That Bratislava’s Old Town Hall is a striking historic building is hard to miss, but what often goes unnoticed is a cannonball stuck in the tower wall. It has been there since 1809, when Bratislava (called Pressburg back then, and one of the major cities of Austrian Empire) was bombarded by Napoleon Bonaparte. After the bloodbath of the Battle of Austerlitz (1805), Pressburg saw Napoleon sign a peace treaty with Austria. The peace did not last long and only four years later, the power-thirsty Napoleon was again pestering Pressburg with…
