MY SUMMER 1994 TRIP TO SLOVAKIA

PART THREE

On Monday I visited the village of Liptovska Kokava, skanzen in Pribylina and went again to the skanzen in Zuberec to take some more pictures, stopping again at the salaš for some zincica before continuing to Zuberec. From Zuberec we visited old wooden churches in Lestiny and Istebne and went to see my friend Fero Mucha of the famous Mucha Brothers music from Terchova and had an interesting talk over a bottle of home made slivovica (plum brandy), before continuing to Martin. The next morning we picked my friend Jelka Borcovanova and her two sons and we were off to Orava's Castle, where we got a private tour, as Jelka used to work there and then continued to the skanzen in Vychylovka, an open air museum of the Kysuce village. The only exhibit in the whole museum that was open was Krcma the pub. From all the skanzens I seen so far in Slovakia, this was the poorest. The sad part is that it is so far away from everywhere, you have a really hard time finding it as there are no easily visible signs leading you to it and when you are lucky enough to get there, the exhibits aren't open. Later on that evening we arrived at Rastislav Haronik's place in Vysehradne, as the next day we went with his mother to see his school friend at the museum in Nova Bana, that by the way has an excellent exhibit showing the history of this little mining town. We went on an army road that isn’t on any map across the mountain to Pukanec, saving us about an hour, where we visited a small museum of the Pukanec's pottery. Later on we went to an old water mill in Bohunice and another winner of the Europa Nostra diploma a house in Brhlovce that has parts of its living space carved into the side of a mountain. We have also visited the castle of Levice including the museum's folk craft’s deposits. We have returned to Vysehradne later on in the evening. The next day we visited the manor house of Betiar and its marvelous exhibit and the castle of Krasna Horka, both in the Gemer region. I purposely went through the village of Uhorna as I spent few weeks there with my friends camping in the summer of 65 or 66. I couldn't believe how remote this place was. I know I got there via hitch hiking. We went all the way to Snina as the Wooden Churches of Eastern Slovakia were on my agenda next. I had really hard time finding a hotel in Snina as it was completely unmarked and dark.

The next day we visited the churches in Topola, Rusky Potok, Ulicske Krive, Kalna Roztoka, Inovce, Ruska Bystra, Hrabova Roztoka, skanzen in Humenne before continuing to Medzilaborce and the Andy Warhol museum and later on to visit our friend from Straznice, Vychodna and Detva, Jaroslav Biros, alias Bohumil from village of Okruzna near Presov, where he owns and operates the local krcma-pub in the center of the village. The next day we were off to Bardejov stopping at wooden churches in Trocany and Hervatov. Gone to the Sunday mass at the Church of St. Egidius in Bardejov and visited a really nice museum with skanzen at the Bardejov spa, followed by the church in Potoky and through Vranov to Caklov to visit my friends mother Helena Demcak. We also visited the gypsy musicians in Zamutov, Jozef Kroka Ceslak and his family and listen to some great gypsy violins. When the family learned that one of the visitors is from Canada, they all wanted their picture taken, so for a while I was the official photographer in Zamutov.

From there we visited the museum at manor house in Hanušovce, wooden church in Kozany, Skanzen in Svidik, that was officially closed on Monday, but the aerial of the skanzen wasn't closed. This was followed by the stops at the wooden churches in Semetkovce, Ladomirova Krajne Cierno, Hunkovce, Korejovce, Mirola Bodruzal, Prikra, Nizny Komarnik, Vysny Komarnik, Dobroslava, Jedlinka, Fricka and Krive.

