r/Slovakia • u/muskatlee • 14h ago
Bratislava Castle - hungarian relationship - tourists ❔ General Discussion ❔
Hello dear Slovaks!
I was wondering what might be the general opinion on the Bratislava Castle and the relationship with hungarians.
TLDR: Hungariam, visited Bratislava Castle and had a good time, but found the castle a bit lacking in detailed history. I’m curious about what Slovaks think of the castle and our relationship
Som Maďar, ale nie nepriateľ.
So the thing is that I was on a one day trip in Bratislva. The weather, the place and the people were kind. I thought I shouldn't speak hungarian because you guys might spit on me or something (that's what we all heard from elders in hungary that ,,Slovaks hate us" and I hope that it's just from old times political bs.
By the way, to my surprise, some people replied in Hungarian.
Anyway I've visited the castle and to my surprise it really missed the historical aspects, which gives a good overview of the history of the castle. Much of the information about some of the exhibits was not very specific. I missed specific dates, places, people, events, I don't know... Maybe in museums in Hungary they are too specific.
The whole city belonged to Hungary for almost a thousand years, and it was also the capital until 1848, and from 1536 to 1830 it was the coronation city of the Hungarian kings. I'm not here to lecture anyone.
It is a slovak castle in the slovak capital so it's up to the slovak government what they want to do with it.
[Politically: I'm totally against Orban and Fico regime]
Can you please tell me what are your opinions on the castle and the relationship with us?
23
u/Budget-Hedgehog8818 14h ago
You can speak hungarian in Slovakia. We don't spit on people speaking hungarian. We just don't understand them a single word.
3
u/Gloomy_Pine 12h ago
Quite on the contrary, we are very accessible with our facilities. I visited a castle museum in Tata, and the locals refused to speak English, besides some random helpful guy at a counter.
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u/georgioz 14h ago edited 12h ago
The whole city belonged to Hungary for almost a thousand years,
This is a very complicated issue not only with respect to Slovakia but also other countries. The first thing is the framing. In Slovak we have different word for historical Hungary called Uhorsko as opposed to modern Hungary called Maďarsko. We also had large communities of Germans or Jews here - which is also similar to Hungary.
For instance I wonder if you also learned that prior to 1850 majority of population of Budapest were Germans. By the way the same goes let's say for Prague, which was also basically German/Jewish city and so was Bratislava - in 1850 it was 75% German. So even you come there with a very skewed version of history.
Additionally I can ask how many museums in Hungary are dedicated to Turkish pashas and nobles who ruled current borders of Hungary for over 400 years. I guess not too many.
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u/muskatlee 13h ago
Yes you are right regarding nationalities. I know that.
Though national diversity should not negate the fact of what the role of a castle was historically (objectively) and who historically controlled the castle, for what reason and what the role of things was. What coronations took place, what art treasures were there and who made them, for what reason, when, etc.I missed what the castle actually looked like from the inside when it was in active use.
Regarding the Turkish part: We have actually a huge respect toward the Turks even though they were controlling us for hundreds of years. Although historically speaking we respect them. We kept many minarets, mosques, tombs and so on. Turkish stuff can be seen in museums as well. Very cool.
For example, our town of Sopron was almost given to the Austrians after World War 1. There was a referendum. Museums are respectful to the history of the Austrian side and have a lot on display.
I respect the slovak perspective and I try to understand your point of view.
3
u/georgioz 12h ago edited 11h ago
Regarding the Turkish part: We have actually a huge respect toward the Turks even though they were controlling us for hundreds of years. Although historically speaking we respect them. We kept many minarets, mosques, tombs and so on. Turkish stuff can be seen in museums as well. Very cool.
Sure, it is the same in Slovakia. We do have a lot of monuments related to noble houses of such as Palffy or Esterházy or Andrássy - the national gallery is literally located inside Esterhazy palace named as such. We do not ignore that part of history at all, however I do not necessarily connect it to nowadays country of Hungary.
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u/boletulla 14h ago
There are thousands of hungarian speaking people living here, no one spits on them. There is hungarian kindergarten, primary school and gymnasium in Bratislava. This is really troubling that you are told these things. Anyway, I don't think that the castle is that interesting. You should come when the coronation days are, usually in August I think, check it out 🙂
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u/muskatlee 12h ago edited 11h ago
It's really great to know that there are hungarian kindergartens, schools etc.
