In the last decade of the 19th century the Danube riverbank adjacent to the city center of Bratislava (called Pressburg or Pozsony at that time) underwent major changes. In 1890, a new steel bridge called Franz Joseph Brücke (today the Old bridge of Bratislava) was opened and shortly afterwards the construction of the nearby port began. The area along the riverbank from today's Slovak National Museum headquarters until the today's Apollo bridge was converted to accommodate the mooring of up to 250 cargo ships. These activities were driven mainly by the commercial interests of transport companies on the Danube and the state of Austria-Hungary financially participated only minimally.