St Martin's Cathedral is the oldest and most historically significant church in Bratislava. Construction began in the 13th century on the site of an earlier Romanesque church, and the Gothic nave was completed in the 15th century. The church served as the coronation site of Hungarian kings from 1563, when the Ottoman occupation of Buda forced the Hungarian court to relocate to Pozsony (the Hungarian name for Bratislava).
The interior is less showy than some Habsburg-era churches but has genuine weight. The equestrian statue of St Martin dividing his cloak — created by sculptor Georg Raphael Donner in 1735 — dominates the south chapel. The original lead statue is now in the Baroque Museum; the one on display is a copy. The church is still active as a cathedral and hosts regular concerts in the evenings.
The cathedral stands directly beside the SNP highway, which was controversially driven through the old town in the communist era, demolishing a section of historic buildings and the old Jewish quarter to make way for the bridge and its approach road.