In 1465, first university of Slovakia, Academia Istropolitana, was founded there.
In the period of the Turkish expansion Bratislava became the coronation town and the seat of Hungarian Parliament (capital assembly and coronation town). The city had seen coronations of many Hungarian kings and queens in the gothic St. Martin's Cathedral. In period 1563 to 1830, 11 kings and 8 queens were crowned here, Maria Theresa Habsburg being among them (1741 - 1781). There was last session of Hungarian Parliament in Bratislava on March 1848 and they voted for the abolition of serfdom. In 19th century Bratislava was centre of the movement for the Slovaks´ national freedom. In 1848 Ľudovít Štúr, a great patriot, man of literature and codifier of standard Slovak, made his famous speech in Parliament on defence of Slovak national rights and of all minority nations in Austro-Hungarian Empire (of rights of Slovaks´ and other minorities).
In 1918 Bratislava became the administrative, economic, political and cultural centre of Slovakia within the newly established Czechoslovak Republic. In 1968 Bratislava became the capital city of Slovakia within the Czecho-Slovak Federation and since 1st January 1993, when the sovereign Slovak Republic appeared in the map of Europe, Bratislava is its capital as well.