(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good evening. Here is the Friday, June 24 edition of Today in Slovakia – the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
For weekend events and news on travel and culture in Slovakia, see the latest edition of our Spectacular Slovakia newsletter.
After 25 years, Bratislava's iconic 'Salvator' will serve as a pharmacy again
The Salvator pharmacy building in Bratislava. (source: Sme)
The iconic Salvator pharmacy, on Panská Street in Bratislava’s Old Town, is set to resume its original function after a hiatus of 25 years. On Thursday, June 23, Bratislava City Council agreed to lease the premises, including its precious historical furniture, to a non-profit organisation, Lekáreň u Salvatora (Salvator Pharmacy). The NGO, which belongs to the Slovak Pharmaceutical Chamber, will provide pharmacy services in the building seven days a week, but also present the premises and the pharmacy's Baroque furniture to the general public.
The reopening of the pharmacy will be preceded by reconstruction of the premises, which it is estimated will be completed in the autumn. Subsequently, the original Baroque furniture, which the capital bought last year for almost €1 million from a private collector in Nové Mesto nad Váhom, will return to the pharmacy building, which is a national cultural monument.
In other news
Slovak politicians including President Zuzana Čaputová, Prime Minister Eduard Heger and Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korčokwelcomed the granting of candidate status to Ukraine at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday evening.
The state gas utility SPP reports continuing shortfalls in the supply of natural gas from Russia. The daily volumes supplied by Gazprom Export have been roughly 50 percent lower than normal throughout this week. SPP expects the situation to persist today and continue over the weekend.
Slovak company InoBat and US-based Ideanomics have agreed with the US State of Indiana on a major e-mobility investment on the North American market. As part of a strategic partnership, they will open an R&D centre and a production line to assemble prototype batteries, which will later be transformed into a complete factory, the SITA newswire reported.
The number of Ukrainian jobseekers is gradually declining in Slovakia. The biggest job portal, Profesia, reported a significant month-on-month decrease during May in CVs newly added by people from Ukraine. The latest data from Profesia indicates that this trend will continue.
Completion of the decommissioning of the former V1 nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice by the planned date in 2027 is in doubt. Implementation of the project, which is worth more than €186 million, remains stuck at the public procurement stage: almost a year and a half since the publication of a tender to complete the work, no successful bidder has been selected, the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) found during an inspection initiated by the Nuclear and Decommissioning Company (JAVYS) itself.
Slovakia does not plan to revive electricity production from coal. "This is pointless in Slovakia. Our coal was of very poor quality. Vojany is a completely exhausted power plant. I talked to the director of the power producer, and no one plans to turn back to coal," Environment Minister Ján Budaj said after a cabinet session on Wednesday, the Pravda daily reported.
Feature story for today
The Knihotaxi runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Bratislava. (source: Courtesy of Knihobot Slovensko.)
For Bratislava bookworms who run out of space for their books but do not want to see them end up in the bin, traditional or online second-hand and antiquarian bookstores are no longer the only way to make sure they go to a good home.
Innovative services to help old books find new owners have sprung up in the capital in recent years; the latest one is ‘Knihotaxi’ (Book Taxi).
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Picture of the day
The Museum of the Victims of Communism in Košice was launched in 2021. (source: Courtesy of the Museum of the Victims of Communism)
The Museum of the Victims of Communism in Košice has prepared a programme entitled Let's Pay Tribute to Victims of Communism, to mark Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Communist Regime on Friday, June 24.
Anniversary of the week
Maria Theresa's coronation enactment in 2011. (source: Source: Courtesy of OZ Korunovačná Bratislava)
Bratislava will mark the coronation of Maria Theresa this weekend with the 18th edition of the Coronation Celebration festival. The Habsburg empress, one of the most important monarchs to be crowned in Pressburg – present-day Bratislava – had her coronation on June 25, 1741. As the pandemic interrupted the commemoration last year, Bratislava will mark the 280th anniversary of the event this weekend.
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