This view from Nivy Tower captures Bratislava’s transformation in one frame. The tall glass tower on the right is Eurovea Tower at 168 meters — when it opened in 2023, Bratislava became the 201st city worldwide to have a true skyscraper. What was an industrial wasteland is now a cluster of high-rises that changed the city’s entire profile. The Mlynské nivy port district had been devastated since 1944, when Allied bombers targeted the Apollo refinery supplying Nazi fuel — 370 tons of bombs killed hundreds as burning oil engulfed their shelters. The contaminated ruins sat abandoned for decades until the 2000s redevelopment finally erased that wartime scar.