Museums & Galleries
Bratislava is home to 30 specialised museums.
Museums
Bratislava is home to 30 specialised museums. In the City History Museum, situated in the Old Town Hall, you can find out about the city history and the daily life of its inhabitants from prehistoric times until the end of the 1930s, while the Museum of History in Bratislava Castle documents history and the ethnocultural development of the Slovaks, It also houses an extensive numismatic collection from ancient times to the present. An authentic museum covering WWII and the later Cold War can be found in museum B-S 4 alongside the Iron Curtain in Bratislava-Petržalka.
Galleries
Bratislava is the perfect destination for visual art lovers. Rich and unique collections ranging from medieval to contemporary art are on display in the Bratislava City Gallery and the Slovak National Gallery. Both galleries house permanent and temporary exhibitions including plaster and bronze casts of the character heads made by the sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt during his stay in Bratislava. The only preserved original, the bust of the Capuchin, is exhibited in the Bratislava City Gallery in Mirbach Palace.
The best examples of Slovak modern art can be seen in the Nedbalka Gallery with the interior layout similar to the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Less than 20 kilometres away from the city centre is the Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, one of the youngest European museums of modern art, offering a unique symbiosis of works of art, modern architecture and surrounding nature.
Cultural institution with international activity.
The castle, on a hill above the old town, dominates the city of Bratislava.
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The rococo Mirbach Palace was built in 1768-1770 by Bratislava brewer Michael Spech. Its last private owner, Emil Mirbach, left the palace to the city with the wish that it be used to house the City Gallery.
Budmerice, a little village between Bratislava and Trnava, situated in the shadow of the Small Carpathians, is big by its history. The mighty Palffy dynasty that participated on the process of shaping the medieval Europe is associated with its past.
This memorial was named after the main pressburg’s Rabbi Moshe Schreiber, also known as Chatam Sofer, who was one of the leading personalities of european judaism in the 19th century.
The concept of the exposition held in the Old Town Hall concentrates on presentation of the history of the peoples of Bratislava and the influence of the historical events.
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Bratislava's newest major gallery opened in September 2000, at a dramatic site on a peninsula jutting out into the Danube River, about 15 kilometres south of the city centre.
For the local people, the western part of Bratislava is one of the most popular venues for a trip. Just 10 km west of the city centre, Devín Castle is set in beautiful natural scenery.
The museum is located in the wine park and its main activities include collecting and exhibiting of art works. The most important part of the museum’s portfolio consists of a collection of works by Andy Warhol that forms the basis of the permanent exhibition.
Immerse yourself in the world of mirrors and enjoy the illusion of an infinity. Inspired by the surrounding world, the author created six seemingly infinite spaces.
The spacious gallery Satelit represents the Mecca of Slovak design.
This rococo summer palace was built in 1760 for the chairman of the Hungarian Royal Chamber and advisor to Empress Maria Theresa, Count Anton Grassalkovich.
You are invited to visit a Hutterite house dating from 1717 where you will learn a lot from the history of the Hutterites– a Protestant sect originating from Switzerland.
Kern House stands on the corner of Rybárska brána (Fisherman’s Gate) and Hviezdoslavovo Square. Fisherman’s Gate was one of the four entrances to the mediaeval city (the others being Lawrence’s, Michael’s and the Vydrická Gate).
This palace was built for the main administrator of imperial property on the king’s estate, Leopold de Pauli, in 1775-1776.
The bulbous yet elegant copper roof of Michael’s Gate is one of the symbols of Bratislava.
The rococo Mirbach Palace was built in 1768-1770 by Bratislava brewer Michael Spech.
The Museum of Arms includes displays on the history of Bratislava’s fortifications, various types of bladed weapons, tournament arms, and the development of firearms.
Housed within one of Bratislava’s finest rococo buildings, this exhibition of antique timepieces covers clockmaking from the late 17th to the late 19th century.
Police History
Only three cities in Europe – Bratislava, Amsterdam and Budapest – can boast that they have museums with a similar focus. The Museum of Trade in Bratislava, Slovakia, is one of the youngest.
The Nedbalka Gallery´s mission is to promote public understanding and enjoyment of art by the foremost artists working in Slovakia from the late nineteenth century up to the present.
The history of the Old Town Hall dates back to the beginnings of the mediaeval town in the 13th century.
This palace was built in the middle of the 19th century by Count Jan Pálffy, who was then Bratislava’s highest official.
The Primate’s Palace (1778-1781) was built on property originally belonging to the archbishop of Esztergom. The facade of the palace is in strictly classical style.
The beginnings of the Renaissance-Baroque castle date back to the 16th century. Today, the Castle is a seat of the specialized Slovak National Museum branch concerned with the housing culture of the nobility and bourgeoisie in Slovakia.
The mission of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG), which was founded in 1948, is not only to collect and preserve art, but also to look for ways to provide access to it, to educate and inspire. The gallery in Bratislava consists of a complex of buildings.
The beginnings of the Renaissance-Baroque castle date back to the 16th century. Today, the Castle is a seat of the specialized Slovak National Museum branch concerned with the housing culture of the nobility and bourgeoisie in Slovakia.
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The museum is focused on wine and wine drinking culture. The authentic premises of a vineyard town house boast with the largest collection of wine-presses in Central Europe. Try drunk simulators, smell aromas of wines from the Carpathian region and taste the cup of high-quality wine.
Schaubmar´s Mill is part of the Slovak National Gallery.
One of Bratislava’s most interesting museums, at least for the technically-inclined, is the Museum of Transport, adjacent to the city’s main railway station.
Center of folk art
Center of folk art
Viktoria’s Gallery is a modern and contemporary art gallery located in the center of Bratislava.
This neo-classical palace, formerly owned by Count Franz Zichy.