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SUMMARY OF THE FALL ISSUE

Volume 13, No. 3, Fall 2005

Slovak Heritage Live

A quarterly newsletter published by Vladimir Linder

Winter issue was published in June 2005 and it was mailed to 1200 recipients world wide. 



FROM THE EDITOR
Our web pages are doing great and I am getting email and phone requests on every imaginable topic that I try to answer as my time allows. It is great. I haven’t mentioned recently that I also do genealogical research in Slovakia and I did some work in Poland as well. In Poland I have done several researches in the territory, right north of High Tatra Mountains, that once belonged to the Austro Hungarian Empire and during the first Czechoslovak Republic it belonged to Czechoslovakia, then it was exchanged for some coal properties with Poland. During the WWII it belonged to Slovakia and after the war it was given back to Poland, but the Slovak spirit is alive and well in this part of Poland. They have Slovak elementary schools, Slovak churches and the older people are fluent in Slovak, they have Slovak cultural organizations, organize Slovak cultural happenings, folklore performances and fairs. I also do ancestral village photography, where I travel to your ancestral village and take pictures of the village, its surroundings, church etc. and I also do ancestral village videos where your ancestral village is videotaped and narrated in English.
You can find information about my services on my web pages:
http://www.slovakheritage.org/Shopping/Genrsrch/genealogical_research.htm
http://www.slovakheritage.org/Shopping/Videos/ancestral_videos.htm
http://www.slovakheritage.org/Shopping/Videos/ancestral_photography.htm

As you are reading this newsletter, I am still in Slovakia until August 10 and if you have any requests or needs and feel that I can be of help, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at: vlinder49@hotmail.com  or by calling me on my cell: 011-421-907-297-508.

I will try to publish the winter issue this year early so you will have plenty of time for your orders before Christmas.

Vladimir

FROM THE MAIL BAG

Vladimir,
Sorry – a little late!
Please: 2 more years of Slovak Heritage Live, $25.00 per year, 2 years-$50.00 from April 2005 to April 2007 and a small donation of $25.00.
Keep them coming! Take Care! Happy traveling!

Andrew Redovian
7975 58th Ave N. #108
St. Petersburg, FL 33709

Dear Vladimir,
Enclosed is my subscription renewal for the year 2005-2006 in the amount of $125.00. We are all grateful to you for your wonderful publication with its historical and personal stories of Slovakia and the photographs.
Thank you also for the genealogical work you have done for me which I have filtered to my relatives.
Best wishes and continued success,

  Paul Berish
813 Flatbush Road
Kingston   NY 12401

FROM THE HISTORY OF MARY’S HILL
By: Mons. Prof. ThDr. ICDr. František Dlugoš, Ph.D.

The oldest pilgrimage place in eastern Slovakia is Levoča, where the roots of the Mary’s cult date back to the 13th century. The first mention about this pilgrimage place and the gathering of Mary’s worshippers appear at those times. In 1247, the first chapel was built on Olivet hill. Probably it was built as manifestation of thankfulness to the Mother of God for rescuing numerous lives during the invasion of the Mongols, who marauded our territory and the town of Levoča as well. In 1311, the Franciscans came to Levoča and they established the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. In 1322, the Levoča parish priest Henrich renovated the first church on Mary’s Hill. In the second half of the 15th century, the size of the church on Mary’s Hill was already insufficient. Besides this fact, the state of the church was such that it was close to its collapse. In 1470, the parish priest Servác enlarged and partially rebuilt the church and shortly after that the church got the gracious Gothic statue of the Virgin Mary which has been preserved to the present.
Pilgrimages to the Mary’s Hill continued even during the Reformation. In addition, the local Lutherans kept up the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary.
However, the revival of pilgrimages came into being only after the Counter Reforma­tion, the first deed of which was a big pro­cession and pilgrimage to the Hill on July 2, 1671. In 1673, the Holy Father granted the indulgence privilege to Mary’s Hill. The church was rebuilt and ex­tended several times. In 1698, the parish priest Štefan Györffy built the second church on Mary’s Hill. In 1819, Ján Ehrnspenger, the Levoča parish priest, built the third church on Mary’s Hill, which was consecrated by the Spiš bishop Michal Brigido, a former Levoča pa­rish priest, in 1820. In 1847, Roman Catholic parish priest Jozef Dulovič built a wooden chapel for the Eastern Byzantine worshippers. In 1906, Celestín Kompanyik began to build the present shrine from the thank‑offerings of worshippers, which, after his death, was com­pleted and furnished by the new parish priest jozef Krššál. On July 2, 1922, the new Spiš bishop Ján Vojtaššák, nowa­days‑a candidate for beatification, solemnly consecrated the new and spacious church.
In 1947, the Levoča parish priest Jozef Vojtas, who worked in Levoča after the sec­ond world war, prepared imposing plans for Mary’s Hill (to build a pilgrim, religious and spiritual retreat house). However, the political situation in the 50’s prevented their realization. The present parish priest Mons Doc. ThDr. ICLic. František Dlugoš, Ph.D., realized his plans only af­ter the fall of communism, after the year of 1989...

