Čeština
Among all the publications about the city of Bratislava, you would hardly find a guide to its modern architecture. And yet a large part of the city is made up of the style, which was born simultaneously with the formation of Czechoslovakia. Modern architecture was also the topic of the recent successful exhibition of Czech and Slovak architecture, which was presented in Prague Castle and later brought to Bratislava Castle; it was met with great public interest and the duration was even extended twice in Bratislava.
What has been built in the city of Bratislava over the past hundred years and who are the architects of these works? How has the opinion on what is “modern” changed? Which world renowned architects have left their mark here? Where have our architects studied or worked? What architectural peculiarities can you find in the city? Does our architecture have any world records? What fates, policies or tragedies befell its creators?
This book provides answers to these questions and many others. On two hundred pages you will find biographies and portraits of over a hundred architects, arranged alphabetically from A to Z. For each of these architects, we will introduce their key architectural work in Bratislava: you may find large and distinctive buildings, such as shopping centers, as well as quite inconspicuous pieces, such as a family house built of straw.
You will learn about the founding fathers of our modern architecture, Dušan Jurkovič, Emil Belluš, and the strict functionalist -author of Nova Doba- Friedrich Weinwurm. There are also portraits of post-war creators of the new Bratislava, such as the author of the SNP bridge Jozef Lacko; Štefan Svetko – the author of the radio building, or the urban planner of Karlová Ves and Petržalka, Stanislav Talaš.
However, the book also deals with contemporary, or in a broader sense, modern architecture of the last three decades, from large shopping and housing complexes and foreign stars such as Zaha Hadid at Sky Park, to inconspicuous works that sensitively unite the city. Such was the postmodern house on Palackého Street by the Ivan Marek collective from the 1980s, and most recently this trend is being followed by residential blocks on the site of the former red-light district by the collective of the youngest creators included in the book, Juraj Benetin and Matej Grébert.
One hundred years of modern architecture, and one hundred architects who shaped it – this is the contents of the book, which will be released to the public in May, 2025 in Slovak (Moderná architektúra Bratislava a jej architekti 1925 – 2025) and English (Modern Architecture of Bratislava and Its Architects 1925 – 2025). The book is published by the International Festival of Architecture and Urbanism Architecture Week Prague. The editor-in-chief is Professor Matúš Dulla, who cooperated with a wider team of authors on selected topics. At the professional level, the author collaborated with the Department of the Chief Architect of the Municipality of the Capital of the Slovak Republic Bratislava under the leadership of Juraj Šujan. The creation of the book was made possible by the support of many institutions and partners who share an interest in the development and popularization of modern architecture in Bratislava.
Matúš Dulla