News and announcements
The Devín Amphitheatre has been declared a national cultural monument
After years of disputes, the city of Bratislava has regained ownership of the property and is now planning its revitalization. This process will involve a comprehensive examination of its complex history, presenting an opportunity to generate new significance. What,...
Culture Across / Cultural Bridges through the Morava River
The extensive Devín Castle restoration project, "Culture Across – Cultural Bridges through the Morava River" has been successfully completed. The project encompassed a range of activities. As a result of these efforts, the current complex of Devín Castle now offers...
The Devín Castle Offers Several Improvements. The two year renovation project improved the comfort of visitors and accessibility to the castle site for people with disabilities in particular.
Bratislava, 13th September 2023: The extensive project of the Devín Castle renovation titled Culture Across – Cultural Bridges across the River of Morava started by Bratislava City Museum (BCM) in 2021 has been successfully completed. There were several activities...
One of the first Golden Pins of this year goes to the Devín Castle in the region of Bratislava– based on ratings of Google Maps users
Bratislava, 17th August 2023: Based on reviews of Google Maps users, the Devín Castle administered by the Bratislava City Museum became a top castle or palace in the region of Bratislava. Milan Zálešák, the Devín Castle Manager, received the Golden Pin – After the...
First Phase of Extensive Renovation of the Devín Castle is Successfully Completed
Bratislava, 23rd January 2023: In the last year, the Bratislava City Museum started an extensive project of the Devín Castle renovation performed within the cross-border project Culture Across – Cultural Bridges through the Morava River. Most of the works relating to...
BCM Announced Open Call for Architects and Graphic Designers. The Project Is Relating to the Devín Castle
Bratislava, 24th September 2021: The Bratislava City Museum in cooperation with the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava announced an open call for architects and designers to propose solutions for the visitor infrastructure in the Devín Castle site. The aim is to...
The Iron Curtain Casualties Memorial Was Unveiled by the Queen
On 23 October 2008 during her state call in the Slovak Republic, Elisabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom, unveiled the Iron Curtain Casualties Memorial under the Devín Castle at the place where the Iron Curtain used to stand. Construction of the Memorial was...
Changes to the Borders Followed Changes to the States
The state border under Devín was copying dramatic development in the past centuries. The Morava River represented the border between Austria and Hungary in the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy until the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic. At those...
Taste is hidden behind the variety of meadows
Animals distinguish between particular kinds and species of plants both visually and upon their taste and they can distinguish whether a plant is young – juicy, full of required nutrients, and easily digestible – or it is old, with lower content of nutrients, and less...
The animals put the mosaic together, that’s why it is working
A tractor mower would mow the whole area at once. However, that is end of the biota of the grass. Maintenance of the biotope provided by animals varies both in the space and time; they do not graze everything at once, they create a mosaic. Some parts of meadows end...
Clouded apollo disappeared together with bright forests
Clouded apollo is a butterfly species which prefers grazed bright forests. If the edge of a forest is grazed by animals, it is kept open without thorny bushes and branches of the trees start in the height where animals could not reach them anymore. When there is no...
Devín is the intersection of the roads used by the species
Variety of nature in Devín could be explained by the fact that the intersection of migration corridors is concerned here. Such corridors are very important in the European context. Animals migrating from the south to the north had always been passing this place. They...
The first place where humans started to breed their animals
From the ecology point of view, the interglacial periods are short anomalies only. Whereas the ice ages lasted tens of thousands of years, interglacial periods were very short – just a few thousand years. It happened that the human civilization taking advantages of...
It was a diverse meadow instead of a forest here
We can see a forest on the slopes of Devínska Kobyla, but it does not belong there. It was artificially planted on the rocky slopes at the time of socialism since the slopes were considered ugly and non-productive. At those times, exotic woody plants – Robinia...
The varied geological composition was also shown at the construction of the castle.
Despite its relatively small area (circa 500 x 280 metres), the Devín Castle hill has surprisingly rich geological composition demonstrated in a variety of stones used by the constructors in various periods for building the walls and defence, residential, and farm...
Remains of the original Roman castle were destroyed by the Millennium Monument the removal of which has led to new discoveries.
How could the oldest part of the medieval Devín Castle – the residential tower built on the top of the rock cliff above the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers – look like? The comprehensive construction-historical as well as the archaeological research on the...
Mixed bones as well as nations
An interesting story is behind the skeletal findings uncovered in Devín by the archaeologist Inocent Ladislav Červinka in 1991 and 1992. A church cemetery from the 10th to 13th century was discovered there. The deceased were laying tightly next to one another with...
What are we told by Devín about the lives and traditions of Slavs?
Foundations of the Great Moravian Church of the 9th century belonged to the unique findings in Devín. Three arches – apses – are connected to the main nave which is divided by three partition walls onto other premises – hallway, sanctuary, and one more area almost...
Cyclopean masonry
Using the slang of preservationists, this ironic expression indicates the approach applied in the past during restoration of walls in castles and ruins. When the construction works in the Devín Castle started in the 80s of the 20th century, the goal was to distinguish...
Should we save a tree or masonry?
An interesting situation was resolved during the recovery of castle masonry in 2022 when tree rescuers and monument preservationists got into a conflict. A greengage seed took roots in the masonry in the middle of the site similarly to seeds of dog roses in the other...
The castle walls will be protected by “sitting” plants
Inserting lime mortar back to the castle wall is not a simple process. Except for various additives, lime mortar needs a constant supply of moisture and carbon dioxide as well as protection from rapid temperature changes to be well hardened and as a result turn into...
Where can we find legendary Carnuntum?
Devín is a milestone for the Austrian patriots and Austrian historical science too, who are constantly looking for Carnuntum, the capital of the Kingdom of Noricum. It was founded by Celts after crossing the Alps and occupying the territory to the south from the...
One of the oldest green roofs in Slovakia
The wooden structure protecting one of the most precious sites (cella memoriae) is designed so as to copy the terrain and to be integrated in the castle panorama in a sensitive manner. The wooden structure is carrying one of the oldest green roofs that has ever been...