This is a tabular history of Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.
For an overview of Bratislava's history see Bratislava.
B.C.
A.D.
1st century - 10th century
1000 – 1241
1241 - 1536
1536 - 1784
1606 (within the Stephen Bocskay Uprising): Bockay troops occupy the surroundings of Bratislava
- 1607: the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum (Evanjelické lýceum), a kind of protestant grammar school and in the 19th century also a kind of university, is founded (see 1803)
- 1626: the (3rd) Peace of Pressburg between Gabriel Bethlen and the emperor Ferdinand II, which puts an end to the Bethlen anti-Habsburg uprising
- since the 18th century: important center of the Slovak national and cultural movement (Slovak National Revival)
- 1704: (within the Rakoczi Uprising) prince Eugene of Savoy manages to protect Bratislava from Rákoczi’s troops, but the surroundings of the town are totally destroyed
- 1710-1711: the Great Plague Epidemic kills 3800 people
- 1711 - 1780: the best years of the town: many new baroque buildings are erected, the economy flourishes (1st manufacture in 1728), first parks arise (today's Hviezdoslavovo námestie), the town wall is demolished in 1775 to enable further expansion, the first city theatre was opened in 1776
- 1705: the first journal in Hungary, "Mercurius Veridicus ex Hungaria", is published here
- 1721- 1722: the first regular newspaper in Hungary (written in Latin), "Nova Posoniensia", is published here
- 1762: the 6-years old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gives a concert in the Palffy palace.
- 1764: the first German newspaper in Hungary, the "Pressburger Zeitung", is published here (till 1929)
- 1780: the first newspaper in Hungarian ,"Magyar hírmondó", is published here
- 1782: the number of inhabitants reaches 33 000 (out of which 29223 are in the part of the town below the castle that has the “free royal town status” (see 1405)) , thus making Bratislava the biggest town in Hungary; the number of inhabitants has increased by 200% between 1720 and 1780
- 1783: the first newspaper in Slovak ,"Presspurske Nowiny", is published here
- 1783: the first novel in Slovak, the "Rene mladenca prihody a skusenosti" (The adventures and experiences of the youth Rene) by J.I. Bajza, is published here
- 1784 (see 1536): central Hungarian authorities are moved to present-day Budapest, the number of inhabitants decreases and the economic situation of the town deteriorates (till 1811); from now on Bratislava is only the coronation town (till 1830) and the seat of the Hungarian diet (till 1848)
1784-1900
- 1784-1800: the General Seminary (a school for Catholic clergy) works in the Bratislava castle, one of the students is Anton Bernolák (see 1787)
- 1784: the Royal Academy (founded in the town of Trnava in 1777 basically as a law school) is moved from Trnava to Bratislava
- 1787: Anton Bernolák publishes here his "Dissertatio philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum", establishing the first Slovak language standard (based on western Slovak dialects, see 1843)
- 1803 : a separate "Department of Czechoslovak Speech and Literature" is created (from the Institute of Czechoslovak Speech and Literature founded in 1801) at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum (see 1607)
- 1805: (4th and best known) Peace of Pressburg (between Austria and France after Napoleon's victory in the Battle of Austerlitz)
- 1809: Napoleon's army besieges and bombards the city; Napoleon visits the city; the Devín castle is turned into a ruin by Napoleon's troops
- 1811: the Bratislava castle is inadvertently destroyed by fire by the soldiers of the barracks inside the castle when protecting Bratislava against Napoleon's troops and will be in ruins till the 1950s (see 1953)
- 1820: the 9-years old Franz Liszt plays in De Pauli's Palace
- 1829: Ľudovít Štúr (see 1843), the leader of the Slovak national movement, has started to study at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum (see 1607); he will later become a profesor of the lyceum,so that -in sum- he will spend some 20 years at the school
