Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
3. The settlement structure of Slovakia
The settlement structure of Slovakia increased, since the Hungarian national assembly moved to Pozsony [Bratislava] in 1536 due to the threatened position of Buda, the capital city in the middle of the country. It was the temporary capital city for 300 years, until 1848, which also meant that the administrative centres of national importance were also built there. The wealthy members of the Diet had their mansions built in this city so that they could stay there during the politically active periods. The city became the centre for the social life of the aristocracy, and a cultural centre, too. The buildings and the quality of the services provided in the town were developed to such a high level in the course of centuries that it was an obvious choice for the capital city of the new Czechoslovak power. If the new power had really intended to develop a city with national Slovak traditions into a capital city, then it would have chosen another town. Considering Slovak historical memory, they could have found a more suitable town for this purpose among the settlements not far from the Tatras. Besides Nyitra [Nitra], the first princely seat, the towns Liptószentmiklós [Liptovský Mikuláš] and Turócszentmárton [Martin] also came up, but Besztercebánya [Banská Bystrica] could have been suitable for the purpose, as well, especially if it had merged with Zólyom [Zvolen]. Apart from being important central towns of the Slovak national past, Slovak politics and culture, they were located in the geographical centre of the country (with the exception of Nyitra [Nitra]), so these towns would have been much more suitable for playing the role of a centre for the whole country than Bratislava, which has an eccentric location on the western edge of the country, in the ‘corner’ close to the Austrian border. Mention must be made of the fact that there was one more centre of the new Slovak national consciousness, its strengthening and literary and political manifestation in historical Hungary, and this was the city of Buda. The new victorious power, however, wanted to grasp the opportunity to take over and occupy the former, though temporary, capital city of the enemy, with its royal castle and coronation church, for administrative purposes. In this way, since it was neither a cultural nor actual political centre of Slovakia, Bratislava became its capital city purely for political reasons. It did not even have an accepted Slovak name. They mostly used the name Prešporok, derived from the German word Pressburg. After October 1918 the Slovak press proposed the name Wilsonovo mesto (Wilson Town). In March 1919 the Czechoslovak power named it Bratislava*. Though the largest town of the part of the country which had been torn away from Hungary was indeed Bratislava, neither its size nor its politi64
