Business and social complex at Kamenné námestie in Bratislava

The history of the reconstruction and modernization of the center of Bratislava, following significant interventions in the interwar period, continued in 1960 when a competition was announced for a commercial and social center in the eastern part of the city's center. The winner of one of the largest competitions in post-war Bratislava was a project by then thirty-year-old architect Ivan Matušík. The strong late modernist concept of the complex, which consisted of a prominent triangular figure of a department store connected to a high-rise building designed in a classical modernist concept 1), a vertical standing on a long horizontal base slab, was realized almost exactly according to the competition proposal.
However, this was not the case with the overall urban conceptualization, which the architect also elaborated in detail as a new commercial and social center for the city. The planned generous complex with a relaxed building structure, intended to replace the traditional block structure, was a manifestation of contemporary ideas about modern urban development. However, it was only partially realized. In addition to the department store and hotel, three administrative buildings were constructed in their vicinity, which replaced part of the original structure, while the remaining buildings from the 1920s still stand on the square today.
Architect Matušík, despite the partial failure in realizing his broad concept, managed to oversee the execution of all technical and craftsmanship details during the nearly 20-year construction of the complex, the implementation and functionality of which are a rare example of achieving quality architecture even in terms of material during the socialist era. The architect's most significant work belongs to the peak of Czechoslovak architecture of the 1960s and 1970s. In terms of social context, it is necessary to mention that the department store was the first of its kind in Czechoslovakia at the time of its realization. It represented a new model of sales, bringing many technical innovations and exceptional solutions such as retractable entrance portals with thermal shields, patented so-called slotted aluminum profiles for fixing glass display panels and large window openings, a newly constructed detail of the outer cladding of the accommodation part of the hotel with glass cladding, aluminum profiles and travertine window sills, as well as a unique structural solution for connecting the reinforced concrete skeleton of the social part to the steel skeleton of the accommodation part of the hotel. The high craftsmanship of the travertine façade cladding using a flading system is also unique.
In addition to its exceptional technical and architectural work, the complex at Kamenné námestie is known for its valuable artworks and design by contemporary significant Czechoslovak artists, with perhaps the most famous being the carillon on the façade of the department store, also referred to as the Bratislava "orloj" by J. Kočiš. Most of the aforementioned values have been preserved to this day, and despite several unprofessional and insensitive interventions, one can observe an authentic expression of architecture from the 1960s and 1970s at this complex.
This work has been positively evaluated by experts from its inception to the present day. In 1970, architect I. Matušík was awarded the highest domestic architectural prize for the realization of the department store, the Dušan Jurkovič Prize, and he received awards at various exhibitions both at home and abroad 2). Contemporary critics labeled the department store and hotel as extraordinary works, whose concept "has enduring values" and in which "an extraordinary sense of architectural composition and innovation" has manifested itself 3). They saw in them "an inspiring example" for other Czechoslovak cities 4). The department store and hotel at Kamenné námestie in Bratislava is included in every relevant publication on Slovak architecture of the 20th century 5), and after 1989, the work resonates in international architectural discussions 6). It is a regular destination for excursions for architecture students, architects, and the general public from Slovakia and abroad, and in various surveys, it repeatedly ranks among the top ten most significant buildings of the 20th century in Slovakia.
As we have mentioned several times, it is a work that belongs to the pinnacle of architectural creation in Slovakia and is an inseparable part of the identity of our capital city. Therefore, in 2006, the department store and hotel were included in the national and international DOCOMOMO register, and several proposals have been submitted for declaring this complex a national cultural monument. However, regarding the latest proposal sent at the end of 2011, the heritage office has not issued a statement. Previous decisions show that state institutions are not inclined to protect this work, as if wanting to repay its radical intervention into the historical structure of the city. The distancing from history and emphasis on new values, as a stance characteristic of modernist thinking, is undoubtedly part of the history of this work, which also includes the demolition of a block of historical buildings in the center of Bratislava. But understanding the senselessness of the cycle of demolition was the impetus for the emergence of institutional heritage protection during the time of the Great French Revolution 7). That era already conveyed the message to protect all layers of architectural heritage, including those that in the current political and social situation are not yet fully understood and accepted as worthy of protection.

Peter Szalay, Katarína Andrášiová

This article has utilized excerpts of texts from the proposal for the inscription of the Commercial and Social Center at Kamenné námestie as a national cultural monument, submitted in 2011 by the Slovak DOCOMOMO working group.
1) A similar composition was first applied by architect Gordon Bunshaft on the Lever House building in New York (1952). In Europe, it was later exemplified by Arne Jacobsen at the hotel in the center of Copenhagen (1960). It is a characteristic late modernist figure that I. Matušík had already tried out a year earlier in his competition proposal for the town hall in Toronto (1959).“ MORAVČÍKOVÁ Henrieta: Modern architecture in time and the conditions of its sustainability. Architektura & urbanizmus 42, 2008, No. 3-4, pp. 191.
2) The hotel received 1st prize in the Architectural Work Review for the period 1972 – 1973, organized by the Union of Slovak Architects, and 1st prize in the Architectural Work Review for the period 1971 – 1973, organized by the federal Union of Architects in Prague. The department store and hotel also received an award at the international architecture biennale in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1980.
3) Kusý, Martin: The Prior Department Store in Bratislava. Výtvarný život, 1972, No. 3, pp. 12 – 15.
4) Sirotek, Jaromír: The Department Store at Kamenné námestie in Bratislava. Architektura ČSSR, 1969, No. 6, pp. 351 – 357.
5) Let us at least mention some pivotal works: Kusý, Martin: Architecture in Slovakia 1945 – 1975. Bratislava, Pallas, pp. 164, 165; Pechar, Josef: Czechoslovak Architecture. Prague, Odeon 1979, pp. 162 – 164.; Dulla, Matúš – Moravčíková, Henrieta: Architecture of Slovakia in the 20th Century. Bratislava, Slovart 2002, pp. 211 – 215.
6) Novotny, Maik – Konrad, Benjamin: On the Table and Under the Table. Dérive. Journal for Urban Research. 2005, No. 18.; Hurnaus, Hertha: East Modernism. Wallpaper UK. 2005, No 9.; Hurnaus, Hertha: East Modernism. Wallpaper Russia. 2005, No 9.; Hurnaus, Hertha: East Modernism. Magazin der Süddeutschen Zeitung. 2005, No. 19.; Topolčanská, Mária: Prior Store and Kyjev Hotel, Bratislava, Ivan Matušík, 1968 – 1973. A10 2007, No. May – June, p. 70.; www.ostmoderne.com
7) This is also suggested by the very emergence of heritage protection during the massive demolition of heritage sites during the Great French Revolution. See BAKOŠ Ján: Intellectual & monument, Bratislava Kaligram 2004, pp. 69 -77.