Presburg

Presburg (Ger. Pressburg, Hung. Pozsony), a town of Hungary, stands on the left bank of the Danube, 40 miles by rail E. by S. of Vienna and close to the Austrian frontier. It is backed by the spurs of the Little Carpathians, and is a pleasant town. Its principal buildings are the cathedral, a Gothic edifice of the 13th century (restored in the middle of the 19th), in which the kings of Hungary used to be crowned; the church of the Franciscans (1290-97); the town-house (1288), with a natural history collection; the parliament house, in which the Hungarian representatives used to meet until 1848; and some private houses. The royal castle (1645) was destroyed by fire in 1811, and is now a ruin. There is an academy of jurisprudence and philosophy. The chief objects of manufacture are beer, dynamite, wire, starch, spirits, confectionery, biscuits, &c.; and there is considerable trade in corn, sheep, cattle, swine, and wine. Pop. (1890) 52,411. Presburg grew to be a prominent town during the 11th and 12th centuries, and was frequently chosen for conferences and meetings between the rulers of Austria and Hungary. From 1541 (when the Turks seized Buda) down to 1784 it was the capital of Hungary. The town was taken by Bethlen Gabor in 1619, by the Austrians in 1621, and was bombarded by Dávoát in 1809. Here on 26th December 1805 Napoleon concluded a treaty with the emperor after the battle of Austerlitz.