A walk across the town

We start our walk across the town centre near by the unique bronze Statue of a man breaking his crutches, the famous symbol of Piešťany. This masterpiece of academic sculptor Robert Kühmayer (1933) stands at the Colonnade Bridge entrance (the Colonnade Bridge replaced an older wooden bridge between the years 1930 and 1932). The bridge was designed by Ing. arch. Emil Belluš and constructed by the company Pittel and Brausewetter. The etchings in the glass The songs of Detva  and In the shepherd's cottage were designed by  academic painter Martin Benka and placed on the bridge in 1936. The bridge's facades are decorated with the signs: Saluberrimae Pistinienses Thermae (The Healing Spa of Piešťany), taken from a commemorating poem written by Adam Trajan Benešovský (1642), and Surge et ambula (Stand up and walk), a biblical text placed on the bridge according to the design of professor Daniel Rapant. The bridge was destroyed by the German Nazi Army in 1945 and renovated according to the original project in 1956. The Colonnade Bridge is a world architectural unique and it belongs to the longest covered bridges (156m) in Slovakia. Many visitors, having had a view from the bridge, decide to take a cruise on the river to the protected water reservoir Sĺňava. Others remain to look at the iron Country bridge, which was constructed according to the project of Ing. Činčara and Ing. Grebník and the town has been using it since 1932. Some visitors might decide to go for a walk along the other Piešťany bridges (Spa, Bodona, or a footbridge, the so called Swaying). Only several tens of metres from the Colonnade Bridge there is a house with a memorial plaque on the front wall. In this house, Ivan Krasko (1876-1958), a notable Slovak poet and translator lived from 1947 to 1958. The memorial room of Ivan Krasko was opened to the public in 1976 and there are still original furniture and facilities of a work room and Ivan Krasko's living apartment.

Walking from the Colonnade Bridge, it is possible to take a short peaceful break in the chapel consecrated to the Divine heart of Jesus. This one-nave neogothic building was built in 1897. On leaving the chapel, you can glimpse a wooden building, out of style of its surroundings being of a German architectural style. The architect and owner of the building was photographer Gustáv Löger who decided to build a house for the spa visitors in Piešťany in the end of 19th century.  Currently, this house is the Secondary Electrotechnical School's hostel.

In the neighbourhood, there is the Hospital established when the three therapeutic centres (Sanatorium of Dr. L. Schmidt and Dr. E. Weisz, Palace Sanatorium of Dr. J. Brežný and King Villa) were united into the one complex. Opposite to the health complex, there is the Klara and Alexander Villa dated to the beginning of the 20th century. It is also used for therapeutic purposes.

If visitors decide not to try hospitality of the Eden and Jalta hotels, they could still visit one of the many restaurants in the main Winter Street, a part of the pedestrian zone. The Eden and Jalta (known as Excelsior in the past) hotels were designed by a Piešťany architect, Ing. Pavol Weisz' of the European style, by the above mentioned company Pittel a Brausewetter between 1929-1930. The beginnings of the remarkable historical building Bezovec - František's Villa date from before 1806. The building was named after the owner of the Spa Piešťany, the count František Erdödy during the time of its reconstruction from an original casino to residential villa (in 1895). Currently, the villa is used for commercial purposes. The oldest building in the Winter's Street is the original Noble Pub (Kurhotel), the current Headquarters of the Slovak Healing Spa, Inc.. There is a mention of this place "as the pub for nobility" dating back to 1642. The building has been rebuilt several times, significantly after the big fire in 1822.

The second memorial plaque is on an interesting building with an art nouveau facade, revealed in 1990. The building, also known as the Green tree, was owned by Ľudovít Winter and his wife Leona Schauer from 1903 to 1968. It was mostly his business activities that brought unprecedented development to the spa and to the town of that time as well. The main street of the pedestrian zone was named after him in 1991 and he was justly awarded (in memoriam) with a Piešťany Citizen of Honour title in 2002. Since 1903, the original hotel building has been a children health centre, still its current use.

Tourists can visit an exhibition room of the Old Pharmacy situated opposite to the Green tree building. The pharmacy was already fulfilling its pharmaceutical mission during the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy.

Having enjoyed a view of the Colonnade from a bench in the town park, visitors can pop in the premises of the Cultural and Social Centre Fontána, or choose something from an offer of the House of arts, situated further. The sacral architecture lovers will certainly continue in their walk to the Evangelical Church, which was built in the neogothic style according to the project of Ján Krátky thanks to the significant financial contributions of the German speaking citizens. The two Jewish synagogues (orthodox and neo-logical) that stood nearby the church are not seen today due to their insensitive improvement of the sanitary conditions in the past. Just behind the church there is the one of the first labour hospitals in Slovakia called Pro Labore that was established with a merit of Alexander Winter, the oldest from the Piešťany Winters family. It was him who charged Budapest architect Ignác Alpár with reconstruction of older stable premises into the hospital in the years of 1893-1894. The hospital soon became very famous thanks to an excellent doctor Eduard Weisz. After the World War II. the building was used as a base of the beekeeping company Facet.

However, the walk does not end here. Visitors might be discovering further and further picturesque nooks with many plastic arts and fountains, or they can cross the river Váh and admire a beauty of the Spa Island.