The most beautiful palace in Bratislava was built during 1778–81 to a design by Melchior Hefele, for Jozef Batthyány, the primate of Hungary and archbishop of Esztergom. Its Neo-Classical pink-and-gold façade features a magnificent pediment that is crowned with the archbishop’s coat of arms, topped with a giant-size cardinal’s hat. The figures of angels on the façade hold the letters I and C, a reference to the motto in the cardinal’s coat of arms – Iusticia (Justice) and Clementia (Mercy).

The palace, which is now the seat of the town’s mayor, is partly open to the public. Its most opulent room is the Hall of Mirrors, where in 1805 the Peace Treaty of Pressburg was signed between Napoleon and Francis I, after the French victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. Other first-floor rooms are given to a branch of the Municipal Gallery with a modest collection of paintings and six unique English tapestries dating from 1632, depicting the love story of Hero and Leander. The strikingly bright tapestries were discovered in a hidden compartment during building works in the early 20th century.