It’s a short walk this week, but the destination is special, I promise you.
We are in Bratislava and we’ll start this stroll from the river, at the Slovenské Národné Múzeum. The building was designed by architect M. M. Harminec and construction began in July 1925, completing in 1928 and opening in May 1930.
Take time to admire the statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, first president of Czechoslovakia, following the Pittsburgh Agreement of 1918.
Now we’ll head to the left of the museum, walking east along Vajanského nábrežie and turn left onto Šafárikovo námestie. At the end of the street, turn right and immediately left onto Alžbetínska and keep walking until you get to Gajova.
Don’t look to your right just yet – I have something I want to show you straight ahead.
This is Gamča, a public coeducational school founded in 1626 by the Cardinal Petrus Pazmanus as Collegium Posoniense. The current building was designed by Ödön Lechner, the “father of Hungarian Art Nouveau” and built in 1906-08. It was completely renovated in 2008-10. I’m a big art nouveau fan and this such a lovely example – simple, yet beautifully curvy.
Our real destination, though, is a true confection of a building, standing just across the road. It was designed by the same architect as the school and initially served as the school’s chapel.
This is the Church of St Elizabeth, more commonly known as the Blue Church (Modrý Kostolík) – no prizes for guessing why!
The church celebrates the life of Saint Elizabeth and was commissioned in 1907 in response to the 700th anniversary of her birth.
The curves and motifs are beautiful examples of Art Nouveau, the art style that embraced all forms of art and design in the period 1890-1910. This new style was a reaction to the academic art of the 19th century and was inspired by natural forms and structures. Whilst English speakers adopted the French name, other languages used different terms, such as Jugendstil in German and Secesia in Slovak).
The roses that feature in the church design reflect the secessionist style and also the legend of St Elizabeth.
– from “Bratislava” by Lucy Mallows, Bradt, 2005
The ground floor of the church is oval with a 36.8 metre high cylindrical church tower.
The inside is just as beautiful as the exterior, with yet more blue
and a painting above the altar of St Elizabeth handing out alms to the poor.
Copyright Debbie Smyth, 24 August 2015
Travel with Intent 
I’m a big art nouveau fan also and love these photos. The OH has been to Bratislava several times (he works for a company that has its HQ there) and has photos of the outside of this church. Not sure he has been inside. If he goes again I shall have to go with him!
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well done its nice architecture
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Lovely architecture!
~
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The blue church is lovely!
I hope to see you at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/08/bennett-place-bit-of-history.html, and please join us each week for Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)!
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Interesting fence line
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What a neat walk you took. – Those buildings are both amazing. – I really liked the unusual but cool looking fencing in front of that school. – The Blue Church was stunning. So many wonderful details.
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St Elizbeth was a speical lady to have a church build after her. It is beautiful.
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wow! those colors! 🙂
i fixed your link-in to good fences. you had it linked up to the photo of the green gate but not to your blog post here so folks probably couldn’t figure out how to comment. thanks for joining!
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Gorgeous. You’ve made me want to up and go!
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The blue church is really stunning.
Ann
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Lovely post…
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What an extraordinary building, Debs! Like a wedding cake 🙂 I love Art Nouveau and this is a real treat. Two buildings for the price of one 🙂 I hope you’ve got your feet up? You’re only allowed to join me from the comfort of your easy chair.
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I’m trying to do a bit more to see how it goes! But I’m going much slower than usual 🙂
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Hi Debbie,
I absolutely LOVE your blue church–inside and out! Isn’t it fun finding blues to share?
Happy Blue Monday!
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I knew you’d love this one – I thought of you when I found it 🙂
On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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That’s an interesting gem – stored away in case it pops up in a quiz some time 🙂
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P.S. Jo will adore this walk 😀
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I will 🙂
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Hi Jo, I was considering taking you on a similar walk with a visit to thid Blue church, but I wasn’t happy with my photos. Now I’m.relieved that Debbie did it so impeccably.
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She did a great job! You should wait until you’re fit for walking 🙂 🙂
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Hi Debbie, I must say your photos of “Blue church” are great. It’s no use shooting it from the street like I did with all the cars in front and with an ultra-wide angle it looks too funny, but you my dear did great 🙂
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Oh thank you Paula!
I was pleased they looked so good – it was a grotty grey day
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My day in Bratislava was grey too. Btw, Masaryk has streets named after him in several towns in Croatia (he is the foreigner with most streets named after him in my country) 🙂
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I had to google to see if there’s one in UK. There doesn’t seem to be but there is one in Mexico City!
On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 1:39 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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Crikey! 😀
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Wow thanks for sharing your photos. What a beautiful building and I love that green fence too
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It shows great attention to detail when you make your fence look good too 🙂
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Stunning! Thank you.
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I adore Liberty style , as it’s called in Italy ,and this post fascinated me…..
Beautiful shots and story so well presented!
And the title: a treat
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Glad you like it And I didn’t know it’s called Liberty style in Italy – thanks for the info
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