Prior, which opened on Kamenné Námestie in Bratislava on 20 November 1968, was the first department store in the former Czechoslovakia to offer a complete range of goods. It was designed by the renowned Slovak architect Ivan Matušík (1930–2022). In addition to its structural design (which included the first use in Slovakia of large-span structures), the building warrants attention for many other firsts: an interior with the first moving stairs – escalators – in Slovakia, transporting 6,000 people per hour; sliding glass doors with an air curtain that could be fully retracted into the lower floor; carillon – twelve bells beneath a clock on the building’s side façade designed by Jaroslav Kočiš; and the largest sales area of its time, totalling 12,000 m² (including the connecting building). The complex comprises a triangular department store that connects via a passageway to a horizontal base and vertical plate that it shares with Kyjev Hotel.
To the west of the building, in an open space in front of the department store entrance, stands the building’s cornerstone, part of the architect's design for the entrance area. Its triangular shape and material – Spiš travertine – reference the shape and façades of the department store building.
The triangular stone has bevelled corners and is topped with a bevelled stone slab. Its walls bear inscriptions that refer to the construction and significance of the department store. The north face is engraved with the inscription PRIOR, west of which is the building's designation AD 1964–1968. The inscription includes a small relief with a logo in the shape of a roof, a reference to the slogan Prior – everything under one roof. The east face features a recessed relief that depicts a floorplan of the department store and hotel complex. The west face bears the inscription:
"A DEPARTMENT STORE BUILT ON KAMENNÉ SQUARE
IN THE CAPITAL OF SLOVAKIA IN THE MEMORABLE FIFTIETH YEAR
OF THE FREE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC AS A SYMBOL
OF THE CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SLOVAK NATION
AND AS A TESTIMONY TO THE CREATIVE ABILITIES OF OUR PEOPLE
AND AN EXPRESSION OF THEIR DESIRE FOR A FULL LIFE IN A BETTER WORLD
TOWARDS WHICH THE JOINT EFFORTS OF OUR HANDS AND MINDS ARE DIRECTED."
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Research status as of 15. 11. 2023.
