THE TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM IN BRATISLAVA - www

The representants of the technical inteligentsia in Slovakia apprehended the fact, that the Slovak cultural heritage couldn’t be complete without the transport monuments before more than 3 decades. The first groups of collectors and protectors of the technical monuments began to be formed in the 60 tieth years. The railway enthusiasts after finishing the steam running in the railway and the collective abolition of the steam locomotives so as the collectors of the historical motorcars who have constructed and restored their private collections of the historical motorcars and motorbikes, came with the idea to create an institusion which would be orientate towards the traffic and railway transport. Their private activities resulted in the recovery of a significant number of historical motorcars, motorbikes, steam locomotives carriages and various technical equipments. In 1972 in Bratislava it was established the oldest Veteran Car Club in Slovakia. In 1973 it was found the Circle of Railway ’s Friends and in 1977 there was set up (organized) a proffessional (expert) group of the railway transport history by the Company (Association) of the Transport In 1983 it was established the Monument (Memorial) of the Railway Transport in Slovakia by the Administration of the East Railway of the Tschechoslovak Railways. The nonrecorded technical railway transport monuments have gone upon its administration. In that time the Slovak Republik was the only state in the Middle Europe without his own specialized transport museum. So the founded (systematized) collections of the road traffic and railway transport documents have made the preparing of a real scheme for a museal institution feasible. The aim was to set up an institution for the protection of the collections which should represent a complete wide spectrum of transport equipment as well as a recovery net for those historical transport equipments, which couldn’t be kept up in a good condition by the collectors and/or contemporary owners and which could be endargered because of their extinguishment or export abroad. In 1998 it was signed an agreement between the Slovak Technical Museum and the Slovak Railways that have desided to rent a suitable area. The representants of the Slovak Technical Museum, Veteran Club from Bratislava, the Museal Documentary Centre of the Slovak Railways and the company PPA Controll a.s.-as the main sponsor of the project of the transport museum have concluded an agreement where the cardinal rules of the museum ’s activities were assigned, such as the keeping the original ownership of the exhibited objects and the owners ’obligation to preserve (keep) them, as well. The first exposition was installed from the collections of the members of Bratislava Veteran Club, the collections of the Slovak Railways and the exhibits from the Slovak Technical Museum.
The exposition: The exposition is composed of the representative means of transport from the traffic and railway history. The exhibits were lent by the Association of the Historical Motorcars in Slovakia, the Railways of Slovak Republik, the Slovak Technical Museum and by the private collectors. In the area of 1 500 m2 there are exhibited unique historical bicycles, motorcycles, motorcars, special lorries and firecars, representative railway carriages, steam locomotives and railway equipments.
The seat of the museum:The seat of the museum is located in Bratislava, in the capitol of the Slovak Republik. It is situated in the building of the former first railway station in Bratislava, in the freight room of Bratislava’s main station, in the place of thetraditional railway and road traffc contact. The museum is situated in the northern part of the central Bratislava’s area, directly connected with a contemporary Main Station. It is limited by the streets Pražská, Šancová and the Main Station,in a one-storey building with an exterior (outer) exposition of 5 trucks trackage led along the building.
The nearer orientation: The area behind the building of the Railway Police Direction of the Slovak Republik between the square Predstaničné námestie and the street Pražská. The access leads from the footbridge over the Šancová street or by the sloping slip road from the corner of the Šancová and Pražská streets.
Exposition: The exposition consists of a permanent exposition of the means of transport of the road traffic and railway transport. The Railways of the Slovak Republik made a major contribution to its first presentation by providing exhibits of the truck transport so as the Association of the historical motorcars in Slovakia by lending exhibits of the road traffic and exhibits relating to the transport history from the funds of the Slovak Technical Museum, as well. The exhibited collections of the representative means of transport still remain in a private ownership (property) of these institutions and private collectors. The development of the road traffic is in the museum presented by a wide car collection from the couches and first motor self-propelled vehicles through the motorcycles, motorcars and lorries from the period between two world wars up to the vehicles from the seventies. There we can also see historical bicycles - velocipedes,so-called "high circle" by trademark Singer,an unique wooden bicycle from 1920, motorcycles, motorcars, special lorries and firecars. In two exhibition halls there are almost 100 motorcars, 25 historical motorcycles and a lot of technical accessories. From the representative motorcars there are exhibited for example: state limousines with the trademarks Škoda, Tatra, Mercedes-Benz or an American Buick in a excellently restored condition, two motorcars with the trademark Praga, motorcycles marked Böhmerland, or some historical firecars Škoda. The visitor’s attention can be excited to the diorama of the car repair service with a hand petrol/filling. The cars and/or vehicles take regularly part in various veteran events. The railway transportation is represented by steam locomotives 534.0471 and CP 600, the accumulation steam locomotive without the heating block from 1946 CN 40, railway carriages for people from 1885 up to 1960, waggons from the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries and the only steam crane in Slovakia exhibited in the trackage. Then there are motor draisines Tatra and Varšava and the historical pedal operated draisine.Seasonally this exposition is completed by other representative historical railway cars from the collections of the Railway of the Slovak Republiks. Very interesting are also the diorama of an transortation office, a collection of various signalling aids and other exhibits such as: distant signalling device from the 19 th century, signalling telephone devices, lighting units from that time, gas lamps, radios, dummies in the historical railway uniforms. The authors of the graphic conception are E.Kovačevičová and G.Fudala, who endowed the static exhibits with an original atmosphere of that time.