June 21st, 2013 / TASR

On the tenth anniversary of the Remscheid–Prešov Twinning Association, a week of Slovak culture was held in the famous cultural centre of North Rhine-Westphalia in Remscheid. It was organized under the auspices of the city mayor Beate Wilding and the ambassador of the Slovak Republic in Germany Igor Slobodník.

During the week from June 14th till 20th, a number of events presenting Slovakia took place. Local visitors could get acquainted with Slovak companies, taste Slovak wine and food. Performances of folklore music and dancing groups from Prešov enriched the programme.

The grand opening of the event took place in the Evangelic cathedral; the world known pantomime artist Milan Sládek performed Peer Gynt accompanied by music Edward Grieg. The successful presentation of Slovak culture was concluded by the writer Jozef Banáš in the City library on Thursday June 20th. Jozef Banáš was one of the finalists of the Johann Gottfried Seume literary competition. “I was pleasantly surprised; participants asked interesting questions. They mainly wanted to know about the fall of the Berlin wall, German reunification and the split of Czechoslovakia. As I witnessed some of these events myself directly in Eastern Berlin, they were interested in my point of view,” Jozef Banáš says.

Next year, a similar Slovak-German cultural event is planned to be held in Prešov.