Roundup: Over the weekend, Kino Lumiére to resume its virtual cinema

Places to visit, music to listen to, and weekend reads. Here’s your travel and culture roundup.

The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra plays a concert in Bratislava.The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra plays a concert in Bratislava. (Source: TASR)

Who says you cannot enjoy culture in these precarious times? Despite cancelled events, you can still discover and enjoy classical music online. Check out some of the concerts on the website of the Slovak Philharmonic.

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Travel

Small travertine lakes provide people with drinkable water

The Mičiná travertines, spread out between Mičína and Čerín, is a protected area. A field dotted with small craters full of jetting mineral water is popular among locals, who come here to fill up their containers and bottles.

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Hnúšťa boasts the biggest hand tool in Slovakia

Although you can find several large-sized urban sculptures resembling hand tools on Pinterest, Slovakia also has one to be proud of. Artistic smith Martin Jackuliak created five-metre-tall pliers and painted the tool with phosphorus to shine.

The idea of Banská Bystrica becoming a capital cannot work

Slovakia’s ex-PM Vladimír Mečiar once suggested that the country’s capital should be moved to Banská Bystrica. The sentiment is well-understood, Chris Togneri writes, but the idea is not feasible. Still, it is one of the most important cities, at least historically, in Slovakia.

Hiking trip: Stoh-Poludňový Grúň-Chleb

In pandemic times, leaving city life behind for a day is the best cure. Gabriela and Valéria will take you, in their video, to the Malá Fatra mountains to get lost and found.

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Vígľaš Castle used to protect mining towns

The castle used to be a significant fortification, together with Zvolen, protecting the central-Slovak mining towns from the advance of the Ottomans. The renovated castle burnt down several times in the past.

More information about travelling in Slovakia
Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide.

Podcast: Canadian chargé John von Kaufmann on life in Bratislava

‘I hadn’t ever been here before,’ Canada’s chargé John von Kaufmann said on the Spectacular Slovakia podcast about his experience with Bratislava prior to his posting.

After four years in the city, he fell in love with it for its green spaces, diversity and cultural events.

Listen to the podcast to hear what things he enjoys doing in Slovakia’s capital or, as he put it, in ‘one of the best kept secrets in Europe.’

Listen to the podcast I was struck by how multiethnic Bratislava is, a Canadian diplomat says Read more 

History class

Elizabethan University in Bratislava

Comenius University in Bratislava, founded in 1919, is the oldest Slovak university, but did you know that the Elizabethan University was its predecessor?

The Hungarian school started mid-October 1914 but was closed five years later. It had three faculties: medicine, law, and philosophy. Hungarian scientist Albert Szent-Györgyi, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1937, began his career at the Elizabethan University.

It was the first university in Bratislava since the establishment of Universitas Istropolitana, the oldest university on the territory of Slovakia, in the 15th century. During its existence, Elizabethan University was dubbed as the ‘third university’, because it was the third higher education institution in then Hungary.

Weekend reads

Artistic dresses exhibited in the SNG

The Slovak National Gallery has opened the ‘Oh, That Dress!’ exhibition, running until January 2021, to support live art and take a look at contemporary clothing practices and fashion. It is not the first time the gallery has decided to display clothes.

Locals clash over new parking policy in Horský park

The decision to restrict cars in the Horský park area has provoked mixed reactions. While some welcome fewer cars near Bratislava’s central forested area, others argue the park is now less accessible. The city insists the area remains easily accessible by public transport.

Culture in short

  • FILM: Bratislava-based Kino Lumiére will resume its virtual cinema within the Kino doma (Home Cinema) project, which launched during the first wave of the pandemic. The first screening will take place on Saturday, October 17, at 20:20.
  • DISPLAY: The Nitra Museum in Nitra has opened a joint exhibition of three Slovak artists who create miniature compositions inside bottles. The exhibition entitled Fľaše trpezlivosti (Bottles of Patience) will end on December 31.
  • FESTIVAL: Filmový festival inakosti (Otherness Film Festival) will screen films about LGBTI people online from October 20 to 25.
  • MUSIC: Richard Müller released a new studio album on October 13. It is called Hodina medzi psom a vlkom (The Hour Between a Dog and a Wolf). Listen to his latest single Siedme nebo (Seventh Heaven).

That is all for this week. Have a lovely weekend!

The next Spectacular Slovakia Weekly: October 23.

Read last week's roundup.

Top stories

Stock image.

Twice as many Ukrainians work in Slovakia now than before the Russian invasion.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


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