The Universitas Istropolitana (since the 16th century frequently – but incorrectly – referred to as Academia Istropolitana) in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

( hu, Pozsony / german: Pressburg) was arguably the third university to be found in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

and the first

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

to be founded in the territory of present-day

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

. Despite its brief existence (1465–1491), it features prominently in Slovak

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...

Name

The word "Istropolitana" is taken from the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

name for Bratislava, ''Istropolis'', which means "

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

City".

History

It was founded in 1465 by

Pope Paul II Pope Paul II ( la, Paulus II; it, Paolo II; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in July 1471. When his maternal uncle Eugene IV ...

on the request of the Hungarian king

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...

. It was the only university in the

at that time, although historically not the first in the kingdom. Many well-known lecturers from Austria, Italy and elsewhere taught at the school, such as Galeotto Marzio ( :de:Galeotto Marzio) and János Vitéz.

Regiomontanus Johannes Müller von Königsberg (6 June 1436 – 6 July 1476), better known as Regiomontanus (), was a mathematician, astrologer and astronomer of the German Renaissance, active in Vienna, Buda and Nuremberg. His contributions were instrument ...

served as the chair in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

while the court astrologer for Corvinus, Marcin Bylica, was the chair in

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

from the university's inception.Hayton, Darin. (2007) Astrology and Politics in Renaissance Hungary. Centaurus Vol. 49. p. 188. The university ceased to exist around 1490 after the death of Matthias Corvinus.

Building

When a wealthy local citizen Gmaitl died in 1467 and his real estate became the crown's property, king

decided to use them to house the university that was being established. The

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

university building still stands in Bratislava, currently housing the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, situated at Ventúrska street 3.

References

Bratislava City - Academia Istropolitana
1465 establishments in Europe 1490 disestablishments in Europe Educational institutions established in the 15th century History of Bratislava Education in Bratislava Buildings and structures in Bratislava {{slovakia-university-stub

Name

History

Building

See also

References