Bratislava Castle (Bratislavský hrad) Bratislava, Slovakia

Bratislava Castle is the main castle of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The massive rectangular building with 4 corner towers stands on a quite isolated rocky hill of the Little Carpathians directly above the Danube river in the middle of Bratislava. It is an outstanding feature of the city. It provides an excellent view of Bratislava, of Austria and, when there is good weather, of Hungary. Many legends are connected with the history of the castle.

The castle building includes 4 towers (one on each corner) and a courtyard with an 80 m deep water well. The biggest tower is the Crown Tower in the south-east from the 13th century, which housed the crown jewels. The outside walls and inside corridors contain fragments of old Gothic and Renaissance construction elements. To the east of the main entrance, one can see the walled up entrance gate from the 16th century. Behind the entrance, there is an arcade corridor and then the big Baroque staircase, which leads to the expositions of the Slovak National Museum. The left part of the southern part of the building houses the 4 halls of the Treasure Chamber with a collection of the most precious archaeological findings and other objects found in Slovakia, including the prehistoric statute called the Venus of Moravany. The 3rd floor houses the exposition History of Slovakia. The 1st floor in the southern part of the building houses the rooms of Slovak parliament - the National Council of the Slovak Republic - including parts of furniture from the 16th century. The northern part of the building - the former Baroque chapel, houses the Music Hall in which concerts are held. The courtyard includes the entrance to the Knights Hall.
Entrance gates to the site: Sigismund Gate in the south-east - the best preserved original part of the site, built in the 15th century, Vienna Gate in the south-west - built in 1712, Nicholas Gate in the north-east - built in the 16th century, Leopold Gate.
To the west of the castle building, there is the newly reconstructed Hillebrandt building built in 1762 and destroyed by the 1811 fire. The Yard of Honor is the space directly before the castle entrance. It was created in the late 18th century. Behind the Sigismund Gate and in front of the castle building, there is the Leopold Yard from the 17th century with bastions. To the east of the castle building the constellation of the Great Moravian basilica (9th century), the Church of Saint Savior (11th century) and other Early medieval objects is indicated on the ground. The true archaeological findings are directly below this indicated constellation. To the north-east of the castle building, next to the Nicholas Gate, there is the Lugiland Bastion (which was a Gothic entrance gate in the 15th century), a long building from the 17th century (today a building of National Council of the Slovak Republic), and a Baroque stable (today a famous restaurant). An English park is located to the south of the stable.
The whole northern border of the castle site is formed by a long Baroque building from the 18th century, which today houses the Slovak National Museum and the castle administration.

/Wikipedia.org/

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