History of Bratislava

Milestones of the history of Bratislava

5000 years before Christ - the oldest archeologically confirmed settlement (neolithic)

100 years b.c. - Celtic oppidum of the Boya tribe, trade and administrative center, probable center of Celtic empire in Danube region

1st - 4th century - Under Roman Empire

5th - 6th century - arrival of Slav tribes

623 - 658 - Samo's Empire, the first Slav state form

9th century - The Great Moravian Empire, military, religious and administrative center existed on the Bratislava Castle

864 - the first mention of Devin - Dowina, fortress on the bank of Morava river (Fulda Annals)

907 - the first written mention of Bratislava - Brezalauspurc (Salzburg Annals). The name probably originates from the name of Slav duke - Braslav.

10th - 11th century - the castle becomes border fortress of Hungarian Kingdom

1000 - 1038 - Coins with "Breslava Civitas" (City Bratislava) were minted.

1052 - German king Henrich III took the city and the castle.

1189 - Meeting place of the third crusade led by Friedrich I. Barbarossa

1291 - City got the privileges from king Andrew III.

1302 - Rudolf, Austrian ally of Karl Robert, took the city.
- The first appearance of city seal.

1376 - Guilds got their statutes from the city.

1405 - Zigmund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary, grants the rights of a free royal city to Bratislava, in 1430 also the minting privilege and in 1436 the coat-of-arms.

1432 - Hussites attempt to take the city; conspiracy was disclosed.

1464 - Mathias Corvinius confirms the city rights; in 1465 he founds Academia Istropolitana - the first university in Slovak area.

1468 - Mathias Corvinius gives the city the right of sword.

1526 - After the Mohacs battle Hungarian parliament appoints in 1536 Bratislava the capital of Hungarian Kingdom and the residence of the parliament. Ferdinand I. Habsbourg was appointed the king.

1536 - The first coronation in Bratislava - Maximilian I.

1606 - City was besieged by the army of Stefan Bockay, leader of the uprising against Habsbourgs.

1607 - protestant grammar school was founded.

1619-1621 - The city and the castle were occupied by Gabriel Bethlen, leader of another anti-Habsbourg uprising.

1626 - archbishop Peter Pazmany invites Jesuits.

1671 - Members of anti-Habsbourg conspiracy were judged. Mikulas Drabik, priest, was executed.

1698 - Russian Czar Peter the Great visited the city.

1704 - Soldiers of Rakoczi took the suburbs, but Eugene from Savoy managed to keep the city.

1705 - The first journal, Mercurius Veridicus ex Hungaria is published

1710-1711 - Plague epidemic kills 3800 people.

1714-1749 - Mathias Bel, polyhistor, known as "The decoration of Hungary" had been the rector of protestant grammar school.

1721-1722 - The first newspaper "Nowa Posoniensia" was printed.

1741 - Maria Theresia was crowned.

1762 - Six years old W.A. Mozart gives a concert in Palffy palace.

1764 - Since 1764 a newspaper "Pressburger Zeitung" was published.

1775 - The city walls were destroyed to allow the expansion of the city.

1776 - The first city theatre was opened.

1780 - The first manufacture was opened (cloth production).

1782 - Number of inhabitants reached 29223.

1783 - The city is no more the capital of Hungarian Kingdom.

1783 - The first Slovak newspaper "Presspurske Nowiny" is published.
The first Slovak novel of J.I. Bajza "Rene mladenca prihody a skusenosti" is published.

1784 - The General Seminary was opened. Royal Academy was moved from Trnava to Bratislava.

1787 - A. Bernolak, a student of theology publishes the first norm of Slovak language (Filologicko-kriticka rozprava o slovenskych pismenach).

1803 - The Dept. of Czechoslovak Speech and Literature was created and led by prof. Juraj Palkovic.

1805 - In Prima's Palace a peace treaty between Austria and France was signed (known as Bratislava Peace).

1809 - Napoleon's army besieges the city. Napoleon visits the city.

1811 - The castle was burnt.

1818 - The first steam boat "Carolina" comes to the city.

1820 - Nine years old Franz Liszt plays in de Pauli's Palace

1829 - Ludovit Stur, leader of the movement for national consciousness of Slovaks, began his studies at the protestant university.

1830 - The last coronation in Bratislava (Ferdinand V.)

1840 - The first horse railway from Bratislava to Svaty Jur.

1843 - L. Stur and his friends agreed on the codification of Slovak language.

1845-48 - Stur publishes Slovenskie narodnie novini and Orol tatranski.

1847 - Opening of the last session of the parliament.

