In the city of Bratislava, capital of Slovakia

 Although WWII thwarted the Slovaks’ first vote for independence in 1939, sovereignty was achieved on January 1, 1993, some three years following the Velvet Revolution -- the collapse of the communist regime that had controlled Czechoslovakia since 1948.

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(in in the southwestern part of Slovakia, along the Danube River, where that river has cut a gorge in the Little Carpathian Mountains near the meeting point of the frontiers of Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary. The city of Bratislava occupies both banks of the Danube and the left bank of the Morava River, it is the only national capital that borders two sovereign states. The city's history has been influenced by people of many nations and religions, including Austrians, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Jews, and Romani. It was the coronation site, legislative center, and capital of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1563 to 1783; eleven Hungarian kings and eight queens were crowned in St Martin's Cathedral. Most Hungarian parliament assemblies were held here from the 17th century until the Hungarian Reform Era, and the city has been home to many Hungarian, German, and Slovak historical figures.

+ Bratislava is now the political, cultural, and economic center of Slovakia. It is the seat of the Slovak president, the parliament and the Slovak Executive. It has several universities, and many museums, theaters, galleries, and other cultural and educational institutions. Many of Slovakia's large businesses and financial institutions are headquartered here.

.+ Archaeological evidence suggests prehistoric habitation of the site, which was later fortified and settled by the Celts and Romans -- and in the 8th century, it was inhabited by the Slavs. The community developed as a trade center and was granted the rights of a free royal town in 1291. The first university in what was then Hungary, the Istropolitana Academy, was founded in 1465. Bratislava served as the Hungarian capital from 1526 until 1784, when most of the middle Danube basin was in the hands of the Turks, and the Hungarian parliament continued to meet here until 1848. (The Habsburg rulers were crowned kings of Hungary in the city’s Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin.)

+ This city is known for its huge castle, which stands on a plateau 100 meters above the Danube. The castle was the residence of the Austrian royal family until it was destroyed by fire in 1811; it has since been largely restored. In 1741 Empress Maria Theresa of Austria fled to Bratislava when Vienna was threatened by French and Bavarian troops. The 1805 "Peace of Pressburg" was signed here by Napoleon and the Austrian emperor Francis II, after the Battle of Austerlitz, in the city’s Baroque Archbishop’s Palace. Following WWI, Bratislava was made the capital of Slovakia in the Czechoslovakian Republic, and it remained the capital when Slovakia emerged as an independent nation in 1993 (A mosaic of history, Bratislava still has a medieval and Gothic Old Town.)