- 1829: the "Czech-Slav Society" (also called: Society for the Czechoslovak language and literature) is created by the students of the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum within the Department of Czechoslovak Speech and Literature (see 1803); it will become an important entity in the Slovak national movement
- 1830: regular (steam)ship transport of people and cargo on the Danube begins and with it the industrialisation of the town
- 1840: the first railway line in whole Hungary and Slovakia is that from Bratislava to Svätý Jur (north of Bratislava), till 1846 extended to the Slovak town of Trnava
- 1843 (February 2): Ľudovít Štúr and his friends decide here to codify the present-day Slovak language standard based on central Slovak dialects (see 1787)
- 1848: during the 1848 Revolution, the Hungarian diet adopts and Ferdinand V signs (in the Primate's palace) the so-called March Laws, by which bondage is partly abolished in Hungary
- 1848-1849: during the 1848 Revolution, the town is occupied by various armies
- 1848: railway connection to Vienna
- 1850 : railway connection to Budapest
- late 19th century: strong modernisation (sewerage and gas-works 1856, telephone and electrical lighting system 1884, water supply system and City Theatre (today Slovak National Theatre) 1886, 1st permanent bridge over the Danube 1891 (see also 1439), trams 1895, public electricity 1902) and industrialisation (chemical factory (today Istrochem) 1873, oil refinery (today Slovnaft a.s.) 1895 etc.); as a result, during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Bratislava is the 2nd most industrialized town of Hungary
- 1866: the last fightings of the War between Austria and Prussia take place in the town
20th century
- 1914-1919: the (Hungarian) Elisabeth University works here; it has been a predecessor of the (Slovak) Comenius University (see 1919)
- late 1918: after Czecho-Slovakia has been declared on October 28 in Prague, the leaders of Bratislava (where some 70% of the population are Germans or Hungarians, see below) want to prevent that Bratislava becomes part of Czecho-Slovakia and declare the town a free town and rename it Wilsonovo mesto (Wilson City) after US-president Wilson
- 1919 part of Czechoslovakia after it has been taken by the Czecho-Slovak army on January 1st (left river bank) [the right river bank, not belonging to Bratislava yet at that time, was occupied only on August 14th]; on March 27, the town's official new name becomes "Bratislava"- instead of "Pressburg" (German) / "Pozsony" (Hungarian)
- 1919: the (Slovak) Comenius University (Univerzita Komenského) is founded
- 1926: the radio started broadcasting
- 1938 (October)- 1939(March): seat of the government of the autonomous Slovakia within Czecho-Slovakia (see e.g. Jozef Tiso)
- 1939-1945 the capital of Slovakia
- 1943-1948: construction of the tunnel through the castle hill
- 1944(June): the Allies bombard the oil refinery (see late 19th century) and the western part of the city
- 1944(June)- 1945 (April 4): occupation by the German army
- 1945 (April 4): liberation by the Soviet Army (see 1960) and part of Czechoslovakia again
- 1940s - 1970s: expansion of the town (the following villages became city parts: Karlova Ves in 1944, Devín+ Dúbravka+ Lamač+ Petržalka (right river bank)+ Prievoz+ Rača+ Vajnory in 1946, Čunovo+ Jarovce+ Rusovce (all 3 on the right river bank)+ Devínska Nová Ves+ Podunajské Biskupice+ Vrakuňa+ Záhorská Bystrica in 1972) and further modernisation (first films made in the town 1948, Slovak Philharmony 1949, Slovak National Gallery 1951, Slovak Academy of Sciences 1953, Bratislava Gallery 1959, Slovak TV 1956, (present-day) TV tower on the Kamzík Hill 1970s, connection to the gas pipeline Druzba from the USSR 1962, Bratislava Music Celebrations 1965, 2nd bridge over the Danube (Nový most) 1972, Bratislavské automobilové závody (BAZ, see 1991) 1975)
- 1953-1962: reconstruction of Bratislava Castle
- 1960: Slavin, a monument of thank to Soviet soldiers, is built (see 1945)
- 1960s - 1980s: construction of huge socialist prefab residential areas (e.g. in Rača, Dubravka, Lamač, Podunajské Biskupice, 1961-75: in Ružinov, 1967-75: in Karlova Ves, 1973-85: in Petržalka (Pertžalka itself has some 100.000 inhabitants))
