Bratislava beyond the postcard: the man in the manhole, the hill above the city and the riverside the walk passes
A statue peering out of a manhole, a hilltop memorial with a view to the Alps, and a promenade that runs from the medieval core to the newest part of the city.
- Čumil
- Free
- Slavín
- Free
- The Danube riverside
- Free, from the Old Town to Eurovea
Every walk through Bratislava passes these three places, and few people know the story behind them: a sculptor who made the city laugh with one statue, a hill that keeps the memory of 1945, and a riverside that was once the edge of town and now leads to its newest quarter.
The worker who made the city smile
In 1997 the sculptor Viktor Hulík placed a bronze statue of a worker peering out of an open manhole, on the corner of Laurinská and Panská streets. It carries no official message or plaque — part of its charm is that passers-by decide for themselves what the man down there is looking at. The statue sits so low that a car once damaged its head, and it's now marked with a small road sign in its honour.
The hill that remembers 1945
The memorial on the hill above the city opened in 1960 as a cemetery and monument to Soviet soldiers killed liberating Bratislava in April 1945. The central figure is a soldier holding a flag, eleven metres tall, visible from much of the city. From the terrace below the monument, on a clear day, the view reaches all the way to the Alps.
3. The Danube riverside: from an old edge to a new quarter
The riverside promenade was once the edge of the city facing the water, and now runs from the walls of the Old Town, under the SNP Bridge, all the way to Eurovea, a modern quarter built on former industrial land. The same walk shows the city's whole range in one stretch — from a medieval gate to glass façades.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
What does the Čumil statue mean?
There's no official explanation — the sculptor Viktor Hulík placed it in 1997 without a plaque, so every passer-by reads the worker's gaze differently.
Is Slavín free to visit?
Yes, the memorial and viewpoint are free to visit, at any time of day.
Ready for Bratislava?
Where to next
What to eat in Bratislava
→Bryndza dumplings are Slovakia's national dish, kapustnica is a soup for a cold day, and a Bratislava roll is…
Trenčín · 108 km
→A castle on a rock above the Váh, the Well of Love cut deep into the stone, and the spa park of Trenčianske Teplice as an easy afternoon after.
How well does Bratislava suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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