A paper model of the former railway station in Štrbské Pleso is part of the exhibition. (source: TASR)
THE SOLISKO Hotel in Štrbské Pleso, a holiday resort in the High Tatras, offers visitors an opportunity to admire miniature paper models of seven buildings replicating the original architecture of significant structures in the Tatras in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The miniatures were carefully constructed by Oto Jalčovik from Trebišov over a six-year period. They can be seen at the hotel until the end of June.
“The idea for this project was born when period postcards of the High Tatras started to appear in the mid 1990s,” Jalčovik told the TASR newswire in explaining how he got the idea to construct three-dimensional models of historical buildings in the Tatras.
“Photos show the wonderful old architecture but the view is just two-dimensional. I try to make the buildings true to their position in space and their environment,” he stated, as quoted by TASR. The models are made from ordinary paper and while Jalčovik primarily based his models on period photographs he was also able to find original blueprints of some of the buildings.
“I then used computer graphics and made a design, then printed it, and later cut it from paper and glued it together,” he said in describing the process, adding that one model building could take him more than three months to construct, depending on its complexity.
“For example, since last summer I have been completing the former Czáky house and I hope to finish it by the end of March,” he told TASR.
Models of seven buildings are now on display, mostly from Starý Smokovec: the summer residence of Karol Divald; the Téry cabin; the former postal building in Starý Smokovec; Scepusia Hotel; the former café building that is currently occupied by the Vysoké Tatry town council; Villa Adria; and Villa Hygiea. All of Jalčovik’s models are to a 1:100 scale.
“The first model I made was Villa Adria, as I thought I had the most complete documentation. I continued and my idea is to add some more buildings and to create a complete composition of part of Smokovec that includes its parks and green areas so we can imagine how it used to look,” Jalčovik said. He focuses on building from before 1900. “I consider this the most beautiful period [of the town] and I especially focus on now-dilapidated buildings or ones that no longer exist. My next project should map all the original buildings at Štrbské Pleso,” Jalčovik stated.
Patrik Kolesár of the Tatra Beautification Association told TASR that his group would like to see Jalčovik “make the Grand Hotels in Starý Smokovec and Tatranská Lomnica as well as models of the original sanatoriums at Štrbské Pleso and the original railway station near the lake”.
