There is a lot to admire in our small but beautiful Slovakia.
On its territory we can find an extraordinary conglomerate of natural beauties, historical wealth, cultural heritage and the fruits of the hard, zany struggle of whole human generations for life and survival. The bustling rhythm of the present is intertwined here in rare harmony and harmony with the magnificent dignity of the mountains, the sombre reverie of vast forests, the picturesque landscape of the foothills, the shimmering charm of the Štiavnica lakes, the sparkling playfulness and rapaciousness of the mountain streams and rivers, the river streams of the Danube, the Váh, the Hron, the Bodrog, the Hornád and the Rimava, Ondava, the healing power of mineral springs in Piešt'any, Trenčianske or Rajecké Teplice, Sliač, Kováčová, Dudince, Brusno, Bardejov, Lúčki or Korytnice, the delicate but breathtaking beauty of the sinter world of Harmanecká Izbica, caves in the Demänovská valley, Dobšiná, Gombasek, Ochtina, Bystra and other centres of "cave" tourism.
The picturesqueness of the gracious nature, which in the endless passage of time has also created such picturesque monuments of beauty as the High and Low Tatras, Pieniny, Kremnické, Štiavnické, Veporské vrchy, Veľká and Malá Fatra, Slovak Paradise, Slovak Beskydy, Slovak Ore Mountains, Small, Big or White Carpathians, Ondavská vrchovina, Vihorlat, have been complemented for centuries by monuments of the building genius and high cultural erudition of this and previous generations.
Záhorie, Kysuce, Orava, Turiec, Liptov, Horehronie, Podpoľanie, Tekov, Malohont, Novohrad, Gemer, Spiš, Šariš, Zemplín - these are the historical names of the Slovak regions that their inhabitants have shaped into their present form over the millennia. They have imprinted them with the stamp of peculiarity, peculiarity and uniqueness. They have managed to do so thanks to hard national lethora, toil, efforts to do good and an unwavering resolve to create beauty - whether through a modest ornament on a child's cradle, a filigreed figure on a wooden shepherd's "row", or a decorated oak cross in the cemetery on the hill behind the village.
And in between, there has never been a lack of admirable customs in the lives of our people, customs unseen anywhere else, lilting songs, cutting music, exuberant dances, brightly coloured 'ciphered' costumes, the hospitality, friendliness and warmth of our people. Their symbiosis with the surrounding nature, always fascinating, but sometimes also hostile, stingy and cruel to man, jealously protecting its values, has shaped the landscape between the Danube and the Tatras into what it is today. The wide, unforgiving plains, the graciously rounded, gradual hills, and the forest-rock-hill mountains, cemented whole generations of our ancestors, educating them to resilience, unyielding, and pride. They provided them with sustenance, living space, comfort and protection in the most difficult of times.
Today they shelter us, the heirs of a glorious mining, artisanal, pastoral, lumbering and peasant tradition, with its roots reaching deep into the ancient Middle Ages, the protectors of the cultural potential that has accumulated in this territory over the centuries, the bearers of the legacy of the anti-fascist uprising of 1944-1945, a historic event that has forever placed our national community among the democratic and freedom-loving civic communities of the modern world. Then, enriched by new experiences and knowledge, with fresh minds and steeled nerves, we will return to our homes and workplaces knowing that we have done something to make our lives more beautiful and fulfilling.
May you, my dear friends, succeed as soon as possible in coming to this feeling and conviction as you wander around Slovakia.