- 1967- 1972: construction of the 2nd bridge over the Danube (Nový most); during the construction of this bridge (next to the Bratislava Castle) and its access roads almost all of the Jewish quarter in the middle of the town was demolished, including a beautiful synagogue
- 1968 (January 1): formally declared the capital of Slovakia (which however did not exist yet officially- see October 30)
- 1968 (August 21): invasion of Warsaw Pact armies (Prague Spring)
- 1968 (October 30): the Federation Law is signed at the Bratislava Castle, under which Czechoslovakia will consist of the 2 republics Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic, Bratislava being the capital of Slovakia
- 1969-1992 the capital of the Federal State of Slovakia (called Slovak Socialist Republic, since 1990 Slovak Republic) within Czechoslovakia
- 1980s – 2000s: the 2nd most rich town in Eastern Europe (after Prague) in terms of GDP/capita (see under Bratislava - Economy)
- 1985: the 3rd bridge over the Danube (Prístavný most) is built
- 1988 (March 25): the socialist Police violently scatters a peaceful demonstration of Catholics –the first anti-Communist demonstration in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s
- 1989(September): Bratislava has the 1st e-mail link to the Internet (via EUnet)
- 1989(November 15): Alexander Dubcek holds his first speach after 1970 (to people in Bratislava)
- 1989(November 16): one day before the well-known demonstrations in Prague, Slovak university students demonstrate against the Communists in Bratislava
- 1989(November 19-20): the first non-Communist party in Slovakia, the "Public against Violence" (Verejnosť proti násiliu, VPN) is created
- 1989(November 21): a student rally takes place in the streets of Bratislava
- 1989(November 22): some 100.000 people demonstrate on the SNP Square; further demonstrations will follow
- 1990s: Bratislava’s official population decreases for the first time since the late 18th century – from 441. 453 in 1991 to 428.672 in 2001
- 1991: foundation of Volkswagen Bratislava, one of the main sources of Bratislavas prosperity in the 90s and 2000s (till 1994 as a joint-venture with the Bratislavské automobilové závody (Bratislava Car Factory) where VW held 80%, since 1994 100% VW), see also 2003
- 1991: the 4th bridge over the Danube (Most Lafranconi) is built
- 1992(April): the first interactive Internet connection in Slovakia - a 9600 bit/s SLIP link from EUnet backbone (Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics) to the Technische Universität in Vienna
- 1992(July 17): the Declaration of Independence of Slovakia is adopted by the Slovak parliament
- 1992(July 23): at their meeting at Bratislava, the prime ministers of the two constituent republics of Czechoslovakia agree to split Czecho-Slovakia into 2 independent states
- 1992(September): the Slovak Constitution is adopted (September 1st) by the Slovak parliament and officially signed at the Bratislava Castle (September 3rd)
- since 1993: the capital of Slovakia
21st century
See also: Peace of Pressburg
The ethnic structure of the town's population during the last 2 centuries has been as follows:
Andrew III (see above 1291)
Ján Bahýľ (1866-1916, Slovak inventor of flying machines)
Jozef Ignác Bajza (1755-1836, see above, burried in the St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava)
Matej Bel (1674-1749, Europen scientist, teacher at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum (see above) for 35 years)
Ján Beloslav Bella (1843-1936, author of the 1st Slovak opera)
Anton Bernolák (1762-1813, author of the 1st Slovak language standard, see above)
Georg Rafael Donner (1693-1741, European sculptor, spent 11 years in Bratislava, author of the central sculpture in the St. Martin's Cathedral)
János Fadrusz (in Slovak: Ján Fadrusz) (1858-1903, sculptor, born in Bratislava)
Ferdinand V of Habsburg (see above 1848)
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809, gave many performances in Bratislava)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837, born in Bratislava, there is a museum in the house where he was born)
Karl Jetting (1730-1790, the „Robinson of Bratislava“, born in Bratislava, was shipwrecked many times on the ocean, was living on an isolated island)
Ján Vlk Kempelen (1734-1804, inventor, spent most of his life in Bratislava)
