History - The Slovak Spectator

Vila K, Nitra, western Slovakia

The house that waited nearly a century to be seen

For decades, Vila K was just another ageing building. Now, after a careful restoration, it tells a story that is part architecture, part memory, and wholly human.

Dominika Cunevová

Students from Bratislava’s universities gathered on 21 November 1989 in the main hall of Comenius University and outside the building, expressing clear support for the movement of Prague university students.

Slovak schools and universities rethink schedules after November 17 holiday scrapped

Government move to end day marking fall of communism forces educators to adjust plans and look for new ways to commemorate it.

Compiled by Spectator staff

A portrait of Jozef Ignác Bajza on an epitaph by Alojz Rigele, based on a model by sculptor Jozef Pospíšil.

The first Slovak novel finally speaks English

Two centuries after its scandal and censorship, Bajza’s René reaches readers worldwide — and still startles with its wit and ambition.

Peter Getting

Typical mining houses in Hauerland, Slovakia.

Piargy Mine: Kremnica’s German heritage

After 500 years, where was their homeland?

Branislav Chovan

Archaeologists in central Slovakia have uncovered the remains of what is believed to be the oldest church in the Pohronie valley.

Child’s grave and 12th-century church uncovered in Slovak dig

Archaeologists working in Ostrá Lúka say the find is the earliest sacred architecture in the valley.

Compiled by Spectator staff

An intact grave of an adult woman from the pre-Slavic period. Since the Slavs cremated their dead, few skeletal remains have been preserved.

How the Slavs shaped Europe, without leaving a trace

With few graves and no writings, the Slavs’ story was long obscured. New genetic evidence reveals the migrations that shaped their many identities.

Renáta Filo

President T. G. Masaryk and Edvard Beneš resting after a horseback ride, Topoľčianky (1928).

Q&A: When a president called a priest a fool

Political scientist Tomáš Jahelka explores T. G. Masaryk’s uneasy relationship with Andrej Hlinka — and what their clash reveals about the strains of the First Republic.

Lukáš Onderčanin

Slovak politician Andrej Hlinka directed his criticism chiefly at the country’s highest political leadership, embodied by President T. G. Masaryk and Foreign Minister Edvard Beneš (both in the picture).

Masaryk’s secret letter, hidden for decades, reveals a leader’s private words

Dictated by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to his son, the document blends reflections on death with advice for governing a fragile, divided republic.

Lukáš Onderčanin

1930s postcard of Gelnica

The golden age of Gelnica

From mining boom to "hunger valley".

Branislav Chovan

The port of Hamburg was one of the intermediate stops for Slovak emigrants, a photo from 1919 (LC-A6195- 7514).

How Slovak immigrants to America created a community for themselves

Pennsylvania became the actual centre of American Slovaks.

Kristína Chromeková

Nové Zámky (1915)

Nové Zámky and the fall of a fortress town

Built to protect central Europe, the town’s bastions became a symbol of power — until Emperor Charles III ordered them destroyed.

Branislav Chovan

During excavation work in Bratislava, an unexploded shell was discovered. In the photo, municipal police secure the area on Landererova Street on 8 September 2025.

Second World War bomb discovered during building works in Bratislava — evacuation planned

Police shut down city-centre street after workers unearth giant American-made device.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Archaeologists have uncovered a rare Celtic sacrificial pit during renovation works at Trenčín Castle in western Slovakia.

Bones of Celtic sacrifice victims found at Slovak castle

Archaeologists find gruesome Late Iron Age burial site with remains of at least five people – including a child – beneath Trenčín Castle.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Bratislava-Vienna train in 1915 with Savoy hotel in background.

The start of the Bratislava-Vienna train

The Third Reich put an end to the train from Petržalka.

Branislav Chovan

Nearly 80 urns containing cremated remains were uncovered at Domaša, eastern Slovakia.

Receding waters at Slovak reservoir reveal Roman-era burial site

Nearly 80 urns containing cremated remains were uncovered at Domaša, a rare find in the country’s north-east.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Children in summer camps fire the air rifle occasionally.

The Slavia air rifle: A Cold War export that outlived the regime

Some of the model lines were exported even to the West.

Jozef Ryník

The village of Malé Leváre during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The unique architecture of Malé Leváre

From “village of death” to safe haven.

Branislav Chovan

The Chrástky archaeological site in western Slovakia was known mainly to academics and local history buffs. Now, thanks to a newly opened educational trail, it is accessible to anyone with an afternoon to spare.

Step back 4,000 years! Ancient burial site opens to the public

A tiny village has opened a trail through ancient mounds, Slavic relics and a statue of the nation’s first saint – built entirely by locals.

Compiled by Spectator staff

Wall of skulls in St James’s Chapel, Bratislava

Beneath a bustling square, a hidden chamber of bones

Under Velvet Revolution Square in Bratislava lies an ossuary lined with hundreds of skulls – a medieval reminder of the city’s long, layered history.

Oscar Brophy

Bratislava from the North (1830–1840)

Where stones remember: the shifting fortunes of Bratislava

From Celtic hillfort to Roman acropolis, from Mongol raids to baroque reinvention – the evolution of Bratislava is etched into its very stones.

Oscar Brophy

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