It is one of the most significant landmarks of Bratislava and the second most popular tourist facility in the Slovak capital after the Castle.
Archaeological research has shown that the oldest settlement on the site of today's Dome comes from the Late Stone Age - the Eneolithic. It belonged to the people of Baden culture. The settlement was relatively intensive in the period of the 1st century BC, when the Celts settled in the local area and the area on which today's temple stands was in close proximity to their oppidum.
The construction of the temple underwent a complex architectural development during its centuries of existence. The place where the current church stands has been the center of social and religious events in the city since time immemorial. According to surviving reports and archaeological finds, the core of the emerging city at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries can be assumed in this area. There was a settlement, whose inhabitants, in addition to secular buildings and the market (the first record of the market dates from 1151), built a smaller church in the 11th century - a rotunda - with a circular floor plan, around which they buried. [2] The rotunda was rebuilt in the 12th century into a chapel dedicated to St. Martin and its lower part served as a carner. At first, the needs of believers were fully sufficient.