Parks and gardens in Bratislava

The parks and gardens in Bratislava have formed a part of the landscape of the capital of Slovakia since the Middle Ages.

Mit beygefúgten Nahmen, aller inn = und Ausserlichen Kirchen, Cloester, Tehoere, Gassen und Häuser, So Anno 1765 Aufgenomen Worden ist (English: Ground plan of King's free city of Pressburg with attached names of all churches, cloisters, gates, streets and houses in both the inner and outer city as captured in 1765).

The plots of land belonging to Bratislava Castle are only shown schematically, showing which parcels are built upon.

The Marquart plan is a colorful map hand-drawn on four pieces of paper glued together to form one canvas of 1249 x 84 centimeters.

It features numerous items besides the map itself - scale, author's signature, coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary, City of Pressburg, Hungarian crown, Explication in Der Stadt - a list of streets and buildings in the inner city, Explication in Denen Vorsted - a list of streets and buildings in the suburbs.

The north-west slope of Bratislava Castle's hill contained three important gardens, Pálffy, Prepostská and Jesenák.

In around 1640, he bought extensive vineyards on the slopes of the Little Carpathians next to his palace and turned them into garden terraces, reinforced with walls.

The Hall was demolished in 1893 and replaced by the State Real School (today the building of Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava).

It was grown with vineyards and fruit trees but also contained homestead buildings, some ploughed land and a vegetable shop, both leased out.

Also, herbs were grown in this garden which were subscribed and delivered to the neighboring Slubek's distillery (Slovak: Slubekov liehovar a likérka).

This garden was acquired between the years 1607 to 1616 by the archbishop of Esztergom František Forgách as the place of the future summer residence of the Hungarian Primates' (highest ranking church officials in the country at that time).

Archbishop Georg Lippay (who was archbishop from 1642 to 1666) had the garden converted into a renaissance garden of Eden by filling it with exotic plants and trees, fountains that used water taken from the mountain springs, artificial caves and a big water pool where horses used to bathe.

It contains a large pool and many items of garden architecture such as benches, staircases, artificial hills, statues and winding walkways.

Slovak botanist and dendrologist Jozef Mišák established an extremely varied and exotic garden.

Today, it is an important bird nesting site in the city, because of its virtual lack of human presence.

[14] In April 2011, the Mayor of Karlova Ves Iveta Hanulíková publicly presented a plan to establish a new park in the Karlova Ves district of Bratislava, located in an area called Riviéra next to Karloveská Street between the Shell gas station and the Allianz company building.

The Sad Janka Kráľa , Bratislava 's most famous park
Statue inside the Koch Garden