The arcaded courtyard
The old town's finest inner court.
VitVit — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pudelek (Marcin Szala) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0
Slovakia's oldest town hall: a group of houses fused over the centuries into one building on the Main Square, the earliest from the fourteenth century — with a tower under a coloured tiled roof and a beautiful arcaded courtyard, today holding the Bratislava City Museum. Look on its outer wall for Napoleon's cannonball lodged in the masonry, and for the statue of a French soldier leaning on a bench in the square — both from the 1809 siege, and among the city's most charming details. The museum tells Bratislava's history from the Romans to the twentieth century, with a torture chamber in the cellar and the council hall, and the tower climbs for a view over the square. The square before it is the city's heart: the Roland fountain of 1572, the historic Roland café, the Japanese embassy, and the Christmas market in December — among central Europe's loveliest, and its smallest and warmest in feel.
The old town's finest inner court.
A bronze leaning on a bench in the square.
Hlavné námestie 1, Bratislava
The Primate's PalaceA pink palace where Napoleon signed a treaty that redrew Europe: the Primate's P1 minute walk4.6
Apponyi PalaceA rococo palace of 1762 on the edge of the Main Square, built by Count **György 1 minute walk4.2
The Main SquareThe heart of the old town since the thirteenth century, and smaller than visitor1 minute walk4.8
Roland's FountainThe oldest fountain in Bratislava, standing at the centre of the Main Square sin1 minute walk4.7
Mirbach PalaceA pink rococo palace on Franciscan Square, built by a wealthy brewer in 1770 to 2 minutes walk4.4Čumil, the man emerging from a manhole, Schöne Náci raising his hat, and Napoleon's soldier — three bronzes in the old town that have become a visitors' hunt.