Invitation to the Danubiana Gallery

Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum

When boating or rafting down the Danube River just below Bratislava, or biking alongside it, a strangely shaped and colored building suddenly appears before the traveller's eyes, rising right from the water level. The building is like a gem created grace to the huge Gabcikovo Water Project finished in early 1990s there.

Thanks to the initiative of the Slovak arts enthusiast Vincent Polakovic, and the generosity of the Dutch businessman and arts collector Gerhard Meulensteen, a very special institution arose close to the Slovak border village Cunovo (now a part of Greater Bratislava). A gallery of modern art named Dabubiana, Meulensteen Art Museum, was opened at an artificial peninsula, rising over the main shipping channel of the Danube. Its two-storey ship-like design is symbolic for the place at the main waterway of Central Europe, but - when entering - the visitor lands right into the specific environment of worldly modern arts.

A number of important exhibitions have been arranged in Danubiana since then; one of them, of the Spanish artist Martin Chirino, was inaugurated personally by H. R. M. Juan Carlos I. of Spain and the Queen Sofia during their official visit of Slovakia in July, 2002 (see picture).

Pictures from a visit to the Gallery Danubiana in 2015: >>

Also the immediate surroundings if Danubiana Museum are of high tourist value. It is from three sides surrounded by impounded waters, and its land connection to the right bank of Danube is formed by the crest of the Cunovo dam system. This contains not only engineering objects, but also a top wild-water sports channel used for important national and international water-slalom and rafting events. An adventurer - visitor can even try a rafting here. The dam itself together with the adjacent artistic and sports installations has become a popular weekend destination mostly for Bratislava bikers and inline skaters.

The dam is accessible by a car or by the city bus link No. 90. However the most attractive transportation from the city center to the Danubiana Museum is by the Danube river. The water-bus from Bratislava to the Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum and the Cunovo Dam runs from May to October during weekends. (For more information see our sightseeing cruises page.)

There the road continues farther southwest, in direction of formidable riverside nature scenes, and to the main Gabcikovo Dam. Huge water locks which are part of Gabcikovo dam, are visited by tourists almost everytime.