The bourgeois Renaissance house No. 10, known as the Rómer House, is one of the original preserved buildings on Zámočnícka Street and documents the historical development of medieval Bratislava before the Terezián period. The house was built in the 16th century in the Renaissance style, later expanded and baroque-modified.
In the 19th century, the house underwent a classicist façade renovation, and a porch element was added to the courtyard façades. The house retained its residential function except for the ground floor, which was adapted for commercial purposes. Later, the façade of the house was restored to its original Renaissance appearance with painted corner masonry.
Especially noteworthy are the Renaissance and Baroque vaults, the wooden Baroque ceiling from the 18th century, the entrance portals, the roof cargo dormer, and the Baroque roof structure. The house also features magnificent cellars.
František Floriš Rómer, mentioned above, was born in the house in 1815.
Florián Rómer was the author of works on the artistic and historical monuments of Pest and other towns. His work on old wall paintings in Hungary, published in 1874 in the edition Monumenta Hungariae archeologica, is considered the first Hungarian monograph in the history of art and historical archaeology.
He also left behind a manuscript containing a multi-volume dictionary illustrated with his own drawings, which represents a rare source for the study of the history of art and artistic monuments.
He is regarded as the founder of modern scientific Hungarian archaeology. Thanks to him, for example, an international anthropological and archaeological congress was held in Budapest.
In addition, he was a founding member of the Hungarian Historical Society and a co-founder of the City Museum in Bratislava.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the house was owned by the Zimmerman family, who operated a wine tavern here. We have beautiful historical photographs from this period, which were gifted to us by the descendants of this family living in Austria during our visit to the Rómer's House. These images capture the atmosphere of the house in its pleasant courtyard as well as the sale of wine on the ground floor and in the cellar spaces.
The Rómer's House continued to be associated with wine. In the 1970s and 1980s, it housed a very famous winery, the Great Franciscans.
NT Activities
Currently, the Rómer House is owned by two Evangelical church congregations, which leased it to our organization, National Trust n.o., in 2013 for a long-term period.
Our goal is to restore this valuable architectural-historical monument in a way that preserves its unique historical environment, architectural, artistic, and other values. Given the nature of the building as well as the real financial possibilities, a gradual restoration of the monument in individual stages was chosen as the principle.
At the beginning of the process, an inventory of heritage valuable elements was carried out, and project documentation was prepared with a focus on the object to obtain a building permit.
In 2016, restoration of the original arches and openings, restoration of the entrance gate, and restoration of the gallery and original floor level in some rooms were completed. Inappropriate construction additions were also removed, new sanitation facilities were built, doors and frames, the original wooden staircase were restored, and new heating, water, and electrical systems were installed.
In 2017, the internal facade of the building was restored, and the interior spaces were modified for a café and office spaces. In one of the ground floor rooms in the courtyard, a unique wooden historical ceiling was discovered.
In 2018, it was possible to open a café (Prešporák, later U Rómera, now Rómer's House) and office spaces in the building. For the purposes of the café, the courtyard is also used for outdoor seating during the summer. The courtyard also serves for cultural events, concerts, readings, or lectures.
Despite the slowdown caused by the pandemic, we continued our work in 2020. A dendrochronological survey was conducted to identify the period of the wooden ceiling's origin. The felling of trees used to make this ceiling was dated to around 1725. At the same time, a restoration study of the ceiling was also carried out.
In 2022, the restoration of the so-called vaulted room at the entrance to the building was completed, along with the restoration of the upper part of the Renaissance staircase. Thanks to financial support from the BSK and many individuals, the second phase of the restoration of the wooden ceiling was completed, as well as the entire so-called Rómer's room, including the presentation of the medieval stone wall.
Further planned steps
In the next steps, other parts of the monument will gradually be restored, such as the roof with the baroque load-bearing dormer, the original roof structure of the building, the basement spaces with the original Renaissance staircase, and the Renaissance outer facade of the building.
A special part of the restoration will also be the renovation of the courtyard of the building in the coming years. After lowering the level of the courtyard, we plan to make garden modifications and add suitable greenery.
Tickets
Adult: 4 Euro
Discounted admission – seniors 60+, students (15 – 26 years), disabled persons and their escorts: 2 Euro
Children up to 15 years: free entrance
Members of National Trust o.z. and holders of a membership card with the International National Trusts Organisation logo: free entrance
Photo gallery
