Archive of articles - September 1996

Liptov: Cradle of courage

Liptovský Mikuláš, tucked in the Liptov basin and surrounded on all sides by the High and Low Tatra mountains, has been a home for heroes. The newest to join the ranks of literary greats, painters, patriots, and legends is canoeist Michal Martikán who earned independent Slovakia's first Olympic gold medal in July. What is it about this town of 32,000 that has enabled it, in times both mythical and modern, to foster greatness in such diverse pursuits, to play host to heroes? "We had a seminar here one time on that subject," answered Iveta Blažeková, who works in the museum dedicated to another favorite son, poet Jánko Kráľ.

Hamžík hints about creation of special bilateral panel

Bomb explosions rock the capital

Three bomb explosions in Bratislava in as many weeks have sparked a wave of get-tough rhetoric from municipal and state officials on the growing threat to ordinary citizens from a type of violence heretofore little known in this country.The first bomb exploded in a car parked at Šancová ulica 72 on August 25 but caused no injuries; at three o'clock the next morning a bomb blast at a money-exchange booth near K-mart blew the leg off a plainclothes policeman who bled to death five hours later. A third explosion ripped through a car parked at Muškátová ulica on September 3, causing extensive damage to adjacent cars and buildings but no injuries. "It really is out of the ordinary now," said Ján Kosťov, chief of the Interior Ministry's Department of Investigations.

Letter to the Editor: Slovakia has "suffered" under "malevolent Czecho-Slovak" ideology

RM-System prints data book

Two of three coalition parties want death penalty

Bilateral talks dominate CEFTA summit

JASNÁ-To some, this year's Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) summit, where Slovakia was the chair country, seemed more groundless than groundbreaking. As Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus put it, "CEFTA has moved ahead a little bit," but to say that the Czech Republic has a "good feeling about it would be too strong." The multilateral talks in this picturesque resort in the Low Tatra Mountains totalled less than three hours. Bilateral talks dominated. In the end, the member countries' premiers signed a general declaration lauding "CEFTA's perceptible contribution to mutual trade among the signatory countries" and expressing "confidence ...that the Slovenian side will minimalize its number of exceptions [in agriculture] and will be ready to abolish them by January 1, 1999."

Community Grapevine

Jánošík - Slovakia's legendary hero

The legend of Juraj Jánošík goes back a long time in Slovakia. Fairy tale books show him with great jumping ability leaping over high walls, or walking through fire, all to avenge injustice by the rich toward the poor. He was known to be a leader of merry men who could get out of any scrap or close call. This band used the forest as their home, tricking the authorities and stealing from rich travelers. Then they would enter towns suffering from war to share the riches. In real life, Jánošík was a soldier, taking part in the revolt of the estates of František II Rákóczi. The 1703 - 1711 revolt was aimed against the Habsburgs who were seeking to gain more control over the Slovak lands while limiting the power of the Hungarian nobility and restricting religious freedom.

The minister, who is not " a good Slovak."

t is a reality that the document "Let's Save Culture" has already been signed by most prominent Slovak artists.Every other day there are new groups of people, and not only artists, that sign the statement to join the protest against the dictatorship in culture, against the practical decisions of only one person, the minister of culture.What is the reason that all these people are calling for the quick resignation of Minister Ivan Hudec? It is simply because all these people feel, as I feel, that the minister himself, paradoxically using his own words, is not "a good Slovak," or not "a good enough one." Why? Because he doesn't know his own nation at all. He has lost contact with it and its reality.

Investors take a step back from market

Over the last two weeks, we have seen flagging investor interest on the Slovak capital market due to several factors: the unclear privatization process , the prospects of a slow-down in Slovakia's economic growth following 1H96 results, and unpredictable political interventions. In August, trade turnover on both stock exchanges (BSE and RM-System) was Sk 11.85bn ( $386m), which is a 10% decline compared with July. This is due to a fall in direct trades, which decreased to Sk 9.85bn. Anonymous trade turnover, however, increased to Sk 2bn. The most traded stocks were VÚB (turnover Sk 2.56bn), VÚB Kupón (Sk 1.1bn), Nafta (Sk 726m) and Slovenská Poisťovňa (Sk 668m).

New law ties environmentalists to their desks

In all the debate surrounding the new law on Territorial Administration, which went into effect this summer, one consequence went largely unnoticed - the disappearance of local environmental offices. The government says that absorbing the once-independent offices into regional administration centers will make them more efficient, but environmentalists and opposition MPs say no, fearing that the environment will suffer as a result. "I believe the environmental offices should not be absorbed into an integrated state administration," said Ľudovít Černák, a member of parliament for the opposition Democratic Union (DU), after a press conference the DU held on the issue. "Instead, we should grant them greater jurisdiction in the care of waste, water, and air control... Things are much better now than they were before the Velvet Revolution, and nowhere in the world do people change what works well."

Wooden house of God

During the Austrian and Hungarian Empire in the 18th century, a renewed religious movement within the Lutheran church necessitated the building of a large church to accommodate those who wanted to worship. In 1773-74 in the town of Paludza, a wooden church of great magnitude was designed by Jozef Lang. When construction was completed in 1782, the Baroque style church, was able to hold 6000 members. In 1978, due to construction of the dam Liptovský Mara, the church was taken down to be rebuilt on the outskirts of the village Svätý Kríž. Even though it is not immediately obvious, when approaching the church take notice of its shape. The church has a floor plan in the shape of a cross. Walking into the sanctuary, a person doesn't know where to begin. The ceiling and wooden beams take your breath away as arches connect from one place to the next forming a dome in the center.

The Spotlight

Slovak Gas wants Greek distribution company

Bratislava Bars

Deputies create EU integration committee

On the way to market, stop at Leonardo

Across from the large indoor market, Tržnica, Leonardo offers good cuisine with friendly service in pleasant and modern surroundings. It is close to public transportation and there is ample street parking available. The décor and furnishing are contemporary with a bar upstairs and the restaurant downstairs seating 30. There is also a separate room for 25. The only way to describe the food at Leonardo is meat with varying combinations of cheese, ham, peas, tomatoes, and hot peppers when the dish is spicy. That having been said, the food is well prepared and of very good quality. The prices are very reasonable, ranging from 50 to 110 Sk for most meals. The various dishes have explanations of what they are, which is also very helpful in choosing your dinner. In cases where there are extra charges for decagrams, the amount is provided right alongside the name on the entrée, a feature that we like.

Who is the villain in the Culture Ministry/National Theater row?

hen Ľubomír Paulovič resigned as director of the National Theater's drama ensemble, I predicted that the situation would settle down. After all, the whole affair started with his nomination to the post and many actors had cited his directorship as the reason for their departure from the stage. They wanted his head, and they got it. But once an appetite has been whetted, it must be satisfied. Now the next dish is being prepared, and it's to feature the head of the minister of culture. This particular item of tableware has been lurking in the background during the whole affair, but it was Paulovič's action that forced someone to come out and say what was, and is, the real problem here.