Tours · Bratislava · street
Words Became Weapons - Zámocká Street
On the evening of 12 October 2022, a gunman aged just nineteen killed Matúš Horváth and Juraj Vankulič outside the LGBTI+ bar Tepláreň on this quiet lane below the castle, in what Slovakia now remembers as its first terrorist attack in modern history.
About this place
Zámocká is one of Bratislava's oldest streets, first recorded in 1397 simply as the lane outside the town above the castle moat, where an iron gate once separated town and castle and was locked every night. On the evening of 12 October 2022 its quiet was shattered outside number 30, the LGBTI+ bar Tepláreň. Shortly after seven o'clock a gunman aged just nineteen opened fire on guests sitting on the bench by the door, killing Matúš Horváth, a student of 23 who waited tables here, and Juraj Vankulič, a dancer and performer from Žilina, and wounding a waitress. The attack lasted less than half a minute. After a manhunt through the night with boats and a helicopter, the gunman was found dead the next morning, and five days later investigators classified the shooting as Slovakia's first terrorist attack in modern history. President Zuzana Čaputová came to this doorway with the words "Words can become weapons. Hate kills.", and around 15,000 people marched from here to SNP Square. Since February 2025 a metal plaque on the old wall remembers both victims, their joy in life and their courage to be themselves.
Key facts
- 2 lives lost — Matúš Horváth and Juraj Vankulič, both in their twenties, were killed outside the bar Tepláreň on 12 October 2022.
- 1 terror attack — On 17 October 2022 investigators reclassified the shooting as Slovakia's first terrorist attack in modern history.
- 15000 marchers — Around 15,000 people gathered on Zámocká two days after the attack and marched against hatred to SNP Square.