Hodžovo námestie

The square is located at the edge of Old Town, in front of the Slovak Presidential Palace, some 5 minutes walking distance from the historical city center.

A fountain called Earth — planet of peace is the centerpiece of the square, serving as one of the most common meeting points in the city.

Landmarks on this square include the Rococo/late Baroque Grassalkovich Palace from the 18th century and former Hotel Forum, an example of post-modern architecture in Bratislava.

During the Communist era, it was first (after 1945) the seat of the Council of Commissioners, then in 1950, the building was turned into the "Klement Gottwald House of Pioneers and Youth" (Dom pionierov a mládeže Klementa Gottwalda), which was an activity center for Bratislava's schoolchildren called pioneers at that time.

Astoria Palace has 7 floors above ground and it includes mostly administrative (office) space, its main tenant being Ernst & Young.

Moreover, the underpass remained much the same as when built under socialist realism, with one exception being a significant reduction of space to make more room for small shops.

In place of the building, there was formerly the square itself, meaning mostly empty space consisting of a busy bus stop.

The area also contained benches to sit while waiting for the bus and constituted a logical ending of the square from its side.

Because of this structure, the bus stop shrunk several times and it is now prone to draft, as cold wind sometimes blows through the narrow passages of the Astoria Palace ground floor.

Project by Ľubomír Závodný, Matej Siebert, Radomil Kachlík, Peter Vavrica in 1999–2001[3] Construction started in November 1999 and finished in December 2001.

The project is by Julián Hauskrecht and others (Boris Džadoň, Štefan Ďurkovič, Juraj Herman, Dušan Krepop, Ján Poláček, Pavol Suchánek) with additional input into the interior design by Alain Marcot and Slobodanka Dragovičová.

Except for additional sitting space, it was used by citizens of Bratislava to disperse a little bit at an often crowded public transport stop and it allowed for pleasant views over the busy Poštová Street.