In the Dome of St. Martin in Bratislava

Dome of St. Martin is one of the architectonic dominants of Bratislava and a treasury of old sacral art.

When in 1452 the cathedral was festively consecrated, there were placed in it various gothic altars, a baptismal font from the beginnings of the 15th century, senator benches, decorative chairs and stone epitaphs. Out of these objects there have only been preserved the baptismal font, the lattice of the pastoforium and the stone of Juraj Schonberg from the year 1470.

However the most admired artifact is much more younger - it is the sculptural group of St. Martin at the horse by baroque sculptor Georg Raphael Donner from 1734. The sculptural group was a part of the main altar originally.

Within the years 1865-1878, under the leadership of the architect Joseph Lippert, there were gradually, but radically removed nearly all baroque decorations. The main altar was disassembled in about the year 1863. The central sculptural group of Saint Martin was removed from the church and placed outdoors. It came back in 1912, but to another place in church.

New altar is a work of the Vienna sculptor J. Hutterer.

In addition to the altar he also made intimate sculptures of animals and grotesque placed on the neo-gothic benches of the shrine. Carpenter work were made by S. Fűrst.

There are two epitaphs in the shrine: the epitaph of Mikulas Palffy (1601) and the epitaph of archbishop Peter Pazmanyi (1914).

The Chapel of St. John Brother of Charity is located left of the shrine. It was built in the years 1729-1732. G. R. Donner decorated its interior with statues.

The chamber baroque piece of architecture also served as a burying chapel of its donator, a Hungarian religious top representative, archbishop Imrich Esterhazy. Donner placed his statue in lateral niche. The kneeling statue of the humble archbishop is depicted in a rich apparel with a wide lace bordering. The unified interior of the chapel is completed by candelabra and a wall painting.

There are metallic reliefs with passion motive in the Chapel of St. John Brother of Charity.

Opening hours for visitors (not updated):

April-October
Mo-Sat 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (closed between 11.30 a.m. -1.p.m.)
Sunday 1.30 p.m. - 4 p.m.