1848 - Ferdinand V. signs the so-called March law - bondage was abolished.

1848 - The first steam train comes from Wien (Vienna).

1850 - Railway to Budapest was opened.

1856 - The first gas-works were built.

1873 - Dynamit Nobel factory was built (today Istrochem)

1884 - The first electric illumination of the streets, the first telephone exchange were built.

1886 - The City Theatre building was finished - today's Slovak National Theatre

1891 - The first bridge over Danube was opened.

1895 - Tram lines were opened.

1913 - 79 houses under castle were burnt by the big fire.

1914 - Bratislava-Wien electric train line was opened.

1914-1919 - Elisabeth University, predecessor of Comenius University.

1918 - 27th October - Slovak National Council was created.

1919 - 2nd January - Czechoslovak army takes the city. Bratislava is now official name of the city (proposal for "Wilson's Town didn't pass) which now belongs to Czechoslovakia (population 83000). The Comenius University was founded.

1926 - Bratislava radio started broadcasting.

1930 - Population reached 123000.

1937 - 6th October - Demonstration against fascism.

1938 - 8th October - Bratislava became the residence of autonomous Slovak government.

1939 - 14th March - Bratislava becomes capital of the Slovak State.

1943-48 - The tunnel under the castle hill was built

1944 - 16th June - Allies bombard Apollo refinery and the western part of the city.

1945 - 4th April - The city was liberated by the Soviet Red Army.

1946 - Villages Devin, Dubravka, Lamac, Prievoz, Petrzalka, Raca and Vajnory became the parts of the city. Population 191354.

1948 - First films were made in Bratislava.

25th February 1948 - Communist coup d'etat; Communists seize power, exclude democratic parties

1949 - Slovak Philharmony was founded.

1951 - Slovak National Gallery was founded.

1953 - Slovak Academy of Sciences was founded.

1953 - Reconstruction of Bratislava Castle started.

1956 - The first TV broadcast.

1959 - Gallery of the City Bratislava was founded.

1960 - Slavin, monument of thank to Soviet soldiers, was built.

1961 - The city has 241796 inhabitants.

1961-75 - Ruzinov habitation with 30420 flats was built.

1967-75 - Karlova Ves habitation was built.

1962 - Slovnaft refinery was connected to gas pipeline Druzba leading from the USSR.

1965 - Bratislava Music Celebrations were established.

1968 - 21st August - Warsaw Treaty armies invade Czechoslovakia, terminate Spring of Prague

30th October - At Bratislava Castle, the Federation Law was signed.

1969 - Bratislava became the capital of Slovak Socialist Republic.

1971 - Cunovo, Devinska Nova Ves, Jarovce, Rusovce, Podunajske Biskupice, Vrakuna and Zahorska Bystrica became part of the city (302119 inhabit.)

1972 - The New Bridge was built, with cafe on the pylon.

1973 - Started works on Petrzalka habitation.

1984 - Number of inhabitants reached 400 000.

1985 - Highway Bratislava-Malacky (-Brno, Prague) was opened.

1988 - 25th March - Police violently scatters peaceful demonstration of Catholics.

1989 - September - Bratislava has the first e-mail link to Internet (via EUnet).

1989 - Number of inhabitants reaches 435 710.

- 16th November - the first in a series of students demonstrations for political liberalization.

- 22nd November - ca. 100000 people demonstrate on the SNP Square.

- 27th Nov. - General strike for the support of changes.

1990 - 22nd April - Pope Jan Paul II. celebrates the worship at the airport in Vajnory.

- June - The first free elections after the fall of the Communist regime.

1992 - April - The first interactive connection to Internet - 9600 bps SLIP link from EUnet backbone (Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics) to Technische Universitat in Wien.

1992 - June - The second elections, won by HZDS - which leads to the split of Czech and Slovak Federal Republic.

- September 1 - Slovak parliament votes on constitution of the independent Slovak Republic.

1993 - 1st January - Bratislava becomes the capital of the independent Slovak Republic.

Historical names of Bratislava

Braslavespurch (Aventinus, 16th cent.)

Brezalauspurc (mentioned in Salzburg Annuals)

Istropolis (Latin name, used by Mathias Corvinius)

Pozsony (Hungarian name)

Posonium (Latin name)

Pressburg (German name)

Brezesburg (German name, 1042)

Preslawaspurch (German name, 1052)

Brezizbuch (German name)

Bresburch (German name)

Presporok (Slovak version of German "Pressburg")

Wilsonovo Mesto (proposal in 1919)

Bratislava (official since 1919)