Thanks to Slovenská sporiteľňa, we are making green activities in the Old Markethall visible.

The turbulent year 2020 brought obstacles, but also a lot of good things25. December 2020

The turbulent year 2020 brought obstacles, but also a lot of good things

The end of the year is approaching and we would like to take a look at everything we have experienced together over the past twelve months. We guess we don't even have to emphasize that it was a turbulent year. But despite the obstacles and difficult moments, it also brought a lot of good, from which we will draw in the future.

The year 2020 began like any other. We launched Saturday food markets and, as every year, we prepared many events and other activities.

Food markets "online"

However, with the arrival of the pandemic in March, the market remained closed to the public due to nationwide measures. We have canceled all spring events and Saturday food markets. At that time, no one knew how long the situation would last, and there were opinions that we would have peace after a few months. Autumn seemed like a time when everything was about to return to the old ways.

In the first place, it bothered us how to replace our marketplace with a lost outlet in the form of the then suspended markets. We were therefore looking for alternative ways to support them and restart the markets, at least in a limited way. At the end of March, in cooperation with selected marketers, we launched an online ordering system for packages. We delivered to customers within the team of the Old Market Hall and free of charge thanks to our partners Volkswagen Slovakia and Slovenská sporiteľňa. All the funds raised went directly to the marketers. We delivered a total of 1266 food packages to you from the end of March to June.

The market as a space for help

Despite the closed market, we continued our activities, which may not have been so visible at first sight.

In cooperation with the city of Bratislava, we have launched several assistance projects. The market was transformed into temporary storage of beds prepared, if necessary, for the quarantine center on Zlaté piesky. At the same time, we stored, prepared, and distributed aid packages in cooperation with the Kto pomôže Slovensku initiative.

We also provided our premises for the organization of meetings of city and regional councils in compliance with strict hygienic measures.

In the Lab.café workshop, we have produced protective shields using 3D printers and a laser cutter, which we then distributed to hospitals in Bratislava.

up! city ends, but the Oasis is growing

The consequences of the pandemic also affected the operation of the market. The most fundamental change was the termination of activities up! city at the end of April.

up! city was an exceptional city project in cooperation with Volkswagen Slovakia, which, in addition to supporting electromobility, taught us all how much greener transport in the city can be. At the same time, this cooperation started the revitalization of the square in front of the Old Market Hall, which in 2017 changed from a shabby space to a pleasant place, which is currently a symbol of Bratislava residents spending free time not only during summer days.

June, on the other hand, brought more positive news. Our green space the Oasis has grown with the publishing house Monokel, thanks to which the Book Studio was established here. It acts as an open platform for everyone active in the field of book creation, illustration, and comics. The Book Studio aims to build a full-fledged technical and functional background in the space, necessary for a book and illustration-graphic workshop. At the same time, however, it also strives to create a compact out-of-school educational program in the field of visual-narrative genres (picture-books, comics).

We are renewing Saturday's markets or the popular Street Food Park 

With the arrival of the summer months, we have gradually, albeit in a limited mode, renewed food markets and services in the Old Market Hall. Since June, the popular street food market Street Food Park has been held, and once again we could invite you to tours of commonly inaccessible places Invisible Market.

During the summer, several events took place in the Old Market Hall, we could see each other at the Beer Salon, at the Bratislava Book Market, at Viva Musica! Concerts, or at the special premiere of the documentary film MEKY with the participation of the authors and the main protagonist of the singer Miro Žbirka.

We are also trying to be more environmentally friendly in 2020

Our long-term effort in the Old Market Hall is to minimize the amount of waste. This year, we have introduced back-up GOCUP cups, in which you can get coffee or another drink not only in our facilities but also at Street Food Park or on the Saturday market.

At the same time, since the summer we have set up a sorting station in the food markets for more efficient processing of all the waste, which we create together.

Regular book exchange and atypical langosh

Due to great success, the Bratislava Book Exchange has become a permanent part of the food markets since September. Every Saturday on the 1st floor you will find a wide selection of books, professional publications, graphics, and LPs.

In the same month, a new LANGOS BAR store opened in the Old Market Hall with an offer of honest sourdough langosh with atypical ingredients. For the idea of this traditional-non-traditional food concept, look for the well-known names of the Slovak gastro scene - Lukáš Hesko and Róbert Nagy.

Summer is ending, what's next? 

After the summer relief, the pandemic began to pick up again, which caused further restrictions on the activities of not only the market but also the services themselves. We canceled events, including the regular Street Food Park, and food markets began to operate under even stricter hygiene measures. At the turn of October and November, we provided the building of the Old Market Hall for the creation of sampling points as part of nationwide testing, but otherwise, the building was empty.

Unlike the spring, however, we at least had a well-preserved outlet for our marketers. But what about other small producers who relied on sales at various fairs or events? Somewhere, the idea of ​​expanding the markets to other days of the week began to arise, so that we could provide space for other sellers as well.

The Christmas Market gives a chance to more than 200 local brands

The pandemic crisis has shown us all the importance of supporting local brands and small producers. Therefore, we teamed up with the organizers of BRaK - Bratislava Book Festival, Bratislava Design Week, Humbuk and Urban Market, and during the pre-Christmas period, thanks to our main partner Slovenská sporiteľňa, we turned the Old Market Hall into a place where these local brands could sell their products.

Over four weeks, you have been able to support more than 200 retailers of local fashion, design, literature, and craft food - all while adhering to really strict hygiene measures. However, we must say that we were pleased with how responsible our sellers and visitors are. We have created a safe place for Christmas shopping together and we thank everyone involved for that!

At the end of the year, the Old Market Hall was also part of a similar initiative, but in an online environment. Small local producers are often invisible on the Internet, so their existence often depends on personal contact with customers. However, this is very limited in these difficult times. Together with our partners, we created an online platform, the aim of which was to connect customers with local manufacturers, and at the same time support the responsible purchase of local creations and products within the special virtual market www.viacneznakup.sk.

We are one step closer to Živé námestie again

Within the year 2020, two final workshops of the Živé námestie architectural competition for the revitalization of SNP Square, Námestie Nežnej revolúcie, Kamenné námestie, and its surroundings took place. The expert commission and local actors had the opportunity to see the final concepts of the four competition proposals, which aim to connect the area and create a functional and quality public space, not only for residents but also visitors to the capital. We will find out the name of the winner at the beginning of 2021!

We look forward to seeing you at the Old Market Hall's 111th birthday celebrations

The year 2020 was full of the unexpected and the unknown, we faced many challenges and postponed some plans. We believe that next year the situation will calm down and we will be able to meet together not only in the markets, but again in services, in Street Food Parks, at other events, or just in the square in front of the Old Market Hall.

We are planning big things! We are working, for example, on building our composting plant or on how to make the building even more accessible to you during the week. In cooperation with Slovenská sporiteľňa, we will also implement one large summer project, which we originally planned for this year. We believe that in 2021 it will work out for us… There is something to look forward to!

The Old Market Hall was 110 years old this year, but we said we'd rather keep the celebration for next year. We believe that nothing will spoil the 111th birthday! We are preparing several activities and attractions for you on this occasion throughout the year.

We look forward to new experiences with you!

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