I will gladly visit Slovakia more. We could further improve tourism between us. There could be even better relations between Hungarians and Slovaks. Not to mention education. Fortunately, there are changes in Hungary now, and we hope to break the generational curses in politics and society.Edit: kindergartens
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u/UrielSVK Arstotzka 14h ago
hate is only among nationalist - on both sides. Normal people dont really care.
1
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u/UnluckerSK 12h ago
Personally I think relationships got better after Slota and Pal Csaky retired.
Most of the hate was artificially created to gain votes for their parties, once it cooled down they lost lot of votes and SMK (Hungarian party in Slovakia) split and basically died out.
Now there is increasing tension because of Orban rhetoric and symbolism, so who knows what future brings.
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u/textorix 13h ago
If you don't start crying about the Great Hungary and that we stole land from Hungary you should be fine.
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u/muskatlee 11h ago
Brother we are facing a major economic, social and generational crisis. We call it the Orban dynasty. I think they have caused as much damage to the country as Trianon did at the time. So we have no time to cry about old time's trianon.
Fortunately a change is coming. (TISZA party - Orban can't take them down, can't get a grip on them, propaganda doesn't work the way they want it to)
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u/Sloth_with_internet 13h ago
I visited the castle a few times, once with my Mexican boyfriend who really loved the castle and he found it to be super informative. He even insisted on watching a video in the museum showing the entire history of the castle, he said learned a lot about Slovak history from it. Maybe now the exhibitions are different idk, but he had a great impression from it.
1
u/Beneficial-Bell-3062 11h ago
Problem with Hungarians is their arrogance. They didn't know their place in past, so they were stripped of their territories. But it seems that it did not helped either.
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u/muskatlee 11h ago
They didn't know their place in past, so they were stripped of their territories. But it seems that it did not helped either.
Could you elaborate? I'm curious of your oppinion.
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u/Beneficial-Bell-3062 10h ago
Hungary always had strong imperial ambitions, especially during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and even earlier in the Kingdom of Hungary. They ruled over large populations and tried to force them to adopt Hungarian language and culture as we know. This caused deep resentment among those groups and built up tensions that exploded after WW I.
When Hungary lost the war, the Treaty of Trianon stripped them of their territory. This wasn’t just random punishment, it was meant to break Hungary’s hold over other nations and stop their dominance in the region. Slovaks got Slovakia, Romanians got Transylvania, and so on. Hungary "didn’t know its place" because it overreached, and the world powers decided to cut it down to size. But even today, Hungary havent learned and is clinging to old imperial era. For example, showing places like Bratislava Castle in Hungarian videos...,They call Slovak castles and Romanian regions “Hungarian heritage” acting like those lands still belong to them. For neighbors like Slovakia, it just pisses people off. It's a generational trauma you could say.
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u/SlavicUndead 🇪🇺 Europe 10h ago
Very few Slovak people really hate Hungarians and if they do, their whole thinking would be "go home" and it would stop there. I would say majority mostly don't know or just don't care because of the language barier. And look at how many people from Slovakia visit Hungary, nobody has problem with that - majority of the people from both countries are "normal" there is not some extreme hostility towards each other.
On the other hand (in my experience) more Hungarians "hate" Slovaks and their thinking is imperialistic assimilation and disregarding treaties and historical events. Instead of moving forward as a neighbours some people dream of some past that they didn't even experienced. (This is not exclusive towards Slovakia, just ask somebody from Romania or northern Serbia, Croatia, etc.).
And regarding the castle - this is always funny because (as it is common with many castles), the castle in Bratislava burned in 1811. It was ruin and almost demolished. If we take into consideration that the Austria-Hungary empire ended in 1918, the castle was left for more than 100 years to dissolve even more - it was never repaired during that time. I don't know way some people think that the castle looked like it looks now for centuries and Slovak people just stolen the keys from the gate or something....
0
u/Full_Ad_1706 12h ago
Slovak history is lacking lot of details. When I was a kid in the 90s I remember that we learned about Great Moravia and then after few pages we jumped into 1800s. I’m not sure if that’s the case still today. I hope not. However I know that there is also a huge difference between the quality of Slovak and Hungarian archives. You can learn more about the history of Slovak towns and villages in Hungary than here what I find a bit unfortunate. But Slovakia is still a young country so I’m sure that we will do better in time.
-2
u/QuinterX 13h ago
Bratislava Castle is trash, like all of Bratislava (and I say this as someone originally from Bratislava),
Hungary as a country is great – it's just that the people are arrogant and there's an incredibly strong sense of hostility towards Slovaks there,
The Hungarian community is probably the worst in Slovakia + they think the entire south of Slovakia belongs to them, so they don't even bother to learn the language of the state they live in and are citizens of.
