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Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská

List of author's articles, page 48

Dunajská Streda’s Batman

THE STORY of Zoltán Kohári, dubbed the Slovak Batman, has been widely publicised in global media, including Der Spiegel, the Chicago Tribune and the Reuter’s newswire, with internet hits occurring in Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, the USA, Poland and Germany. The unemployed man, aged 35, lives in an old, deserted block of flats, speaks only simple Slovak while preferring his native Hungarian tongue, and helps his neighbours in the town of Dunajská Streda in southern Slovakia while attired in a Batman outfit.

Bojnice Castle supports Earth Hour

EARTH HOUR is an annual environmental event spreading quickly around the world that recently has involved more than a billion people. Events have been held in Slovakia for some years and the museum at Bojnice Castle took part this year on March 31 by switching off its lights for one hour from 20:30 till 21:30.

Moreny, Prešov

Ancient ritual ends winter in Prešov

A SLAVIC goddess variously named Maržanna, Mara, Maržena, Morana, Moréna, Mora, Marmora or Morena is associated with winter, death and nightmares. Some scholars equate her with the Latvian goddess named Māra who is said to take a person’s body after death. Some medieval Christian sources, such as the Mater Verborum, compare the Slavic goddess to the Greek goddess Hecate, associating her with sorcery. The ancient tradition of symbolically drowning Morena to bid farewell to winter and welcome in a new spring has survived in some parts of Slovakia.

Tall leprechauns.

Greeting St Patrick's Day

CELEBRATIONS to honour the patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick, take place nearly everywhere in the world with at least a small Irish community.

Tents were erected for homeless people in February.

Chill leads capital to open a tent town

BRATISLAVA city officials had a budget of €40,000 this year to assist those who are homeless, with half of that amount going to support the Depaul non-profit organisation that operates a year-round shelter for those in need, the SITA newswire reported.

Rare Celtic sword

A VERY rare Celtic sword dating back to the 2nd century BC is the March “exhibit of the month” at the Gemer-Malohont Museum in Rimavská Sobota.

Tatranská Lomnica offers retro skiing competition

THE SO-CALLED Javorová cesta (Amber Route) on the Buková hora (Beech Tree) ski slope in Tatranská Lomnica was full of oddly-clad skiers on March 3 when winter sports enthusiasts tried retro skiing on wooden boards without modern amenities and worst of all – without ski lifts.

Cycling for cancer patients

ALAN Bujdák completed his 35-day bicycle journey through nearly all parts of Slovakia in the Námestovo amphitheatre in the northwest part of the country after covering 1,500 kilometres to raise funds to help cancer patients while asking for help from government officials in more than thirty locales.

Last September's adoption day.

Old Town offers pet adoption event

THE OLD TOWN district of Bratislava organises an event several times a year called Find Yourself (Nájdite sa) that is not meant for one to explore his or her soul or to test one’s orienteering skills but rather to match animals living in rescue centres and shelters with new owners.

Febiofest 2012 opens on March 29

FEBIOFEST 2012, the 19th version of this international film festival, will again offer a host of movies first in Bratislava and then in other Slovak towns and cities. The festival was first organised in 1993 by FEBIO, an independent movie and television production company, to show Czech and Slovak films and has grown into an international event. The festival’s remains focused on domestically-produced films but many foreign movies are screened as well. The festival currently is split into two nearly independent sections with a Czech version being held in Prague and touring that country and a Slovak version.

Piešťany asks for volunteers to demolish school building

A FORMER elementary school within the Adam Trajan housing complex in Piešťany is slated for demolition as the town failed to find any further use for the building and hopes to use the land for a new park for the 6,000 residents. The town asked for volunteers to help demolish the building.

Smouldering ruin: Krásna Hôrka Castle on March 10.

Fire devastates Krásna Hôrka Castle

The election was not, unfortunately, the only big news event on March 10 in Slovakia. On the same day a huge fire engulfed one of the country’s best-preserved medieval castles, Krásna Hôrka, near Rožňava in eastern Slovakia. The fire struck the hill-top castle’s wooden roof, which was almost completely destroyed in a blaze visible from many kilometres away.

A gallery of Roma

A WOMAN writer, an artist-carver, a female activist, a businessman, a nun and the girls’ trio Sabrosa should become positive role models for Roma children thanks to the Romane Hangi project. It has installed these figures in a virtual gallery of Roma personalities in business, art and culture that the Prešov civic association Slovenská Obecná Vzdelávacia Asociácia (Slovak Communal Education Association, or SOVA) has published on its website.

A long-eared owl.

Unusual owls nest in Upper Nitra

A PARLIAMENT of almost two dozen protected long-eared owls (asio otus) has unexpectedly settled in the tops of conifers near the municipality of Koš in the Upper Nitra region. Gardener Valent Hudec took fright when he spotted them in mid February: no wonder, as their wingspan is up to 95 centimetres and a female can weigh 300 grams.

A rescue helicopter in action.

A deadly weekend on the peaks

THE WEEKEND of March 3/4 turned out to be a tragic one for skiers, tourists and mountain rescue workers in Slovakia: it ended with five people dead and more than a dozen injured.The series of accidents began on the morning of Saturday, March 3, when two skiers suffered a collision at Martinské Hole ski resort. One of them, aged 41, suffered broken ribs and complications, Helicopter Rescue Medical Service Air Transport Europe (VSSZ ATE) spokesperson Silvia Galajda said, as reported by the TASR newswire.

Experiments disappear in puff of smoke

A TRADITIONAL competition for students of chemistry, the Chemistry Olympiad, may have to take place without practical experiments for the first time in its 48 years of existence. The head of the Slovak Committee of the Chemistry Olympiad, Anton Sirota, told the SITA newswire that this will be the likely outcome of a dispute between chemists and the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic (ÚVZ).

Max, Krištof and Daniel on set.

Documentary from RTVS series shortlisted for film festival

THE SLOVAK public-service television and radio broadcaster, RTVS, has prepared a series of documentaries about children and their view of themselves and the life surrounding them, called Deti o deťoch / Children on Children. The series began airing in March and one part, to be broadcast on March 22, has been entered in the finals of an international film festival.

A mine shaft saint in Banská Štiavnica.

Miners pardoned 160 years ago

A REBELLION of dissatisfied miners broke out in Banská Štiavnica in February 1852 after the miners’ bosses decided to pay salaries only once a month instead of fortnightly. The miners wanted to be paid fortnightly because that coincided with regular markets where prices were cheaper.

Dog seeks cash.

Sniffing for banknotes

POLICE dog Rasty accompanied his instructor Ján Löw to the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic in mid February for a training programme on sniffing out forged banknotes.

The Austrian part of the cycling bridge over the Morava River is already in place.

A 'Chuck Norris' bridge?

MEDIA have reported that Slovaks appear to overwhelmingly favour naming a new pedestrian and cycling bridge near Bratislava after Chuck Norris, a 1980s action-film and TV star from the US. Two other top names in the internet voting for the bridge’s name, which will span the Morava River to Austria, are Maria Theresa, in honour of the Austro-Hungarian empress, and Devínska Cycling Bridge after the closest Slovak town, Devínska Nová Ves that is now a district of Bratislava.

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