The south-west tower
A 360-degree view over the Danube and three countries.
access — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Frettie — CC BY 3.0 · Frettie — CC BY 3.0 · Radosław Botev & Sylwia Botev — CC BY 3.0 pl
The principal museum inside the white rectangular **Bratislava Castle** overlooking the Danube, occupying its wings across several floors. The displays cover Slovak history from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century: furniture, silver, dress, crafts and arms, sections on guilds and craftsmen, and a hall on the **twentieth century** with its two chapters — communism, and Slovakia's peaceful separation from the Czech lands in 1993. But what earns the ticket more than the collection is the **south-west tower**: a climb to the castle's highest point, giving a full 360-degree view over the Danube and the SNP bridge with its flying-saucer top, and over **Austria and Hungary** at once — Bratislava is the world's only capital bordering two countries. Note: **the castle itself is a reconstruction.** It burned in 1811 and stood a ruin for a century and a half, then was rebuilt between 1957 and 1968. Note: **the castle courtyard and its baroque gardens are free** and need no museum ticket.
A 360-degree view over the Danube and three countries.
Communism, then the peaceful 1993 split from the Czech lands.
Behind the castle, formal and free to enter.
Inside Bratislava Castle, Vajanského nábrežie
Because **most of it genuinely is**. The site has been fortified since the Stone Age and a stone castle has stood here since the tenth century, reaching its height in the sixteenth when Bratislava became the capital of Royal Hungary after Buda fell to the Ottomans — the **Hungarian crown** was kept here for two centuries. Then in **1811** a fire, blamed on soldiers quartered inside, burned it out completely, and it stood a **blackened ruin for 146 years**, painted as a picturesque wreck. It was rebuilt under communism between 1957 and 1968, and renovated again after 2008. Hence the white walls and sharp corners: it is a twentieth-century building on ancient foundations.
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