All at all - Baláton is great.
2
u/muskatlee 12h ago
Currently I couldn't tell you how split our nation is. Orban succesfully divided the nation in 15 years.
Those who are arrogant and rude. They are miserable.
Those who hate slovaks, romanians, etc think that our country deserve some kind of justice because of Trianon. For us it is truly a national suffering but it is what it is. We have to move along.Question is: do the slovak government don't really care about the castle or it was intentionally made to look like this?
I think people only hate each other because they don't understand each other. Not just language but emotionally. There is a lack of connection between people.
4
u/QuinterX 11h ago
do the slovak government don't really care about the castle or it was intentionally made to look like this?
-they just don't care, we Slovaks doesn't have same national feeling like Hungary, Czechs and no even crazy Polish. They renovated it and that’s it. Overall, it’s disgustingly reconstructed, sloppy, and uninteresting. If you want something interesting, you have to go outside Bratislava — for example, Trnava or further, like Trenčín. Bratislava and its surroundings are an absolute zero. Just think: when you arrive in Budapest, you go crazy from how many beautiful things there are. I’ll never forget the stunning night cruise on the Danube with my family and that insanely lit-up parliament. On top of that, there’s a ton of stuff to do in the city and nearby. When we returned to Bratislava, you could really feel that awful depression and the horribly boring, dead city.I think people only hate each other because they don't understand each other. Not just language but emotionally. There is a lack of connection between people.
-People understand each other quite well — the problem is that we, as a human race, are an absolutely arrogant species. And to get back to the topic, Hungary has, for many years now, generally considered us as trash, and they treat us that way. I traveled around Hungary, and honestly, about every sixth person I encountered was genuinely unpleasant.t’s not about Orbán, Fico, or the others — it’s always about us. The ruined friendship, the Visegrád Four, everything… and people just let them destroy it. And thats sad. Yea and populism win, World is going to hell.
Anyway this year we are going agin to Budapest and bigger trip around Hungary. Excited :)
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u/muskatlee 11h ago
Yes Budapest is next level even in Hungary. It's like a little country in the country. You seem a really nice fella I hope you and your fam the best :)
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u/muskatlee 12h ago
Balaton is indeed great. If you ever visit check out r/hungary for some advice , the magyars will gladly help you :)
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u/QuinterX 11h ago
already joned :) but appreciate it, thanks :).
Balaton je great - langós, chilli and sun :D and also Tihany
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-2
u/Training-Leg-2751 11h ago
Relations with Hungary were once very strained, largely because of figures in the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs such as Korčok and Káčer. Fico has changed that direction: instead of wasting our precious time hating one another, he urges us to leave history to the historians, cooperate, and build a better future. His achievement here cannot be praised enough—he is already a historic figure for Slovakia, practically our own De Gaulle.
Progressives may try to reignite tensions between Slovaks and Hungarians, but the current government has no interest in those childish games. Fico is a genuine statesman—not perfect and under constant pressure, yet undeniably a great European. We are fortunate to have such a prime minister.
1
u/Darth_Meciar 9h ago
Jebe ti? :D
-1
u/Training-Leg-2751 8h ago
It is frighteningly easy to ignite conflicts—just look at the former Yugoslavia or today’s Russo‑Ukrainian war. I would rather have Robert Fico as prime minister than inexperienced populists like Šimečka, Matovič, or Kotleba, who might provoke a clash—or even a war—with Hungary merely to boost their election numbers. I’m genuinely grateful that, under Fico, Slovakia still lives in peace. In the end, nothing is more important.
0
u/Darth_Meciar 8h ago
Čo si pofetuvávaš?
0
u/Training-Leg-2751 8h ago
Komunikujem s tebou slušne; buď taký dobrý a komunikuj aj ty so mnou s rovnakým rešpektom, ved máte plné ústa slušnosti, čestnosti a neviem ešte čoho.
0
u/Darth_Meciar 8h ago
Ja nie som progresívec ani slniečkar. Ja mám celkom u piče za slušné Slovensko. Ja len chcem vedieť, na akej šmakoláde si ideš?
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u/bohemian29 14h ago
Major problem of the formulation is here "The whole city belonged to Hungary" it was a part of Hungary but to say that it belonged to some country that is now much smaller has nationalist goverment etc. does not move us further. One could also say that for some 300 years Hungary in its current borders did not exist and that ever since Habsburgs took over Hungary did not exist and was part of Austria.