Next morning we traveled all the way to Cerveny Klastor, an old Cartesian's monastery and returned to visit the castle of Stara Lubovna and later on the Skanzen of Stara Lubovna. The lecture given by the director of the skanzen was excellent as were the displays in the old wooden log houses. There is a total of eight skanzens in Slovakia and I have seen them all. We stopped at the village of Krivany where Mr. Lazorik a Slovak folklore legend lives. Mr. Lazorik is a true down to earth folklorist clearly miss-understood by the Slovak folklorists centralized and controlled from Bratislava. We continued to Spisska Nova Ves. I couldn't believe the beauty of this town especially the town’s square, the second largest town square in Slovakia. I took some pictures, visited the museum, stopped at the wooden church in Brežany before visiting the beautiful church in the village of Zehra with its famous fresco "Biblia Pavorum" from the 15th century. Few miles down the road are the ruins of the Spis castle, the largest 13th Century Gothic castle in Europe. The aerial was closed due to film making by American filmmakers. After I rushed to Liptovsky Hradok and was stopped by the police and got a speeding ticket for about $ 30.00 close to Vazec.

Then I spent few days in Bratislava and visited beautiful castle of Cerveny Kamen near by and got a private lecture from Martina Docolomanska. This was her summer job.

Friday morning I was off to Moravia again to the folk festival in Velka nad Velickou. Velka is about 6 miles north of Myjava. This was by far the most memorable festival, as the music and songs of this area are so beautiful. The festival is small, but here you can see the real folklorists. For instance after the end of Friday's program, nobody left the amphitheater. Instead, we were all there talking and waiting for the unofficial program to start, that really lasted for three days, as different musicians were playing in different groups throughout the aerial of the festival in towns' streets, and the two pubs. Sunday the festival moved to another village called Kuzelov, to real windmill as you would probably see in Holland and there under the linden tree the musicians were playing the whole day.

Following the festival I went to the Central Spis region. Visited the most beautiful gothic chapel in Slovakia, located in Spissky Stvrtok, then the oldest Roman period Catholic church in Slovakia in Chrast nad Hornadom, church in Bijacovce where during the last reconstruction the valuable frescos with the legend of St. Michael were left above the new ceiling and you can see them only by a request and going to the dusty attic through the bell tower. I also visited the church in Spisska Kapitula and got permission in writing from the bishop's office to photograph the churches in their region, as the photography is strictly forbidden inside the churches without the permission. Later on in the day I visited home of my favorite singer, Lucka Stasikova in Vitaz, where we were all singing together with her parents until early morning.

On the way to Liptovsky Hradok, we made stop in beautiful medieval town of Levoca with its' most famous and tallest gothic altar in the World, by the master Pavol from Levoca in the church of St. Jakob. Later on I visited the parents of my friend Adriana Valaskova and was given a historic leather bound Lutheran Song book published in 1823 by her father. This is by far the most precious possession of my vast Slovak library.

Next day I went through Donovaly in the Low Tatra mountains and as always even if it is only for a coffee or a beer I made stop at Cottage hotel Jelenec, owned by my friends, located close by settlement called Stare Hory. This little hotel is located not too far off the road in a small picturesque valley, next to a creek. In winter the hills of Donovaly and other close by locations offer some excellent and inexpensive skiing.

I was getting close to my departure home, but I couldn't resist two more festivals in Vazec and Pribylina. In Vazec, prior to the start of the parade I visited the museum of famous painter Jan Hala a Czech by birth that felt in love with Vazec during one of his travels and started to paint there. Only three groups were participating at the festival, the local group of Vazec, visiting group from across the mount Kralova Hola a village called Sumiac and student folk dance group "Technik," from Bratislava. The parade went through the village and continued to the open-air theater located on the hill above the village, with the High Tatra Mountains and its mount Krivan forming a back drop for the stage. It was simply beautiful.

The next day and my last day in Slovakia I spent at Pribylina's skanzen where the last festival called "Native Sunday" was taking place with performances by the natives of Vazec and the folk dance group Technik.

My seven beautiful weeks in Slovakia passed so quickly. I have shot 42 films totaling over 1300 pictures, made 40 hours of videos, brought back 75 books and tones and tones of unforgettable memories.

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Published in the Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 2, No. 3, Fall 1994
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 1994 
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