Mirbach Palace
Building, structure
Opposite the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation is a secular palace built around a beautiful inner courtyard with hanging corridors, the Mirbach Palace, which is the elegant embodiment of the so-called Bratislava Rococo. The palace was built by Bratislava brewer Michael Spech between 1768 and 1770. The symmetrical, 11-axis main facade of the two-story, late Baroque-style, gable-roofed house interestingly also features two carriage gates, which lead to a rectangular courtyard enclosed by the rear wings. The palace, which is perhaps the most beautiful Rococo building in the city, was designed by the Viennese architect Mathias Hölriegel. ; In addition to Count Imre Csáky (whose coat of arms can be seen in the tympanum), its former owners include Baron Vay and the Nyáry family. Its last owner, Count Emil Mirbach, donated the palace to the city of Bratislava on the condition that a gallery be established in it. ; The building was declared a protected monument in 1963, and in 1975 it underwent a complete renovation. The Bratislava City Gallery of Fine Arts was then opened here and still operates there today ; It is currently the gallery with the second largest collection in Bratislava after the Slovak National Gallery.