Eduard Nepomuk Kozič (1829-1874, an important Slovak photographer)
Johann Sigismund Kusser (1660-1727, founder of the Hamburg Opera, composer, born in Bratislava)
Ladislaus II of Jagiellon (1456-1516, central European king, spent most of his time in Bratislava)
Philipp Lenard (1862-1949, founder of quantum physics, gained his education in Bratislava)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886, Hungarian composer, gave many concerts in Bratislava and loved the town)
Rodion Jakovlevich Malinovskij (1898-1967, Soviet leader of the troops that liberated Bratislava in April 1944, see above)
Maria Theresa (1717-1780, Austrian queen, spent much of her time in the Bratislava castle, had the town wall demolished and the castle restaured–see above)
Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490, central European king, founded the Universitas Istropolitana – see above, conferred many priviledges to Bratislava)
Adam Fridrich Oeser (1717-1799, painter and sculptor, studies in Bratislava)
Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724-1796, Austrian painter , working in Bratislava)
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783, sculptor, spent the end of his live in Bratislava, created many of his character heads in Bratislava)
Samuel Mikovini (1700-1750, scientist and technician, founder of scientific cartography in Hungary, spent 10 years in Bratislava)
Napoleon Bonaparte (see above 1805, 1809, 1811)
Oskar Nedbal (1874-1930, composer and conductor, director of the Slovak National Thater 1923-1930, conductor of the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791, gave his only concert in Hungary in Bratislava)
Jozef Murgaš (1864-1929, inventor, one of the founders of radiotelegraphy, studies in Bratislava)
Paracelsus (1493-1541, chemist, scientist and doctor, long visit to Bratislava in 1537)
Peter Pázmány (1570-1637, archbishop of Esztergom, founded the University of Trnava, called the Jesuits to Bratislava in 1622)
Sándor Petöfi (1823-1849, important Hungarian poet, was often in Bratislava, actor and writer in Bratislava)
Ottakar II (see above 1271)
Alojz Rigele (1879-1940, sculptor, born in Bratislava, author of many sculptors in and on houses in Bratislava)
Johann Andrea von Segner (in Slovak: Ján Andrej Segner) (1704-1777, inventor, doctor and professor, born in Bratislava, studies in Bratislava, inventor of the Segner wheel)
Franz Schmidt (1874-1939, composer and teacher, teacher of Herbert von Karajan, born in Bratislava)
Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368-1437, central European king, conferred many important priviledges to the town, had the castle reconstructed)
Ľudovít Štúr (1815-1856, one of the most important personalities of modern Slovak history, leader of the Slovak national movement in the 19th century, creator of the present-day Slovak language standard – see above 1843, spent 20 years at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum (first as a student, then as a professor)– see above, deputy of the Hungarian diet in Bratislava, editor of the Slovak National Newspaper (Slovenskje národnje novini))
Milan Rastilav Štefánik (1880-1919, one of the most important personalities of modern Slovak history, astronomer, a Slovak general of the French army, one of the creators of Czechoslovakia, studies in Bratislava, died at what is called today the „Milan Rastilav Štefánik Airport“ of Bratislava, where his plane was shot down probably by order of Czech politicians)
Július Satinský (1941-2002, important Slovak and Czechoslovak actor, spent his whole life in Bratislava, knew the town very well)
Viktor Tilgner (1844-1896, sculptor and professor in Vienna, born in Bratislava, many of his sculptures are in Bratislava, e. g. the Ganymedes Fountain and the Hummel Monument)
Jozef Tiso (1887-1947, president of WWII Slovakia)
. . . and all the Habsburg kings and queens coronated in Bratislava between 1563 and 1830
. . . and all Slovak and Hungarian nobles participating at the meetings of the Hungarian diet in Bratislava between 1542-1848
. . . and many other kings, dukes, scientists and politiciansEthnic structure
Historic Personalities
note: the following list only includes personalities that have already died