After the gates open, guests are welcomed by a ceremonial opening that marks the beginning of a full day of historical experiences. The castle gradually turns into a vibrant open-air stage filled with stories, movement and live performances.
Visitors can look forward to:
Renaissance dances recreating the atmosphere of a noble court ball
Sword-fighting and historical theatre performances
The story of Richard the Lionheart
The legend of the secret Slavic sword
Performances by the jester Krako
Scenes from the world of 16th-century mercenaries and pikemen
A grand Renaissance knight tournament featuring horseback and foot combat
Live performances of period music, poetry and prose
Medieval Experiences for the Whole Family
Throughout the day, a rich accompanying programme brings additional medieval activities:
Archery and crossbow shooting
Knife throwing demonstrations
Horse riding (wooden and live horses)
Craft stalls and traditional market atmosphere
Interactive games for children
Food and refreshment stands
This event offers an immersive “living history” experience combining entertainment, education, and the atmosphere of the past.
Special Event Dates 2026
Devín Castle will also host full-day historical events on the following dates:
6 June 2026 – Living History & Knights at Devín
1 August 2026 – Living History & Knights at Devín
5 September 2026 – Living History & Knights at Devín
The Marie Antoinette exhibition at Bratislava Castle presents the fascinating story of the Austrian princess who became Queen of France and an icon of history. Visitors can explore her life – from her childhood in Vienna, through the splendor of Versailles, to her tragic end under the guillotine.
Visitors will see original costumes, paintings, furniture, and various objects from the Versailles collections, illustrating the period and lifestyle at the French court. The exhibition also explores historical events that shaped the fate of Marie Antoinette and all of Europe.
For the third consecutive summer, the Blue Church – Church of St. Elisabeth – opens its doors for guided tours accompanied by a live organ concert performed by professional Slovak organists.
Dates: 20 July – 31 August 2026, Monday – Saturday, 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM Duration: 25 minutes Location: Church of St. Elisabeth, Bezručova 2, Bratislava
The guided commentary is presented live in English. Printed texts are available on site in Slovak, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Hungarian. The organ music programme features works by world composers and original improvisations. Photography and audio-video recording are included in the ticket price.
Admission:
Adults: €7
Children under 9 and visitors with disabilities: €5
Groups of 10 or more: €5 per person
No reservation required. Tickets available at the door, payable by cash or card (Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, Revolut). Barrier-free access.
A relaxation zone with refreshments and souvenirs is set up directly outside the church during the events.
The Blue Church is the work of Edmund Lechner, a Hungarian architect of Bavarian origin. Lechner is also the author of the building of the adjacent “Gamča” Gymnasium, then the Catholic Royal Main Gymnasium.
According to research, the original colour of the church was grey. What was blue was made in Zsolnay’s ceramics factory: blue-coloured ceramic tiles were fired for this church and blue ceramic ornaments used on the walls, from which the church got its name.
One of the unique gems of the church is the main entrance. The mosaic above the gateway features St. Elizabeth depicting the miracle of the roses.
The interior of each part of the church was designed by Lechner himself. The craftsmanship and the construction of the building form a stylish whole, an artistic perfection. The chandelier was also designed by Lechner, who interpreted it as a symbolic Old Testament “pillar of fire”.
The collection display will show you a number of themes and aspects associated with religious art, such as Passions, the Holy Family and Folk Piety as well as Original & Copy, and you will stop by a group of the oldest wooden sculptures in Slovakia.
Introducing the entire collection, there are two monumental altar screens by Anton Schmidt from Kremnica. They exemplify the context in which images were most often used in Christian liturgy: as part of the altar wholes.
A statue group by the contemporary sculptor Ján Zelinka brings the exposition to a conclusion, highlighting a further two important themes of Christian art – Pietà and Iconoclasm.
The collection display Sacred Art includes two touch-sound aids for the works Madonna with Angels of Poprad and Ecstasy of St. Teresa. These are primarily intended for the blind and partially sighted, but anyone may use touch to explore relief copies of the works, which are accompanied by audio commentary.
The graphic cabinets — conveniently named “secular” and “biblical” according to the prevailing theme of the graphic sheets — have been preserved as interior wall decoration in two rooms of the representative floor of the Mirbach Palace, likely commissioned by one of the original owners of the building. They contain 290 engravings, etchings, and mezzotints from the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries, secondarily colored by unknown authors.
The secular cabinet houses 84 graphic sheets of French, Italian, and English origin, displayed in individual panels in a four-tiered decorative installation. The collection comprises pastoral, allegorical, historical, mythological, genre, and two biblical themes.
The most extensive group of works is based on paintings by the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. Other interesting graphics include engraved interpretations of works by François Boucher, Charles Joseph Dominiqua Eisen, Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, Pierre Mignard, Louis de Boullogne, Pietro da Cortona, Angelika Kauffman, and others.
