Talk:Bratislava/Archive

Maj: I moved Bratislava/Timeline to Talk:Bratislava/Timeline. The idea being that we don't normally have subpages in the guide, but we occasionally use subpages for working on the guide in the Talk: namespace. Does that make sense? --(WT-en) Evan 11:30, 24 Feb 2004 (EST)

Why is this page such a extlink magnet? I went through the current set of five extlinks, and found no evidence that any of them are in any way official web sites. If anyone feels like adding one back, or adding a new one, could you PLEASE write a note into this talk page saying what link you're adding, and why it is official? And please only link to English language sites (which presumably, official sites should have). Thanks -- (WT-en) Colin 13:40, 3 Sep 2004 (EDT)

Ext. links

Hi,

I have added bunc of external links, because many people find it helpful. Yes, maybe for cities such as London or Paris, no external links are needed, because each city is described overhelmingly. However, as you can see Bratislava is marked as being stub, so it could help people to extract some facts/data etc. from external sources. And at last but not least: it could help people finding some real information and not just this empty space. So, don't be so rude, sometimes external links serve its purpose. (WT-en) dusoft

Thanks for responding! Our policy for external links is at Project:External links. So some comments:

• We really do appreciate you helping out!
• The stub message means "please add more content." It doesn't mean "add stuff that we wouldn't permit if this article was more complete" :-).
• We do allow linking to Open Directory. If people who are browsing would be served better with an index link, please link to them as described in Project:Links to Open Directory. This allows us to push the problem of deciding which external links to use onto the Open Directory project.
• And if you're wondering why we're so strict about this, there are two reasons: first, many webmasters try to use us as link farms to promote themselves. By disallowing most external links, we prevent this. Second, we want our guide to be useful when printed out. External links are of course useless when printed on paper, so we try to keep external links to a strict minimum.
• Thanks again for helping out! -- (WT-en) Colin 10:43, 13 Sep 2004 (EDT)

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you think our policy is wrong, it's always okay to start a discussion about it, and we welcome your input. The place to discuss a change in the Project:External links policy is Project:External links -- (WT-en) Colin 11:17, 13 Sep 2004 (EDT)

Removed Slovak message

I removed what seems to be a personal invitation in what I guess is Slovak:

Mili priatelia, potrebovali by sme sprievodcu Bratislava City tour. Jedna sa o skupinu s Thaywanu. Islo by o tour asi od 16.00, priblizne 2 hod. Podrobnosti by Ste dohodli s ich sprievodcom. Prosim o rychlu odpoved. Dakujem a ostavam s pozdravom. E-mail posielajte na adresu: majerkmk@stonline.sk

It might also be a listing for a tour guide. I'm not sure. --(WT-en) Evan 07:50, 25 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Someone was trying to find a tourist guide for a group of tourists from Taiwan. Really bad grammar, by the way. (WT-en) Michal Stankoviansky 15:10, 19 April 2009 (EDT)

Paste for reworking

I think this could be turned into a major attraction listing or broken up into separate attractions. (WT-en) Maj 12:36, 19 September 2006 (EDT)