120TH ANNIVERSARY OF SLOVAKS IN CANADA
Ondrej Miháľ

The year 2005-2006 marks the 120th   Anniversary of the arrival of the first Slovaks in Canada. In 1884, “Count” Paul Esterhazy established the First Hungarian American Colonization Project in the United States. He then contracted with the Canadian government in 1885 to resettle Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians and Hungarians from Central Europe (as well as from the mining towns in the United States) in the undeveloped Canadian territories that had recently opened up due to the completion of the trans-Canada railway. In Esterhazy’s written response to the question of whether the Magyars as a class can be looked upon as a desirable acquisition to the Canadian North-West he described the future immigrants in this way:
The moral sentiments of the Magyar are of the highest order. He is too proud to be dishonest, low or mean. He is governed by at all times by a high sense of what is right and just. As a master he is careful, kind and generous. As a subject he is fixed, resolute, unyielding to what is wrong. If rich, he is profuse in his expenses, elevated in his tastes, liberal in his charities. If poor, his pride will not suffer him to complain, while his general demeanor cannot be distinguished from the wealthiest baron in the land. In all the relations of domestic life, as a husband, father, brother, son, he is unimpeachable in his conduct or follows every aberration with dignified regret. His hospitality is unbounded; whether rich or poor he receives his visitors with joy and dismisses them with unwillingness. In religion he is sincere, devout, but never contentious or fanatical. The liberty, which in all things he demands for himself, he freely accords to all others. Freedom indeed is the word which concentrates in itself the whole life and being of the Magyar.
Such a glowing description must have found a favorable reception because the “Esterhaz Colony” was founded in the month of June, 1886; the first settlers, about 35 Hungarian families-150 souls-having taken possession of homesteads selected in the year 1885.”...

KAPUŠANY CASTLE
One day back in summer of 1997 we decided with my friend Jaroslav Biros (alias Bohumile Onasisse) to go to the ruins of Kapušany Castle. He felt that there is a road from village north of the castle called Fulianka. We took every road leading from the village only to come to a dead end each time. We asked numerous passers by for directions to the castle. Finally one gentleman has given us directions, which we followed only to run to another dead end above village Kapušany. So I asked an owner of a house at the dead end for permission to park, partially blocking her entrance. She was very kind and gave us directions for the climb. Of course we missed the green mark for the trail and continued the wrong way. We run into a group of young people having a beer and making fire for frying bacon on the sticks...

