Aj ja som Bratislavčan*ka: Imrich Matyáš

A new installation from the series I am also a Bratislava native has been added to the courtyard of the Old Town Hall. This time, we are introducing a woman who dedicated her life to caring for others.

Dora Helmár came from a prominent family in Pressburg, but she devoted her energy and abilities to those who needed her help the most. After studying pediatric nursing in Vienna, she joined the Children’s Hospital on Lazaretska Street. She was actively involved in improving the conditions of the poor residents of Bratislava and sought ways to systematically develop social care.

In the interwar period, she traveled abroad at her own expense to learn about the functioning of modern social facilities. During the First Czechoslovak Republic, she served as director of the Cyril Medical Institute in Piešťany. During World War II, she worked at the Evangelical Hospital in Bratislava, where she devoted herself intensively to caring for the residents of a retirement home.

However, Dora Helmár was not just a social worker. She had artistic talent and was an active member of the Bratislava Art Association. She created lampshades, decorative papers, artificial flowers, and small handicrafts—with a keen sense of materials, detail, and everyday beauty.

Her story reminds us that care, solidarity, and creativity can go hand in hand.