THE BI-LINGUAL internet portal entitled Slovakia Cultural Profile, which was launched in March 2009, has attracted over a million visitors to the site over the past year, the Ministry of Culture’s press department has reported. The monthly number of visitors to the website averaged 100,000.
The portal is a collaborative project by the Culture Ministry, the British Council and a British NGO named Visual Arts. It is administered and run by the University Library in Bratislava.
The website, www.slovakia.culturalprofiles.net, serves as a source of information about Slovakia’s history, culture, and arts and as well providing practical information such as tips for trips in the country.
The information, in both Slovak and English, is meant not only for tourists but also for professionals in the area of culture. It is composed of three main parts: a summary of basic and general information about Slovakia; a detailed overview of 19 main areas of Slovak culture (including archives, film, culture politics and education, media, minority culture etc.); and a database of more than 6,000 business cards, providing contacts in Slovak cultural and educational institutions, private agencies and associations. Anyone or any institution working in the cultural sphere is welcome to register on the website.
The Cultural Profile project is not unique to Slovakia as similar schemes have been initiated in Norway, Scotland, Slovenia, Japan, Vietnam and other countries.
But while these are all available only in English, Slovakia’s Cultural Profile has a Slovak language version and it has recorded a higher number of visitors in its first year than any of the other cultural profiles.
