where there a ton of kids having fun led by science types in fun and games with animals, computers and whatever. Check out their schedule if you might need some kid amusement time while in this busy city...

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The Slovak National Museum is located in a large building from the 1930s. It serves mainly as an administrative headquarter for all the smaller museums in Bratislava and around the country. But of course, it also has its own exponates. The more classical exhibitions from the Museum of Natural Science and the Museum of Archeology are located here.

In front of the museum, you will see a monument dedicated to the foundation of the first Czechoslovak state in 1918. The state existed until the velvet divorce from 1992, with an interruption during the WWII years when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany.

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Inside Primate's Palace is where Napoleon and Emporer Franz I from Austria once signed a peace treaty so it has a bit of history to it. There's also some English tapestries inside and a fountain of St. George outside. To get here walk through the town hall courtyard from Hlvane nam.

Housed in the castle building, this museum is spread over several floors in different rooms. It consists of furniture, art, artefacts and the like relating to Slovak history in its permanent exhibition and lots of temporary ones. When I was there, there were temporary exhibitions on Slovakian coins through history, a Slovakian composer and one on modern Slovk arcitecture. If you want an impression of Slovakian culture now and in the past, this place would be a good start.

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Whilst in Bratislava, we visited The Museum of Jewish Culture, which is situated on Zidovska and housed in an old 17th century mansion.

On entering the courtyard outside, the first thing you see is the rather macabre sight of an old Jewish horse-drawn hearse (see photo). The entrance to the museum proper is a door on the right hand side which leads upstairs. the first thing I noticed was the entrance fee of 200SKK per person. Whilst this is not a huge sum, it is four times the admission to the Primate's Palace, for example. I initially assumed this was because it was reliant on private upkeep, but the website assures me the Museum is part of the Slovak National Museum and receives State funding.

The Museum itself is well laid out and contains many intersting articles connected with the Jewish faith. My only quibble is that there is far more emphasis on teaching visitors about Jewish life and customs than specifically dealing with Bratislavan / Slovak Jewry. I suppose the emphasis is on educating about Judaism in general. I have undoubtedly been somewhat spolied by having visited the excellent Jewish Museums in both London and Berlin (see seperate tips), although obviously I wouldn't expect the Bratislava Museum to be anywhere near as large.

There are, however, some good exhibits, including a very moving Holocaust section.

Allow about one and a half to two hours for a good look round, and the opening hours are 1100 - 1700 Sunday to Friday, closed Saturday.

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In Bratislava there are a few Jewish sites to check out.

There is a Holocaust Memorial Monument under the road where the New Bridge starts.( right across the street from a bus station). You will probably pass by the statue as you wander around.

Bratislava has a small Jewish Museum. The museum is worth a quick visit. It tells a bit about Jews in Slovakia over the years as well as how Jews were treated during WWII.

We also walked by a synagogue but it had gates which were locked. We could not get inside to see what it was like.

I wanted to see this one a lot, thought it would be right up my street. Unfortunately it was closed for alteration when I was there. I must return some day... It is just opposite the Clock Museum so you can do both at one go. Open 9:30-16:30 (except Mondays).

The Slovak national museum, museum of history section is located within Bratislava Castle.

It is open Tues to Sun 9am - 5pm and exhibits include Historical furniture, collection of 17th-20th century silver religious and secular objects.
There are also paintings and local costumes.

You also gain access to the top of the Crown Tower, but im not sure myself if the view from this is any better than from the front of the castle itself, and it involved a few steps to the top.

Im unsur how much we paid to enter but it was very cheap.