• Old Town Hall (Stará radnica) The Old Town Hall (1421) is now the Municipal Museum (Mestské múzeum), complete with many small collections. The complex began its life in the Middle Ages as a series of buildings, which were connected together in the fifteenth century after the city government purchased the central structure. It had always been used as the seat of the free royal town's municipal self-government, headed by a city administrator. Like the tower in St Martin's Cathedral, the Town Hall's Gothic tower was used for defensive purposes. The entrance to the city museum, established in 1868 (the oldest such museum in Slovakia) leads to the city archive and torture chamber exhibits. Its neighboring building, the Unger House, has a well-known statue of St Ladislav on the exterior. The Old Town Hall is an excellent example of adaptive use buildings in the capital city. Rather than build a new structure, cities would often merely connect multiple buildings or add multiple additions. This was due both to space and budgetary constraints. Begin downstairs in the entryway, where there is a collection of old Bratislava postcards and a large silver plaque listing the various names of Bratislava over the years. To the left is a brass model of the city dating to 1945-55. Just before the stairs there is a eighteenth century sandstone model of the city's coat of arms. Go upstairs to the ticket desk (25 Sk, 10 reduced for students and worth every crown). In the first case there are diplomas and seals from the Elizabeth University (Alžbetínska univerzita), named after the infamous Sissi (Empress Elizabeth), Emperor Franz Josef's wife. It had three faculties (what English-speakers would call colleges): natural sciences, medicine and philosophy. The black coat was ceremonial attire for the mayor. Immediately behind the case is is a large painting from 1878 of Mayor Henrich Justi putting such a uniform to work. The next case displays eighteenth century medical instruments and dental advertisements. In the corner nearest the wall is a "homeopatická lekárnička" (homeopathic pharmacy) kit from Leipzig, dating to the end of the last century. It contains opium and chamomile, among other natural drugs. Before the synthetic drug boom in the latter half of this century, Europeans almost exclusively relied on homeopathic remedies. They are still more prevalent there than in the United States. Culturally, there is a lot more faith in the natural remedies than in modern medicine and with good reason - they are effective without many side effects, and they don't create new drug-resistant strains of bacteria the way Western antibiotics do. The third case contains award-winning Slovak wine (or the empty bottles, anyway). Wine is a traditional Slovak product, but it isn't consumed at almost every meal the way wine is in Italy. The last case in this room contains some imperial Hungarian awards and a well-preserved ladies' dress and parasol. What's interesting about this museum is the very ordinariness of some of its relics. But these give an excellent glimpse into the past of a country, in a way king's crowns and sparkling jewels cannot. Step through into the second room, which contains beautifully embroidered church vestments, small devotional books in Hungarian and German and a menorah. Some other Jewish relics are close to the door. Where the second room is almost all religious objects, the third represents industry. There is a spice cabinet from an old grocery store, an old sewing machine and a fascinating case in the center of the room with money from all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The 2-crown note says "2 crowns" in all the languages of the Empire (Czech, Polish, Russian, German, etc). These date from 1917. Go into the fourth room: in the case to the left there is a huge, symbolic "Key to the National Theatre" from 188, presumably given to visiting theatre luminaries. Just before the door, to the left on the wall there is a facsimile of the Preßburger Tagblatt ("Pressburg" was Bratislavas German name before 1919, "Tagblatt" is daily news) announcing the start of the first World War (1. svetová vojna). Step through the entryway into one of the prettiest rooms in the museum. On the right wall there is a copy of a Gothic Madonna from St Clare's and two fifteenth-sixteenth century Gothic christening bowls in the center of the room. The stained glass windows and barrel vaulted ceiling lend a very calm, peaceful Gothic air to this mostly modern museum. The next room is even more important. On the far wall are mayoral regalia, including sash, sword (made for Blazej Beham in 1150), mace and a small bell dated 1680. On two pillows in front of the window the ceremonial "keys to the city," as well as a sandstone lion clutching the city symbol (originally from a Renaissance city fountain in Frantiskanskom namesti) and a facsimile copy of the 1439-1517 Bratislava Land Register. The back of the room contains a Gothic madonna in a large wall niche. Look to the left at the red, white and black designs on the walls - yes, some of those are swastikas! Before the Nazis commandeered this as their symbol, it was an Indo-European good luck sign seen on pottery and other archaeological evidence many, many centuries old. This room is where the mayor and his council met. In the next room there is an elaborate molded plaster ceiling (the acanthus leaves and swirls which predate the shell motifs of Rococo mark this room as Baroque). There's a wonderful view of the square from this room, and a 1913 model of the city in the time of Maria Theresa showing Bratislava's onetime moats. There are legal documents and the first (1311) brass seal of the city. Rondels scattered around the room commemorate visits to the city by the king and other luminaries. Think of those as the Franklin Mint commemorative plates of their day. The next room has an amazing painted ceiling reminiscent of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, but its guild signs and paraphernalia are even more interesting from a social history perspective. On the left hand wall, look at the iron "sign of the pretzel maker" (1741). On the wall to the right of the exit door are two beautiful signs meant to hang over a clockmaker's and a locksmith's respective doors. In the days before most people were literate, these signs told shoppers what was available inside. They remained in place even when more of the populace learned how to read, and were used as directional signs instead of numeric addresses. Prague has many of these still in place in its Malá Strana district such as "the house of the three violins." Bratislava, unfortunately, does not have as many. The Pharmacological Museum (see Michael's Gate entry below) does, though. For a taste of Bratislava's Celtic (Boii) past (there were Celtic tribes this far east - the Cotini in northern Slovakia and the Boii in Bohemia,Moravia and western Slovakia, which gave the Czech land Bohemia its name, are two examples) walk into the next room, which houses coins from this distant past, as well as more recent examples (1722). Going down the stairs into the next room, there is a sandstone symbol of Hungary coupled with an explanation of how Bratislava became the Hungarian capital during the Turkish occupation of Buda. In the large case nearby there are coronation medals from the rulers crowned in Bratislava's St Martin's during that time. Behind the staircase is a case filled with jewelry that would have been worn by a Hungarian noble to such a coronation or other special occasion. Pass through the next room of religious relics to a room filled with amazing eighteenth century furniture. The fabric on the chairs and loveseat dates to the first half of the eighteenth century, as does the inlaid wood secretary. Culturally important here is the typical white enamelled iron stove in the corner. The iron, once heated from within by a wood or coal fire, would emanate heat into the room for hours. It was a more efficient and cleaner means of heating a room than an open fire, and wouldn't risk damaging the furniture. These stoves were very expensive, and one this big would have been affordable only by the very rich, but they are widespread in palaces across Central Europe. This particular stove is very plain - some could be quite elaborate, covered in ornate fired ceramic tiles or other decorations. The reason it is seated in a corner niche is to reflect heat back into the room, like a Rumford firebox in a fireplace which, while quite narrow, forces the heat back into the room with its design. Wonder what Georg Raphael Donner, the Baroque sculptor whose work is everywhere in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, looks like' His picture is to the right of the mirror in this room, near the collection of antique globes. The two fancy glass mirrors here are Murano-style glass probably imported from Venice. Skip the next two rooms and look at the Slovak Secession/Art Nouveau pottery in the case to the left and the large modern sideboard to the right. Go up the stairs, past the dollhouse and into a room filled with late nineteenth century household goods. In the case to the right of the door there are some early twentieth century savings account books from various Bratislava banks. How's that for everyday' Not many museums would preserve such ordinary artifacts, but it's easy to step back in time and imagine taking this to the bank, maybe making a deposit or checking one's balance. Go through the next room, filled with an incongruous display of Egyptian mummies. Exit and go through the door to the left and down a spiral staircase to visit the old city jail. The jail is a miserable place, and it's easy to imagine how terrible it would have been here as a prisoner. In the first room down the large hall, there are posts to chain prisoners to, and on the right wall, an executioner's mask. Turn left and walk down the hall to see some cells - presumably the giant stone pit was a combination toilet and trash receptacle. Either that or someone tried to make a pretty daring escape!

Strikethrough

I rolled back a strikethrough on the page. If there's a need to delete something, let's just delete it. --(WT-en) Evan 10:28, 11 December 2006 (EST)

Devin

I printed out this guide and it used to say devin was 5Km was which is an easy 1 hour walk. whereas it is 12Km and the pavement just ends... if it ever gets reinstated plz correct before someone else ends up walking on the road for 3 hours...