AT LEAST 10,000 guests are expected to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) at the SNP Memorial in Banská Bystrica on August 29. As many as 36 embassies have already confirmed the attendance of their representatives, including those of Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Venezuela, SNP Museum director Stanislav Mičev told the press on August 26.
Regarding the official representatives of the states, Mičev confirmed that Czech President Miloš Zeman, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu have already confirmed their presence at the celebrations.
The organisers, however, have still not received responses to invitations sent to the senior officials of Ukraine and Germany. Mičev said that even though Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has been invited, it is likely that only an embassy representative will participate in the wreath-laying ceremony.
“It has been announced to us that more than 90 wreaths will be laid, so there will be many delegations taking part in the main SNP celebrations,” Mičev said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Moreover, the Defence Ministry registers about 2,000 members of the anti-Nazi resistance. They will also attend the ceremony, as reported by TASR.
The ceremony in Banská Bystrica, which is a public holiday, will begin at 11:00 with a flyover of jet fighters, followed by speeches by top Slovak constitutional officials.
The main ceremony in Banská Bystrica will cost altogether €480,000. About €200,000 has gone toward the reconstruction of the SNP Museum area, €35,000 toward the technical and organisational provision of the event and €85,000 for the cultural programme. Some €40,000 was spent on organising international conferences, and €50,000 for international exhibitions. Mičev also said that €20,000 went to the national cultural monument in Kalište, TASR wrote.
The whole event will be supervised by police.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
