According to abbreviationfinder, Bratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic and the administrative center of Bratislava district with (2018) 432 900 residents.
The city is located 130–180 m above sea level, on the southern footing of the Little Carpathians, mainly on the left bank of the Danube, at the exit of the Hainburger Pforte, on the border with Austria and near the border with Hungary. The Bratislava administrative district has an area of 2 053 km 2 and 659 600 residents.
Bratislava is the cultural and economic center of the Slovak Republic with significant scientific and cultural institutions: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Comenius University (founded in 1919), Technical University (founded in 1938), University of Economics, Medical University, Schools of Musical and Fine Arts, Goethe -Institute (since 1990); Slovak National Gallery, Slovak National Museum, City Museum, City Gallery, Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum; several theaters (including the Slovak National Theater) and libraries as well as a botanical and zoological garden. Since 2008, Bratislava has been the Catholic Archbishopric and the Greek Catholic Bishopric.
About one seventh of the Slovak industry is concentrated in Bratislava, above all the petrochemical industry (at the end of an oil pipeline from Russia), mechanical and automotive engineering (major investments by foreign manufacturers), the automotive supply and plastics industry (including rubber production), as well as the production of pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics, food industry, shipyard, printing and publishing industries. The most important economic sector is the service sector, especially trade, administration, finance (Slovak National Bank), IT services, tourism. There has been rapid economic and industrial growth since the late 1990s. Viticulture and vegetable growing are practiced in the surrounding area.
Attractions
The castle, which is essentially medieval, rises on a hill on the Danube (redesigned in the 17th / 18th centuries, destroyed by fire in 1811, reconstructed in 1953 ff.). The four-tower castle complex is now a museum and symbol of the city. The Michael Gate was preserved from the city fortifications from the 14th century in a later modified form. The old town hall was built from several buildings until 1434 (later redesigned). Inside the St. Martin cathedral (1302–1452 on the previous Romanesque building; later expanded) is the monumental statue of St. Martin with the beggar (1733–35) by G. R. Donner. The Franciscan Church (originally 13th century, changed in Baroque style in the 17th / 18th centuries) is followed by the St. John’s Chapel (1380), which, like the Church of the Order of the Poor Clares (13th / 14th century; rebuilt several times), is clear Features of the linearly emphasized Gothic of the Danube region.
Bratislava has numerous palaces, including the neo-classical Primatialpalais (1777–81; inter alia with tapestries from the 17th century) and the Mirbach Palace (now the Municipal Gallery), a rococo building from 1768–70. The National Theater was built in the neo-renaissance style in 1884–86, the Church of St. Elisabeth (1910–13) in the secession style.
Of the Danube bridges, the “Bridge of the Slovak National Uprising” (1944), opened in 1972, is best known; In 2005, the Apollo Bridge to the east was opened to relieve them.
History
The Romans had built a fortification at the site of today’s city. In the 9th century there is evidence of a Slavic castle and settlement that belonged to the Great Moravian Empire (mentioned in 907 as Brezalauspurc, later also as Posonium). In the second half of the 13th century, the city (Slovak Prešporok, German Pressburg) was destroyed by the Mongols. From the Hungarian King Andreas III. (1291) newly founded, it received extensive privileges; from 1405 raised to the status of a royal Hungarian free city. The Academia Istropolitana (University) founded by Matthias I. Corvinus in 1465 expired soon after his death (1490).
Since the conquest of Budapest by the Turks (1541), the city was the coronation site of the Hungarian kings (until 1830) and the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary (until 1784). The Hungarian state parliament met here from 1825–48. The city came to Czechoslovakia in 1920 with the suburbs on the other side of the Danube; 1919–39 capital of Slovakia (within the framework of the ČSR; today’s name Bratislava since 1919, 1939–45 was the capital of independent Slovakia (again since 1993); 1969–90 capital of the Slovak republic of the ČSSR, 1990–92 of the ČSFR.
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica [- Bistritsa], German Bystrica, town in the central part of the Slovak Republic, the administrative center of the district Banská Bystrica, 362 m above sea level, at the Gran (Slovak Hron), at the southern foot of the hills of the Low Tatras, (2018) 78 300 residents.
Catholic bishopric; University; electrotechnical, electronic, automotive supply and wood processing industries, tourism, starting point for excursions to the Low Tatras and the Great Fatra.
In the historic city center, from the former castle complex, a.o. the Gothic gate tower (16th century) and Renaissance barracks have been preserved, as well as the Marienkirche (tower before 1255), which was built in the 14th-16th centuries. It was rebuilt in the 17th century (inside, among other things, the Gothic altar of St. Barbara); Town hall with renaissance arcades; Town houses from the 15th / 16th centuries Century with stucco and sgraffito decorations on the facades (including the Thurzo House with wall paintings; today a museum).
The town, which was granted town charter in 1255, was a mountain town with rich copper mines in the area in the 15th and 16th centuries.
