Summer Archbishop's Palace, Baroque palace in Old Town, Slovakia
Summer Archbishop's Palace is a large Baroque building with white and yellow facades decorated with ornate details across its three stories. The structure sits in central Bratislava and stands out for its decorative elements and symmetrical arrangement of the facade.
An archbishop built an initial residence on this site in 1614 after church leaders needed to relocate from a neighboring city. In the 18th century, the building was rebuilt and received the Baroque forms visible today.
The palace stands on Námestie Slobody, outside the old town walls, on land bought by Archbishop Ferenc Forgách in the early 17th century. Its garden, the Lipai Garden, dates from the 16th century, and the Baroque sculptor Georg Rafael Donner kept a workshop there for almost ten years. Slovak government meetings are usually held here on Wednesdays.
The palace and its English garden are closed to the public except for a few guided hours on one day each year during Doors Open Days, when access is partial and the site gets crowded. The government usually convenes there on Wednesdays, so politicians and media are frequent visitors year-round.
The palace garden once had a special pool built specifically for horses to bathe in. This detail shows how the owners designed the estate and the place animals held in the residents' lives.
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