THE CORRIDOR OF TOLERANCE AT MOJMÍROVCE MANOR HOUSE
Latest addition to the Mojmírovce Manor House decorations is the hall of tolerance with which they are trying to accentuate the real meaning of the word tolerance, which means for today and for the future the basic meaning for preservation of the civilization in the world. In this corridor they are inviting the visitors to try to find through the art and religion contiguous points that are bringing people together. Spectres that the artist depicts in their paintings of half round shapes are visions or symbols of different religions. We can see two paintings depicting Indian Hinduism by Táňa Zitanová, two paintings depicting Greek mythology-winged Daidalos and Ikaros and typical figure of ancient Egypt by Jana Sabíková-Farmanová. We also can see paintings depicitg Taoism, seven intelectuals and Confucius by chinese painter living in Bratislava Paolo Zhang. We can also find well known sitting Buddha by Soňa Heréniová. Following we can see paintings depicting Christianism-Old and New Testament by young artist Rasťo Podoba. Last two paintings are depicting Islam by Blažej Mikuš.
All paintings are full of symbols; each motif is certain exactly catched authentic spectre of that or other religion. Beautiful crystal chandeliers light up the corridor and they are giving it historic atmosphere. They are made by well-known artist from Brno, Lea Raisov
á. The half round shaped paintings are hanged immediately under the ceiling of the corridor and the space under the paintings will be used to display portraits of important religious personalities from the history of man kind. First two paintings are finished-portrait of the reformer of Catholic church Martin Luther by Ingrid Zámecníková and portrait of Mahatma Ghandi, who himself is the symbol of tolerance, by Táňa Zitanová. All authors are well known Slovak painters.

THE OCHTINSKÁ ARAGONITE CAVE
NATIONAL NATURE MONUMENT UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Cadastral areal: Ochtiná
District: Rožňava
Region: Košice

It is situated in the Ochtinský cryptokarst on the north western slope of Hrádok Hill in the Revúcka Highland, between Jelšava and Štítnik. Access to the cave is through the 145-meter gallery that opens to the cave spaces at 642 meters above the sea level. It was formed in a lens of Palaeozoic crystalline limestone (Lower Devonian Upper Silu­rian) in Devonian phyllites. A part of the limestones was in the Mesozoic Period in the Upper Cretaceous hydro terminally transformed into ankerites and siderites. The atmospheric water seeping along the tectonic faults caused their weathering and the creation of ochres that were later flowed away. Overall length of the cave is 300 meters. Rich aragonite filling was formed under specific hydro chemical and climatic conditions in closed underground spaces. It occurs in kidney shaped, needle shaped and spiral forms. The cave was discovered in 1954 by chan­ce, when driving a new geologic exploratory gallery, by M. Cangár and J. Prošek. It was open to the public in 1972 in the length of 230 meters.

ČERVENÝ KAMEŇ CASTLE
This is a huge, well preserved castle situated on a hill above village Píla in Small Carpathians. Originally there was a King’s castle of which the first written records date back to middle of 13th century. It belonged to a series of medieval border castles that were built in 13th century for defense of western border of Hungarian Empire. At the beginning of 16th century it belonged to Thurzo family and from 1535 to Fuggers, well known and rich entrepreneurs, that belonged to one of the richest families in Europe magnates and financiers. Their richness came from their copper and other precious metals mines and from trading. Anton Fugger a builder of great name started to build a new castle on the foundations of the old gothic castle with huge storage warehousing areas in the basement and fortification system. As a medieval fortification, it is one of the best-preserved structures in Slovakia.

KAROL PLICKA
ČESKOSLOVENSKO
This book contains sepia photographs of Prague, Slovakia, Slovak folklore, some never published before.
He bas born in a family of Czech businessman on October 14, 1894 Vienna. He lived his childhood in Vienna and Česká Třebová. Already in 1899-1900 he was a member of choir Wiener Sängerknaben. When he was ten years old, he started to be in­terested in photography and con­structed a photographic instrument out of an old cigar box. Later on he pur­chased a photo camera and after 1919 started his collec­tor’s and photographic studies of Slovak folklore.
Until 1918 he was a member of army band and a singer in the choir of opera in Vienna. 1919-1923 member of Singers association of Prague’s teachers. He was a co-founder and conductor of the choir of Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1909-1913 he studied at the Teachers institute in Hradec Králové, 1914 he studied violin under Prof. Mařák in Prague.
 In 1927-1923 he absolved extra ordinary study of musical science and history of art at Philosophical faculty of University of Ján Amos Komenský in Bratislava...

