Komárno is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Historically it was formed by the “old town” on the left bank of Danube, present day Komárno in Slovakia, and by a “new town” on the right bank, present day Komárom in Hungary, which were historically one administrative unit. Following World War I and the Treaty of Trianon, the border of the newly created Czechoslovakia cut the historical, unified town in half, creating two new independent towns in two countries. Komárno and Komárom are connected by the Elisabeth Bridge, which used to be an official border crossing between Slovakia and Hungary until border checks were lifted due to the Schengen Area rules. In 2020, new, second road bridge was opened.

Komárno is Slovakia’s principal port on the Danube. It is also the center of the Hungarian community in Slovakia, which makes up 53.8% (2011 census) of the town’s population. The town is the historic seat of the Serbian national minority in Slovakia.

Sights

The majority of the historical and cultural sites, including the town center of the former Komárno, were well preserved and remain to this day.

• The whole modern fortification system in Komárno represents a very important monument in Slovakia and also in Hungary with relatively well-preserved elements. The bastion type fortresses in Komárno were built from the 16th century until the end of the 19th century. The first fortress of this type in Central Europe was the Old Fortress which was completed by the so-called New Fortress in the 17th century. Komárno and Komárom were one city during the Austria-Hungary era, that’s why there are additionally three fortresses on the Hungary bank of the Danube river, Star (Hungarian: Csillag), Igmand and Monostor.
• Europe place – The Europe Place in Komárno belongs to modern monuments in the Danube Region. It is an unusual collection of buildings typical of many European countries. Every single house on The Europe Place represents one of the 36 countries and regions through a distinctive architectural features. In the courtyard there is a Sculpture gallery “Europe”, which presents the monarchs and famous historical figures.
• Danube Region Museum – exhibitions: The historical development of Komárno and its environs from the prehistoric age until 1849 and the ethnography of the region – There can be seen a selection from the museum´s archeological collections in the first three rooms of the exhibition. The Celtic, the Roman and the late- Avar finds are more remarkable. In the next two rooms guild relics, things from the times of the Turkish expansion and others connected with the history of the Komárom castle can be found. The historical gallery – A selection from the earliest and most valuable works of the collections of the fine arts from the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century can be seen in the Ceremonial Hall of the museum.
• Building of the Museum and Bibliothek – This building was built in the 19th century in romantic style and originally functioned as a tax office. The house of Kálmán Ghyczy stood once in this place, who was a representative of the town, a Member of Parliament and a financial minister. Here is one of the departments of the Szinnyei Library on the gorund floor today and we can see the nicest pictures of the Museum´s gallery on the first floor.
• Calvinist Church – The church was built in Classicistic style, they started to build it in March 1787, and already in September 1788 it was consecrated. The tower was built in 1832 from stone, and it was the highest point at that time in the town.
• Elisabeth bridge – The bridge is built over the River Danube. For more than 100 years, it has been linking two cities that once formed one city and were divided by the first Czechoslovak Republic. The name “Elizabeth” was given to it after the wife of King of Schönbrunn. It is a border bridge between Komárno and Komárom. At the half of the bridge is a line that divides our republic with Hungary.
• Filagory of Mór Jókai – Móric Jókai, commonly known as Mór Jókai, the “great storyteller”; was a famous Hungarian writer. He was born in Komárno. The island Elizabeth Island “as the people of Komárno know” had a strong influence on the young writer. Here, on the island was the Beöthy-garden, where the literary elite regularly met to discuss the political, economical, philosophical, and literary issues of the era.
• Klapka Square – Today’s square was created at a place of a small lake, which was formerly protecting by the walls of the medieval city. A marketplace was created there later. On the north side of it, at the end of the 17th century, there was a town hall for council meetings. In 1725 it was rebuilt. After major damage caused by the earthquake in 1763, it was restored in 1766 and supplemented in the following year by a fire guard tower. After a fire in 1848, the building was renovated again, but it was necessary to enlarge it, so in 1875 it was updated by a new watchtower, creating a town hall in the way we know it today. In the window of its tower, from the New Year’s Eve 1999 between 10 am – 4 pm every two hours, a figure of a hussar from 1848/49 appears in two-hour intervals and plays a song written for the hero Klapka.
• Limes Gallery – The church was built in 1677 by the Franciscans. Under the construction of the temple was a funeral purpose serving, which was after the flood in 1965 sanded. In 2001, the management of the town of Komárno commissioned the Civic Association Pro Arte Danubii to transform the church into a place for the presentation of cultural values. The building was then renamed to Gallery Limes. Its mission is to present contemporary domestic fine arts.
