Bratislava City Museum

Bratislava City Museum
Múzeum mesta Bratislavy
	Bratislava City Museum
Established	1868
Location	Old Town Hall,Bratislava, Slovakia

The Bratislava City Museum (Slovak: Múzeum mesta Bratislavy, abbr. MMB) is a museum in Bratislava, Slovakia, established in 1868. Its headquarters are located in the Old Town, near the Main Square at the Old Town Hall. The museum is owned by one of the 11 allowance organizations of the City of Bratislava.^[1]

The museum documents the history of Bratislava from the earliest periods until the 20th century. The Bratislava City Museum is the oldest museum in continuous operation in Slovakia.^[2]

History

The museum was first founded in 1864 when Bratislava was a part of Austria-Hungary and known as Pressburg. It was created by the Bratislava (Pressburg) Beautification Society at the behest of Jozef Könyöki, a local professor whom wished to take advantage of contemporary public interest in history.^[3] The Maoyr of Pressburg also supported the museum and granted it exhibition space in the Old Town Hall, where it remains.^[3] Following the end of the Second World War and Bratislava falling under communist Czechoslovakia, the museum was forced to promote Soviet ideology and a number of museum employees were removed as a result. In 1976, the museum opened an extension to their exhibition space with a Rococo house, called The Good Shepherd's House, being bought and transformed into an exhibition space for historical clocks.^[4] Following the fall of communism and establishment of Slovakia, the Old Town Hall was renovated to allow the museum to use previously inaccesable areas as public exhibition spaces.^[5]

Displays

The Bratislava City Museum manages eight specialized museums with nine permanent displays throughout the city:^[6]

Museum of the City History: main museum, which displays archaeological discoveries and findings and documents a history of pharmacy, culture, social life and numismatics
Museum of Arms and City Fortifications in the tower above Michael's Gate
Museum of Clocks, housed at the House of the Good Shepherd
Johann Nepomuk Hummel museum
Arthur Fleischmann museum
Janko Jesenský museum
Devín Castle National Cultural Monument in Devín
Gerulata National Cultural Monument in Rusovce.

References

^ "Bratislava - Mestské organizácie a útvary" (in Slovak). City of Bratislava. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2007.
^ "Bratislava city museum - Profile". City of Bratislava. 19 January 2007. Archived from the original on 20 September 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2007.
^ ^a ^b "History of the Museum". Múzeum mesta Bratislavy. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
^ Mallows, Lucy (2007). Slovakia. Brandt. p. 108. ISBN 9781841621883.
^ "Exhibition of the museum of the city history". Meer. 29 March 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
^ "City Museum". Bratislava municipality. Retrieved 14 July 2025.