Presbourg / De L’Europe. Figure LX.

Title

Presbourg / De L’Europe. Figure LX.

General view of the city of Bratislava in Slovakia with title banner and Bratislava Castle, also known as Pressburg Castle.

ca. 1680

Artist

Mallet (1630-1706)

Alain Manesson Mallet (1630- 1706 ) was a French cartographer and engineer. He started his career as a soldier in the army of Louis XIV, became a Sergeant-Major in the artillery and an Inspector of Fortifications. He also served under the King of Portugal, before returning to France, and his appointment to the court of Louis XIV. His military engineering and mathematical background led to his position teaching mathematics at court. His major publications were Description de L'Univers (1683) in 5 volumes, and Les Travaux de Mars ou l'Art de la Guerre (1684) in 3 volumes. His Description de L'Universe contains a wide variety of information, including star maps, maps of the ancient and modern world, and a synopsis of the customs, religion and government of the many nations included in his text. It has been suggested that his background as a teacher led to his being concerned with entertaining his readers. This concern manifested itself in the charming harbor scenes and rural landscapes that he included beneath his description of astronomical concepts and diagrams. Mallet himself drew most of the figures that were engraved for this book.

Historical Description

Bratislava (German: Pressburg) is the largest city in the country. It is located on the south-western border of Slovakia at the border triangle with Austria and Hungary, making it the only capital city in the world that borders more than one neighboring country. The city's history has been shaped by numerous ethnic groups and cultures with varying degrees of influence, such as Celts, Romans, Germanic tribes, Avars, Germans, Magyars, Jews and Slovaks. Throughout its history, Bratislava was one of the most important economic and administrative centers of the Moravian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The city was the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1536 to 1783 and in 1848, as well as the capital of the (first) Slovak Republic from 1939 to 1945. In 1968, Bratislava became the capital of the Slovak Socialist Republic (Slovak: SSR) within the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR) and briefly (1990-1992) within the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (ČSFR). It has been the capital of the independent Slovak Republic since 1993.