Grassalkovich Palace
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The Grassalkovich Palace (in Slovak Grasalkovičov palác) or the Presidential Palace (Prezidentský palác) is a palace in Bratislava and the seat of the President of Slovakia. It is situated next to the Summer Archbishop's Palace.
The building is an impressive Rococo/late Baroque summer palace with a French garden. It was built in 1760 for the Count Anton Grassalkovich, a Croatian noble serving as the head of the Hungarian Chamber (a kind of ministry of economy and finance of the Kingdom of Hungary), by the architect A. Mayerhofer. It features many beautiful rooms and an impressive staircase.
The building became a center of Baroque music life in Bratislava. Joseph Haydn presented here the premières of some of his works. Count Grassalkovich also had an own orchestra and his “colleague”, Count Eszterházy, used to “lend” him his favorite conductor Joseph Haydn. Grassalkovich was Empress Maria Theresa’s minion, so the palace was used for various balls and parties of the Habsburg royal court. For example, it was Haydn who conducted the orchestra, when Empress Maria Theresa’s daughter was marrying Albert of Sachsen-Teschen, the governor of the Kingdom of Hungary (see Bratislava Castle). Ľudovít Štúr is said to have declared his love to his great love Adela Ostrolúcka for the first time during a ball organized by archduke Stephan Franz Viktor (Buda 14 Sep 1817–Menton 19 Feb 1867), son of the Palatine, Joseph. The last owners of the palace before the end of Austria-Hungary were the archduke Friedrich of Teschen with his wife Isabella of Croy-Dülmen.
In the years 1939–1945, the palace was the seat of the president of the First Slovak Republic (i.e. of Jozef Tiso). During the Communist era, it was first (after 1945) the seat of the Council of Commissioners (also styled Corps of Plenipotentiaries), which was a quasi-government of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. In 1950 the building was turned into the “Klement Gottwald's House of Pioneers and the Youth” (Dom pionierov a mládeže Klementa Gottwalda), which was an activity center for Bratislava’s schoolchidren (all of whom were so-called pioneers at that time). The schoolchildren caused a lot of damage to the palace, so that a necessary restoration became possible following the transition from Communism in late 1989 (Velvet Revolution).
After its reconstruction in the early 1990s, on September 30, 1996 the palace became the residence of Slovakia’s president. Its once-large gardens are now a public park, complete with a statue of Bratislava-born composer Jan Nepomuk Hummel. During Christmas time, the palace is illuminated in “Coca-Cola” style (see External links).