In the biblical cabinet, there are 206 graphic sheets of various sizes, exclusively featuring sacred motifs. Impressive works of Italian origin are placed in larger formats in the middle of three walls, while smaller graphics of Dutch, German, French, and Italian origin can be found on the edges and on the east wall. The most extensive series of graphics comes from the Dutch artists Caspar and Jan Luyken, as well as Francesco Antonio Meloni.
Graphic sheets based on models by Jacopo Amigoni, Giuseppe Zocchi, Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Pietro Longhi, Francesco Guardi, and others are also worth mentioning. Several works, for example, based on models by Franz Sigrist d. Ä., Gottfried Bernhard Göz, and the etchers Jakob Gottlieb Thelott, and probably Georg Philipp II Rugendas, were published by the German publishing house of Johann Georg Hertel.
The Crown Tower in Bratislava Castle holds significant historical value. Built in the 13th century, it is considered the oldest remaining structure within the castle. In the 15th century, it was incorporated into the Castle Palace as the southwest corner. It was named after the Hungarian crown jewels, which were kept there, except for intermittent periods between 1552 and 1783. In the present day, the Crown Tower serves various purposes. It houses a small exhibition showcasing the crowns of Hungarian kings, coronation medals, and artwork depicting coronations that occurred in Bratislava.
Furthermore, following its reconstruction, the tower’s upper floor now functions as an observation deck for visitors. From there, one can enjoy panoramic views of Bratislava and even glimpse three countries: Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary.
The exhibition at the Slovak National Museum – Archaeological Museum focuses on the Iron Age and the period of the Roman Empire. It presents finds from mounds from the Early Iron Age – Hallstatt Age from municipalities Blatná na Ostrove, Dunajská Lužná – Nové Košariská and Dolné Janíky. The finds of the Early Iron Age are related to the Celts, who inhabited the territory before the arrival of the Germans and Romans.
The main part of the exhibition is devoted to the Roman period. It presents finds from the Roman camp of Gerulata and from Germanic sites from the Roman period. Of particular interest are the finds from the so-called princely graves of the Germanic elites from Zohor and Vysoká pri Morave, exhibited for the first time. The collection items are complemented by video documents as well as 3D visualizations for research. The exhibition is part of the European Interreg project of the same name.
Resulted in an exhibition, a publication or a 240-kilometre cycle route, the cross-border project In the Footsteps of Legionnaires was created in cooperation with the Austrian municipality of Leithaprodersdorf and the Slovak National Museum – Archaeological Museum.
The aim of this project is to raise awareness among the general public about prehistoric and early history, the period of the Roman Empire up to the Middle Ages, through the life of the Roman legionnaire Marcus Longinus, whose grave was discovered in Leithaprodersdorf. The outputs of the project include the creation of an educational cycle path between the Roman camp in Iža-Leanyvár (Celantia in Latin language) in the Komárno District and the country seat from the Roman period in Leithaprodersdorf, as well as the presentation of the results of archaeological research in the form of an exhibition, a professional brochure entitled Two Countries – Eight Goals, a brochure for cyclists, information boards and a website about the project.
The publications issued for the project include a bilingual professional brochure for the public with a deeper interest in the history and knowledge of architectural and archaeological monuments from selected localities. It contains information about Bratislava Castle, St. Martin’s Cathedral in Bratislava, the Church of the Reformed Church in Šamorín, Devín Castle, as well as four Austrian historical buildings. The second brochure – for cyclists – from the point of view of archaeological finds at particular sites contains, in addition to the map, texts for individual thematic stops: in Iža, Komárno, Veľký Meder, in Blatná na Ostrove, in Šamorín, in Bratislava museums, in St. Martin’s Cathedral and at Devín Castle. The text of the brochure is in Slovak and German and includes a pictorial attachment, as well as a list of 90 sites of archaeological sites and important building monuments along the route.
Another output of the project is the delineation and designation of a 240 km long educational archaeological-historical cycle path, between the Roman camp Celantia in Iža-Leanyvár in the Komárno District and the country residence from the Roman period in Leithaprodersdorf (Austria). These two places are connected by the figure of the Roman legionnaire Marcus Vinius Longinus, who, after his release from the army in Celantia, received for 25 years of military service lands around Leithaprodersdorf, where he lived until his death and where he is buried. The story of his journey was recounted by archaeologists from a tombstone found in Leithaprodersdorf. The cyclist discovers the route taken by veteran Longinus 2,000 years ago.
Information boards (23 on the Austrian and 5 on the Slovak territory) increase the information value of cycling routes, which bring tourists closer to military service in the legion, as well as the provision of military units serving on the Danube border. At the same time, they represent a huge cultural wealth from the time of the Roman Empire, obtained by archaeological research in the forward Roman camp Celantia in Iža, in the Gerulata camp in Rusovce, located in the southern part of Bratislava, in the Archaeological Museum in Bratislava, in the legionary camp in Carnuntum and in civilian settlements built near the border.
