Devínska Nová Ves

Devínska Nová Ves (Hungarian: Dévényújfalu, Croatian: Devinsko Novo Selo, German: Theben-Neudorf) is a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Its western borders are formed by the Morava River, which also forms the national border between Slovakia and Austria.

Devínska Nová Ves is notable mainly for its large Volkswagen factory, for Sandberg, a world-known palaeontological site, where many fossils of prehistoric animals are found, and for the a cyclist bridge over Morava river linking it with Schloss Hof in Austria. Devínska Nová Ves is the last train station in Slovakia on the railway line from Bratislava to Vienna.

Among other things, it is home to the largest Croatian community in Slovakia. Croatian is still spoken here, as well as in Čuňovo and Jarovce, villages on the southern bank of the Danube. The wider presence of Croatian settlers is represented by local place names such as Chorvátsky Grob.

Devínska Nová Ves borders Devín to the south, the river Morava and Austria to the west, Záhorská Bystrica to the far north-east and Lamač and Dúbravka to the south-east.

The municipality lies at an altitude of 159 metres (522 ft)^[3] and covers an area of 24.21 km² (9.35 sq mi) (2024).^[4]

Devínska Nová Ves is divided into 6 local parts: Devínske Jazero, Kostolné, Podhorské, Paulinské, Sídlisko Stred and Vápenka. Unofficially it is also locally divided into four further parts: "Stara Dedina", Kolónia, Grba and Slovinec.

Devínska Nová Ves was mentioned for the first time around 1451 as Nová Ves. During the 17th century, the village was growing and after an influx of Croats, the village acquired the name Chorvátska Nová Ves. In the 18th century, a sand mine was built here near Sandberg and later in the 19th century, stone was quarried here as well. In 1848, the village was renamed once more to its current name. In 1918, the village was a site of battle between the Czechoslovak and Hungarian armies as part of fights for Bratislava, and Czechoslovak troops emerged victorious. In 1948, Devínska Nová Ves was near the border of two different political systems, and in 1955 the Iron Curtain was constructed across the territory the village. It was also one of the escape routes to Austria, by swimming across the Morava river. On 1 January 1972, Devínska Nová Ves was made an official borough of Bratislava. In the 1970s and 1980s, new auto plants were built, first Bratislavské automobilové závody (BAZ, later a factory of Volkswagen), which spurred the construction of new apartment blocks in the borough in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, the Iron Curtain was dismantled.

In part Kostolné there is the Holy Spirit's Church, which is on the list of cultural monuments of Slovakia. This church is situated on small hill over square and archaeological excavations certify its existence as sepulchral place since prehistory. Literature says it was built in renaissance style about year 1580. It is built from stone with a tile roof.^[5]

Devínska Nová Ves lies near the railways to Austria and the Czech Republic. Road traffic is some of the worst in Bratislava, because all of the access roads are busy and narrow. Relocation of these roads is planned to begin soon. In the future, there will be a motorway border crossing to Austria.

Public transportation uses buses and is stressed as well, because the centre is quite distant, and buses are often late. More popular are therefore trains running to Main station twice an hour. In future, railway stop "Devínska Nová Ves - Sídlisko" is planned above Eisnerova street.

A cycle bridge has been constructed across the nearby Morava River, linking Devínska Nová Ves to Schlosshoff castle and Marchegg, in Austria.

It has a population of 17,077 people (31 December 2024).^[7]

In year 2021 was 17,153 people by ethnicity 15,369 as Slovak, 1181 as Not found out, 320 as Czech, 288 as Hungarian, 165 as Croatian, 117 as Other, 81 as German, 68 as Bulgarian, 51 as Rusyn, 50 as Russian, 46 as Ukrainian, 28 as Polish, 25 as Romani, 23 as Serbian, 16 as Italian, 15 as Romanian, 15 as Moravian, 12 as Albanian, 11 as French, 9 as Jewish, 8 as Austrian, 6 as Vietnamese, 5 as Irish, 4 as Greek, 3 as English, 2 as Chinese, 2 as Silesian, 2 as Canadian, 1 as Turkish and 1 as Iranian.

Note on population: The difference between the population numbers above and in the census (here and below) is that the population numbers above are mostly made up of permanent residents, etc.; and the census should indicate the place where people actually mainly live.
For example, a student is a citizen of a village because they have permanent residence there (they lived there as a child and has parents), but most of the time he studies at a university in the city.

In year 2021 was 17,153 people by religion 7396 from None, 6899 from Roman Catholic Church, 1395 from Not found out, 542 from Evangelical Church, 189 from Greek Catholic Church, 103 from Ad hoc movements, 101 from Other, 96 from Eastern Orthodox Church, 75 from Christian Congregations in Slovakia, 70 from Jehovah's Witnesses, 45 from Other and not ascertained christian church, 36 from Buddhism, 35 from Calvinist Church, 28 from Apostolic Church, 25 from Baptists Church, 22 from Paganism and natural spirituality, 17 from Seventh-day Adventist Church, 16 from Islam, 16 from Church of the Brethren, 15 from United Methodist Church, 14 from Jewish community, 7 from Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 from Old Catholic Church, 3 from Bahá'i Community, 2 from Hinduism and 2 from Czechoslovak Hussite Church.

Devínska Nová Ves houses the greatest Croat minority in Slovakia and the Festival of Croatian Culture takes place annually.

Croatian Culture Society (Croatian: Hrvatsko kulturno društvo) organizes annual Croatian Day (Hrvatski dan), with concerts (of klapas, vocal ensembles, tamburitzas), lectures and cultural programme.^[11]

Simon Knéfacz was a Croatian writer and Hungarian monk. Born in Devínska Nová Ves, he died in Klingenbach. He wrote three books in Burgenland Croatian. Knéfacz, along with Lőrinc Bogovich, Jeremiás Sosterich and Godfried Palkovich played a role in the standardization of the Burgenland Croatian language in the 18th century.

Rudolf Sloboda was a Slovak novelist, playwright, screenwriter, poet and author of children's and young adult literature. During his lifetime, he wrote over twenty novels, including debut novel  Narcis (Narcissus, 1965),^[12] Uršuľa (Ursula, 1987), and Krv (Blood, 1991). His works primarily explored ordinary human experiences, often inspired by his own life, with protagonists grappling with complicated relationships, jealousy, violence, sex and loneliness. A recurring theme in all his stories was the search for the meaning of life.^[13] The majority of his novels are first-person narratives with tragic themes.^[14] He also wrote autobiographical prose.^[15]

Peter Pišťanek was a Slovak writer. He began publishing short stories in the 1980s, and his first novel, Rivers of Babylon, came out in 1991. This was adapted into a film of the same namein 1998 by Vladimir Balco. The book was followed by the sequels Wooden Village (1994) and End of Freddy(1999). Two more of Pišťanek's works were adapted to film, both by Juraj Nvota: his short story "Muzika", which won Best Film at the Sun in a Net Awards in 2008, and his novel Rukojemník – Lokomotívy v daždi, in 2014.

Viktor Hulík is a Slovak sculptor, academic painter, graphic designer, architect and artist. He is most known for being the designer of the Čumil statue located in the centre of Bratislava.^[16] Hulík is also known for being the creator of various other paintings and structures.^[17][18]

• Morava river near Devínska Nová Ves
• Former Iron Curtain
• Mt. Devínska Kobyla
• Marchegg bridge

• Official website (in Slovak)
• Unofficial website (in Slovak)
• Devinska Nova Ves - Spectacular Slovakia