First, a quick bit of history. The Berlin wall fell in November, 1989. Shortly thereafter, a number of demonstrations in Prague, Bratislava and other locations in Czechoslovakia led to the “Velvet Revolution” or the fall of Communist control in Czechoslovakia. Vaclav Havel was elected in December of 1989. Tension between the Czech and Slovak portions of Czechoslovakia led ultimately to the “Velvet Divorce” or the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993.
This is an anecdotal comment on the impacts we see in daily life.
First, our apartment. We live in a nice two bedroom flat, conveniently located next to Old Town Bratislava. The flat is modern, fairly well appointed, and well kept up for the most part. It is on the fourth floor of “Manderla”, built in 1935 and the first multistory building in Bratislava. It also had the first elevators in Bratislava. We are told that when it was built it had crystal chandeliers and carpets and brass runners on the stairs.
Not now. As nice as most of the apartments are, the interior common spaces are a dump. The halls are dimly lit, when the lights work at all. The elevators are almost unbelievable, with worn linoleum floors, broken mirrors on the wall, a terrible bilge green paint job and a mechanism which makes you hope that each time you ride up or down is not the time it finally gives up the ghost.
Everyone (including us) piles their bags of trash in the hall until they have collected enough to take outside to the garbage receptacles. The outside is not much better. It badly needs renovation, and there is a bingo parlor and gambling hall on the first floor, with shady characters coming and going. This is not the exception. It is fairly typical of a lot of apartments in Bratislava.
Why is there such a contrast between inside apartments and the common spaces? We have talked to a number of people and found some of the following reasons. When apartments were privatized, for the most part people who occupied apartments purchased them at a greatly discounted price. However, there was no real legal provision for the common spaces. People are reluctant to contribute for commons upkeep, and the amounts collected are quite small.
In addition, under Communism, even if someone had money, they would fix up their apartment, but purposely keep the exterior looking very shabby so as not to draw attention to their bourgeois lifestyle. As a result there is a lot of deferred maintenance around Bratislava, and in much of Central Europe. The amount that is now being spent on reconstruction of buildings, making up for the deferred maintenance and lack of infrastructure is staggering. Work is going on night and day, seven days a week.
Where is the money coming from? Although the government and the European Union contribute a lot, much of the money comes from advertising. Advertisements are everywhere in Bratislava. There is a hotel near us, with a ten story high billboard, covering one whole side of the building. (It is the kind like those on buses where the ad covers the windows, but you can still see out.) These pictures are taken without moving more than 5 feet to take the pictures.
Our apartment building is covered with ads. (None on our windows, yet!) Apparently the money from ads goes to pay for upkeep of the buildings.
Not only private buildings are covered with ads. The law school where I teach has new metal frames carrying ads for upcoming concerts, cosmetics, etc. Apparently the money from such ads goes to help support the greatly under funded universities. There are ads everywhere you turn on sidewalks and streets. Urban highways have small billboards every 20 meters or so down the median. Where is the Slovakian Lady Bird Johnson?
Bratislava has several large malls, complete with department stores, groceries, computers, appliances, and many of the same stores in malls in the U.S. More seem to be coming in all the time. Big box stores are alive and well in Bratislava.
Our local supermarket is scheduled to be torn down, along with the hotel with the billboard, and a number of other buildings, and will be replaced with a mall with an internal atrium and a newer bigger Tesco (a British chain which is a combination supermarket and low price department store.)
Goodbye Communism, welcome to the consumer society.
