A 2009 curiosity recordholder - toothpick buildings! (source: ĆTK)
SLOVAKS can be proud that they were ably represented at the 19th year of the International Festival of Records and Curiosities held in the Czech town of Pelhřimov. The Slovak winners of the Record of the Year went to Ján and Jaroslav Malík from the village of Dolný Pial in south Slovakia, who have nurtured a single tree that bears five kinds of fruit.
They planted the tree in the garden of the ‘House of Good Days’ in Pelhřimov in May 2008 when it was three years old. The Malíks say the tree symbolises the connection between neighbouring countries with each fruit symbolically representing a country: apricot for the Czech Republic, plum for Slovakia, peach for Poland, nectarine for Hungary, and almond for Austria.
Other nominees who sought to become the recordholder from Slovakia included the Hope Multiple Sclerosis Association for the longest live chain formed by patients with this illness – 56 people – and the Slovak juggler Milan Roskop who made 18 juggling throws with three operating power saws each weighing 3.6 kilograms, but failed to beat the record of 83, the SITA newswire wrote. Pelhřimov has been the capital of records ever since its first festival was held 19 years ago on the second weekend in June. The town’s Museum of Records and Curiosities, also unique in Europe, opened in 1994.
