Slovakia's beauties on show in Canada
A PHOTOGRAPHIC exhibition called The Beauties of Slovakia opened in Vancouver, Canada on the occasion of the Junior World Hockey Championships. Artistic photo-graphs from Laco Struhár and Alexander Jiroušek capturing the cultural and natural roots of Slovakia will be on display until the end of January.
Sing Christmas songs with Lúčnica
THE CHOIR of the famed Slovak folk dance and music ensemble, Lúčnica, released a new album, Vianoce s Lúčnicou (Christmas with Lúčnica). The CD contains 15 of the nicest Christmas songs and carols arranged by leading musicians, such as Peter Breiner and Ján Cikker. Traditional international Christmas songs, Silent Night, Jingle Bells and White Christmas are included. An almost half-hour-long "Christmas collage" closes the musical work.
For more information visit www.lucnica.sk.
Harry Potter breaks box-office record
THE FOURTH film about the famous wizard, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is enjoying great box-office results worldwide, including in Slovakia. Over the first four days of its release here, more than 36,000 people saw it. In its opening weekend, the new Harry Potter was more successful than the other three films in the series. Overall, the film, which premiered on December 1, registered the fourth best result ever for an opening weekend in Slovakia.
Hospice wins architecture prize
HOSPIC sv. Alžbety (St Elizabeth's Hospice) in Ľubica, designed by Michal Gaj Sr, and young architect Martin Repický, won Slovakia's most prestigious architectural prize, The Dušan Jurkovič Award. Fifteen architectural objects entered the 15th year of the competition organized by the Society of Slovak Architects and Fine Arts' Fund.
The jury highlighted the fact that "the humanitarian message of this facility, the first of its kind in Slovakia, found equivalent architectural expression, empha-sizing the warmth of the environment and interconnection of the building with the countryside". It valued the great architectural work and the "always-present respect of the clients' needs".
Pavol Janík's poetry crosses borders
MACEDONIAN publishing house Grigor Prlichev released a selection from Slovak poet Pavol Janík called Popravkata na Titanik (Repair of Titanic) translated by Stojan Lekoský.
The greening of the palace
EKOPORADŇA Živica started a new project aimed at making casual cleaning and tidying up in public places more effective and environmentally friendly. It wants to reduce sickness caused by the use of chemical cleaners.
The Cleaning up the Houses: More Environment-friendly, Economical and Healthy project is running in the Presidential Palace, Bratislava's Municipal Office and the Albert Einstein Gymnasium (secondary school).
"For each of these buildings a special plan for environmental cleaning would be designed to substitute the aggressive cleaners with less aggressive ones," coordinator of the project, Ivana Jaššová said.
The project is carried out in co-operation with Austrian eco-service organization Die umweltberatung. Such activities have been in operation there since 1992. This year the Austrian organization has cleaned 120 buildings using environmentally-friendly products, including hospitals, houses for the elderly and state offices. The Slovak project is financed by the European Union.
Prepared by Spectator staff
from press releases
