Michael and the dragon
A statue atop the tower since the eighteenth century.
LMih — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gryffindor — CC BY 2.5 · Bybbisch94 — CC BY 4.0 · Андрей Бобровский — CC BY 3.0
The last of the city wall's four gates: Michael's Gate was built around 1300 and its Baroque tower raised to fifty-one metres in the eighteenth century, topped by the Archangel Michael spearing a dragon — the historic entrance to the old town and its emblem. Beneath its arch, set in the pavement, is the "kilometre zero" plaque inscribed with distances to the world's capitals, and from it runs pedestrian Michalská street — Bratislava's finest, lined with cafés and Baroque palaces. Tradition says to pass beneath in silence and make a wish. Inside the tower, a weapons museum climbs five floors by narrow wooden stairs to a small viewing gallery over the old town's roofs and the castle — the best close view of the city's heart. Nearby a wooden bridge crosses the old moat, and the pharmacy museum café occupies the House of the Red Crab.
A statue atop the tower since the eighteenth century.
The city's finest, with cafés and palaces.
Michalská ulica 22, Bratislava
Mirbach PalaceA pink rococo palace on Franciscan Square, built by a wealthy brewer in 1770 to 1 minute walk4.4
The Primate's PalaceA pink palace where Napoleon signed a treaty that redrew Europe: the Primate's P2 minutes walk4.6
Roland's FountainThe oldest fountain in Bratislava, standing at the centre of the Main Square sin3 minutes walk4.7
The Main SquareThe heart of the old town since the thirteenth century, and smaller than visitor3 minutes walk4.8
Old Town Hall and Main SquareSlovakia's oldest town hall: a group of houses fused over the centuries into one3 minutes walk4.5A path marked with brass crowns in the pavement following the Hungarian kings' way from the cathedral to the castle through the old town — follow it on foot and you pass its main buildings without a map.