Old market hall

The old market hall in Bratislava was once home to a 15th-century bastion, which was the city's fortification. The current building, which served as the first covered market in Bratislava, was opened to its intended purpose on October 31, 1910. The eclectic-style building was designed by the Bratislava architect Gyula Laubner. ; The building dominating the southern wall of the square shows the usual floor plan of turn-of-the-century market halls, which strongly resembles the structure of medieval churches with a basilical layout: behind the airy, classically decorated main facade, pierced with many large window surfaces, a single, three-story space was created for the market. The roof of the hall is supported by steel trusses resting on double rows of columns, with curved trusses at the top. In addition to the large, continuous ground-floor area, balconies on two sides on two levels also served as a circulation space. The central hall was connected to two sides by lower, subordinate rooms, which also had a commercial function, some of which could be accessed separately from the street, while others could be reached via corridors. ; ; The building operated as a market until 1960, then as a TV studio until 1982. After that, it had various cultural functions. It was renovated in 1998, but since no suitable function and maintainer could be found for it, the condition of the closed and only occasionally used, spectacular building has been deteriorating ever since. ; ; On February 12, 1919, a crowd of several thousand protesters gathered in the square in front of the old market hall. The demonstration was not organized on an ethnic basis, but was called by the workers' councils primarily with social demands. Although the demonstration was authorized by the Italian military commander who controlled the city, the Czechoslovak legionnaires nevertheless shot into the unarmed crowd from several directions. This was later justified by the fact that the crowd had thrown snowballs at them. In the resolution of the general assembly of the then appointed council of the city of Bratislava we can read: “It is undeniable that even in cases where the military seeks to justify its armed intervention with provocation, the quality of the reason given cannot excuse the horror of the retaliation.” The volley claimed 7 lives and 23 wounded. The martyrs are buried in the Csalogányvölgy cemetery.