Bratislava

There might be some debate about whether Bratislava is a “rubber capital”; however, it is truly the capital of Slovakia!   Slovakia, with a population of 5 million, is the World’s largest producer of cars on a per capita basis!  The country of Slovakia produces over one million automobiles per year.  And where ever there are automobiles, there are rubber products (tires, hose, belts, seals, etc.)  Also, in relation to rubber, two of the world’s larger Continental tire plants are located in Puchov, Slovakia.

The PMA or Polymeric Materials in Automotive, regularly schedules conferences in Bratislava.  During these meetings, the PMA will dedicate one symposium to rubber and the other to plastics.  Also, the International Seminar of Elastomers (ISE Conference) has met in Bratislava as well. Bratislava also hosted the International Rubber Conference (RubberCon) in 2011.  Bratislava is strategically located near other large cities that might also be thought of as “rubber capitals” as well.

  • 50 miles from Vienna, Austria
  • 127 miles from Budapest, Hungary
  • 208 miles from Prague, Czech Republic
  • 433 miles from Warsaw, Poland

Bratislava’s largest technical university is the Slovak University of Technology with over 18,000 students.  Also, Bratislava is only 99 miles away from Tomas Beta University in Zlin, Czech Republic. Tomas Beta does a significant amount of work for the rubber industry.

Bratislava (also known as Pressburg) is the largest city in Slovakia with 450,000 people.  The River Danube runs through it. Bratislava is geographically close to both the Austrian and Hungarian borders.  Now Bratislava is the economic, cultural and political center of Slovakia.  However, Bratislava has seen much in historic changes as shown below.

  • 833 to 907 CE: Part of Moravian Empire
  • 907 to 1867 CE: Part of Hungary
  • 1867 to 1918 CE: Part of Austro-Hungarian Empire
  • 1918 to 1939 CE: Part of Czechoslovakia
  • 1939 to 1945 CE: Part of 1st Slovak Republic
  • 1945 to 1992 CE: Part of Czechoslovakia
  • After 1992 CE: Slovakia

Sites to see and things to do in Bratislava are listed below:

  • Bratislava Castle (up on the hill)
  • Martin’s Cathedral
  • Slovak National Theatre
  • Michael’s Gate
  • Devin Castle
  • Franciscan Church
  • Old Town Hall
  • Slavin War Memorial
  • Blue Church of St. Elizabeth
  • Most SNP (commonly referred to as “UFO Bridge”)
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