COST US$119.95
plus US$10.95 shipping and handling
TOTAL US$130.90
Please mail personal check to:
Vladimir Linder
3804 Yale Street
Burnaby  BC   V5C 1P6  CANADA

MUSEUM OF THE ORAVA VILLAGE
This open-air museum is located on mountain meadow Poľana at the foot of Roháče in the West Tatra Mountains. The Studený brook runs through the whole village. The Museum of the Orava Village is a model of mountain village developed over the centuries, with a historical core, cottars’ houses on the periphery and seasonal buildings on pasture lands, a cemetery and church on ancient cultic sites on the highest elevation point near the village, and with mills at spots where the stream leaves the village. The museum has following parts: The Lower Orava region marketplace, the part near a stream contains a watermill, a sawmill, and a building for producing fabric. Zamagura Street, Highlanders’ village represents the poorest part of Orava situated in the southeast of the Orava Mountains and the Beskydy solitary estates or hamlets...

TESTIMONY OF HISTORIC POSTCARDS  
BRATISLAVA SVEDECTVO HISTORICKÝCH POHĽADNÍC
This is a fantastic hard cover large format book 10 x 13 3/8 inches containing 574 historical postcards and photographs with many views of the city from the days gone by. It goes back to 1839 and the beginning of photography in Bratislava. It shows the first known picture of Bratislava by J. Deutsch from 1840-41.
The book is written in Slovak, German, and Hungarian languages. At the end of the book the complete text is in English.

It starts with a chapter: From the History of Picture Postcards. Followed by: Views of the City: Franciscan Square, Main Square,Clarisine Lane, Lawrence Lane, St. Michalel’s Lane, Lords Lane, Primate Square, Fishermen’s Gate, Ventura Street, American Square, Danube Lane, Gorki Street, Deep Road, Hodža Square, Hurban Square, Hviezdoslav Square, Jacob’s Square, Field Hospital Street, Factory Street, Jesenský Street, Kollár Square, Goats Lane, Cross Lane, Ľ. Štúr Square, Commerce Lane, The Palisades, Virgin Lane, Radlinský Street, Fish Square, Freedom Square, Square of the Slovak National Uprising, Dry Toll, Šarárik Square Rampart Streer, Hospital Lane, Štefánik Street, Štefanovič Lane, Windy Lane, High Street, Zoch Lane, Castle Street, Jewish Lane, District Square, Capucin Lane, The Daube Embankment, The Castle Surroundings, The Castle, Transpor, Church Buildings, The Fire Brigade, Culture and Education, Aerial Views, Bridges, Parks, Greenery, Foresters‘ Lodges, Catering, Recreation, Sport, Industry, Factories, Wine Growing and Wine Bars, The Military, Health Service and Welfare, Floods, The Fire in 1913, Exhibitions and Fairs, The Visit of Francis Joseph I in 1908, The Visit of Emperor Charles in 1918, The Incorporation of Bratislava into Czechoslovakia, The Last Farewell to Milan Rastislav Štefánik, The Bomb Attack on  March 13, 1939, The Bombing Raid on June 16, 1944.

I lived in Bratislava for the first 19 years of my life from 1950 until 1969 and I still remember many scenes of Bratislava captured on these postcards. It has brought back many memories and I would certainly recommend it and especially to people that used to live in Bratislava.

COST US$119.95
plus US$10.95 shipping and handling
TOTAL US$130.90
Please mail personal check to:
Vladimir Linder
3804 Yale Street
Burnaby  BC   V5C 1P6  CANADA


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Vladimir Linder
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Copyright © Vladimir Linder 2005 
3804 Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article and photographs may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without the express written permission of Vladimir Linder. All rights reserved.