Bratislava Fortifications

Bratislava Fortifications
Bratislava, Slovakia
The last remaining consistent stretch of Bratislava city walls
Type	City fortifications
Height	Up to 85 meters including the top of St. Martin's Cathedral
Site information
Owner	Slovakia
Controlled by	Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia
Open to the public	Partially
Condition	Mostly demolished, one city gate, a barbican, some bastions and some parts of city walls remain
Site history
Built	13th century
Battles/wars	Siege by Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, Siege by Ottoman Turks in the 16th century

Bratislava fortifications usually refers to the medieval city fortifications of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, of which one gate and two sections of walls remain today. The Bratislava Castle was also heavily fortified. Other fortification systems were built in the following centuries, including a World War I artillery fortification system and World War I shelters, system of bunkers and fortifications built by the First Czechoslovak Republic between the World Wars, World War II aircraft raid shelters, fortifications built by the Nazi Germany in the city during World War II and finally Cold War-era city defenses including a system of 8,602 air raid and nuclear shelters capable of holding over 760,000 citizens, far more than the number of inhabitants. The pinnacle of the communist era city defense was a military rocket base located on the Devínska Kobyla hill, the highest point in the city.

The medieval city fortifications are the system of fortifications of the city of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, of which one gate and two sections of walls remain today. Most of the medieval fortification system was demolished in the year 1775 by the order of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the rest being torn down in the 18th and 19th centuries. The only remaining consistent stretch of Bratislava city walls running from the St. Martin's Cathedral towards the intersection of Na vŕšku Street and Kapitulská Street is inaccessible to the public, despite not only being a tourist attraction but also a valid shortcut in the city center.

Construction of the medieval fortifications in Bratislava (known as Pressburg / Pozsony for most of its history, when belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary) started in the 13th century. By the end of the 14th century, there were three gates leading to the town: the Michael's Gate (north), Vydrica Gate (west) and Laurinc Gate (east). In the 15th century another smaller gate was added: the Fishermen's Gate (south, leading to the Danube). The suburbs gradually grew around the fortification walls, which were fortified in the 15th century with embankments and dykes on the order of King Sigismund, after a Hussite invasion. The town's outer line had five gates: the Kozia Gate, and gates at Suché mýto, Špitálska, Dunajská and Schöndorf (today's Obchodná) streets.