Slovaks
At the Fair of Handy-crafts, Bratislava
Travelling through the heart of Europe, you will notice a lot of similarities in people, their habits, architecture, handicraft, towns and villages.
For centuries this was geographically the territory of the Habsburg monarchy, until it fell apart in 1918 into Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia. The people of these countries have always exchanged places, experiences, products, and in some cases even their languages.
And so up till today you will find for example Slovaks living in Hungary, in the Czech Republic, in Serbia or in Romania. You would walk through Vienna and encounter Slovak names on houses and shops.
Ask a Slovak about his ancestors, and you will find out that everyone has at least a Polish grandmother, German grandfather, that originally one of their parents came from Hungary or Ukraine, or a combination of it all.
This we could call goulash, and goulash is not surprisingly the best-known dish in all the mentioned countries and is prepared with only little variety.
Short Look at History
The Cathedral of St. Emeram, Nitra
Many of the countries in Central-Europe are relatively new, but their people are not. Slovakia is one of the youngest countries, but the Slovaks have been here from around half of the 5th century, after the Celts and Romans left.
The early Slovaks were farmers, and farmers need land for work and food, not for power, and so they were quite easily overpowered by other nations, especially by the Magyars, a tribe always rapidly on the move from the Far East over the steppes.
An almost one thousand years of being part of the Hungarian kingdom and later the Habsburg Dynasty began, a history for Slovaks of serfdom.
The Great-Moravian Empire
St. Cyril and St. Methodius, Nitra
Nowadays one could look back at the past and explain how Slovaks came to be the Slovaks of today and how this country came about.
As a nation, one needs an identity. For the Slovaks this is the Great-Moravian Empire in the 9th and 10th century AD.
The center of culture and power was in Nitra, 100 kilometers east of Bratislava. Here it was that Slovaks accepted Christianity through their king Rastislav, who was visited and converted by missionaries Cyril and Methodius.
How did Slovaks survive since, after the fall of this empire until the end of World War One? One would say by keeping a low profile, by being inconspicuous, working hard for their day-to-day life; Slovaks have never been fighters, have never been self-destructive.
Still, it was no wonder that in the 19th century Slovaks were taking part in the waves of emancipation that swept through Europe. No wonder, because they were always here though not many knew about them.
Know the Culture
The Museum of Liptov Village, Pribylina, Central Slovakia
Travel around the country-side, visit Europe’s oldest and most original villages with colorful houses of wood or clay, Čičmany, Vlkolínec and Špania Dolina.
Travel and visit the folklore festivals and yearly harvest feasts, the vintage and wine tasting, travel through this majestic and unspoiled mountainous country.
Visit local restaurants and pubs, meet Slovaks, observe them, make friends. And you would understand how they survived through the ages and know their perseverance and peacefulness.
You are in the country of the truest Slavs of all Slavs in Central-Europe, with heart and soul, survivors, friends.
Discover Slovakia
Kremnica, Central Slovakia
Visiting Slovakia today you will encounter the greatness of Slovakia’s territorial history, enormous castles and citadels that were strategically built on the rough rocky mountain-tops throughout Slovakia, as a defense system against the Turks.
You will discover rich palaces with broad English or French parks where Hungarian noblemen lived.
The country is full of historical churches, like the Cathedral of St. Emeram in Nitra, the St Martin’s Cathedral in Bratislava where Hungarian rulers were crowned or the Gothic church in Levoča with the highest wooden altar in the world (18.6 m high), made by the greatest mediaeval artist of Slovakia, Master Pavol from Levoča, and many more.