• Officer´s Pavilon – The 19th-century neogothic styled building served as a residence for officers and their families of the imperial and royal army, who served in the fortress of Komárno. On the ground floor there was an officer’s casino. On the front of the building you can see the inscription VIRIBUS UNITIS (in unity is the power), which was the slogan of Emperor Franz Joseph I.
• Palace Zichy – The building of the Zichy palace was built on the main square of Komárno, and for centuries it played an important role in the history of the city, being used as a theater, residence, synagogue, post office, cellar and for various other purposes. On June 28, 1763, a huge earthquake struck Komarno. Zichy’s palace was also damaged by the earthquake. According to the sources, today’s building was rebuilt in 1775 by Ferenc Zichy in a classicist style. Today, the palace is used by the Danube museum, where visitors can find an exhibition about the local history and the memorial rooms of the natives of Komarno, Jókai Mór and Franz Lehar.
• Roman Lapidarium – The Roman Lapidary awaiting its visitors from 1993 in the south rondella of the rebuilt Bastion VI . Most of the carved stone monuments date back to the 2 – 4 century AD and comes from the two fortifications protecting the one – time border of the Roman Empire.
• St. Andreas Cathedral – On the site of today’s church stood an older church, which was destroyed by the Turks in 1594. The church and a monastery was completed in 1763 thanks to the Jesuits. In 1763 an earthquake struck the church, but it did not deter the Jesuits from rebuilding the church. The fire in 1848 seriously damaged the church. It was rebuilt from charity in 1860.
• St. Rozália Church – The church was built between 1839 and 1844 in Classicistic style, probably after the plans of John Pack, who was the second main architect of the Esztergom Basilica. In the courtyard of the church is a Calvary of 14 stations, which together with the façade of the church were restored in 2010.
• Statue of Béni Egressy – In the year of the 170th anniversary of the Hungarien War of Independence of 1848/1849, was the nearly three-meter-full-length statue of Béni Egressy inaugurated, the work of the sculptor János Nagy.
• Statue of Mihály Csokonai Vitéz – Hungarian poet
• Statue of Ferenc Lehár – The king of operettas from Komárno
• Statue of György Klapka and the Town Hall – Today’s square was created at a place of a small lake, which was formerly protecting by the walls of the medieval city. A marketplace was created there later. On the north side of it, at the end of the 17th century, there was a town hall for council meetings. In 1725 it was rebuilt. After major damage caused by the earthquake in 1763, it was restored in 1766 and supplemented in the following year by a fire guard tower. After a fire in 1848, the building was renovated again, but it was necessary to enlarge it, so in 1875 it was updated by a new watchtower, creating a town hall in the way we know it today.
• Statue of Hungarian King László V. – He was the son of the king Albert I. and Elisabeth von Luxemburg (the daughter of the king Sigismundus von Luxemburg). Ladislaus was bornon 22. February 1440 in Komárno, 4 months after the death of his relative young father.
• Statue of St. Stephan – Opposite the Park of Franz Lehár, there is the statue of St. Stephan – the first Hungarian king.
• Statue of Mór Jókai – Hungarian writer
• Statue of the Stone Virgin – The statue of a young girl, which symbolises the invincibility of the Fortress, is located on the westernmost tip of the Madonna Bastion in the New Fortress. The girl holds a laurel wreath in her hand and there is a Latin inscription “NEC ARTE NEC MARTE” under the statue, which means: Neither by trick nor by force.
• Synagogue – Today the center of Jewish religious and cultural life in Komárno, Menház is the compound, built in 1896, that comprises the former Jewish old age home and its synagogue.
• The Court of Komárno – This palace was built in neorenaissance style in the 19th century, as it can be seen on the marble table placed in the vestibule. The District Court and the District Prosecution reside here up to this day.
• The Rental Building of the First Savings-Bank in Komárno – It was built in the 19th century according to the plans of Béla Ney, an architect from Budapest. At first, the eclectic building was the home of the First Savings-bank, then after the nationalization several ambulaces of the District Health Centre (so called policlinic) settled here. Since 2011 it is the property of the town Komárno.
• The Statue of Holy Trinity – In 1703, they were afraid of a rebellious enemy. People of Komarno prayed to the holiest divinity to gain protection. They primised to build a statue for the Holy trinity. The enemy took their reception graciously and the natives did not let this city be destroyed by enemy weapons. They forgot to keep their promise and thought that they were punished for that. From 1710 another danger threatened the population: the plague epidemic arrived to Komárno. There was a day when over half of a hundred people became victims of the disease. Immediately, after the plague epidemic, only a wooden trinity statue was temporarily built on the city market. The stoned version of the present sculpture was completed in 1715 on Sunday, on the day of the Trinity.
• The Water Tower – It was built in 1902 in romantic style. It stands on one of the highest grounds in town. It is 28 meters high, and is the connection point of the two pressure pipes that run through the town. In 1880 the water needs of the town were still supplied by the rivers Danube and Vah.