Napoleon's cannonball
Still lodged in a corner of the Town Hall tower.
Jorge Láscar from Australia — CC BY 2.0 · Neil Aitkenhead — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pudelek (Marcin Szala) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Txllxt TxllxT — CC BY-SA 4.0
The heart of the old town since the thirteenth century, and smaller than visitors expect — which is part of its character. Around it stand the **Old Town Hall** with its tower patterned in coloured tile, the **Kegleivich Palace**, the **Japanese embassy** in a historic building, and cafés that put their chairs out on the cobbles in summer. At its centre is **Roland's Fountain** of 1572, the oldest in the city and once its first public water supply. The detail everyone looks for is small and easily missed: a **cannonball** is still lodged in the **Town Hall tower**, fired by Napoleon's army during the bombardment of 1809. Look for it at the corner. On the square's edge sits a bronze **Napoleonic soldier**, leaning over the back of a bench — one of the most photographed things in Bratislava. Note: in December the square fills with a **Christmas market**, one of the best in central Europe and among the least crowded.
Still lodged in a corner of the Town Hall tower.
A bronze leaning over a bench, the city's most photographed figure.
One of central Europe's best Christmas markets, and least crowded.
Hlavné námestie, Old Town, Bratislava
They were placed in the 1990s after communism fell, when the city wanted its centre to feel warmer and less official. The best known is **Čumil** — a man leaning out of a manhole in the pavement, grinning at passers-by, now the city's unofficial emblem. Then the **Napoleonic soldier** bent over a bench on the main square, and **Schöner Náci**, a photographer figure raising his hat at a corner. They carry no great symbolic meaning — the point is that you come across them while walking. ⚠ Look for Čumil at the Panská and Laurinská crossing; many people miss him because he is at ground level.
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