GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION OFFICE

In spite of the fact that new technologies with rapid means of transport and communication make it possible to cover large geographic distances with ease and even modify the dimension of time, life in the 21st century is still emotionally linked to the historical circumstances and human relations that have existed among peoples and nations for centuries. The historical memory of Europe is made up of a conglomerate of excellent human relations and mutual amicability, as well as of dark memories of fierce wars that claimed millions of lives and gave rise to animosities which sometimes looked like they would never be overcome.

But fortunately life is driven primarily by optimism and faith in the good. It is the memory of the good that nowadays links people of various nationalities and cultures.

One of the principal memories of the Slovenes as a small nation that had hardly started to develop at the beginning of the 19th century is associated with the brief period of French rule in their national territory and with the Illyrian Provinces, a state and administrative formation established by the French Emperor Napoleon, which encompassed the territory from the Julian Alps to Dubrovnik and made Ljubljana the capital of the largest stretch of territory in its history. However, there was something even more important for the Slovene nation within this formal framework. In line with the principles of the bourgeois revolution, the new French authority introduced the Slovene language as a subject in educational institutions and thus recognised the equality of the Slovene language and culture with that of other nations, and put the Slovene nation as a new nation on the map of Europe. It was in this period that the spontaneous and vigorous response of the Slovene intelligentsia created a cultural and scientific base that could not be shoved aside and hurled into anonymity, which is why many cultural and other reforms remained in force also after the Illyrian Provinces ceased to exist. This happy coincidence, which is of extreme importance for the formation of the strong national identity and considerably higher self-confidence of the Slovene people, is one of the main reasons why the legacy of French culture is even nowadays accepted with favour and devotion.

At the end of the 19th century, the principles of freedom, fraternity and equality also paved the way for the survival and development of small human communities and nations. Guided by the same principles, the Slovene people found their way to establishing links with their neighbours and to joining the family of European nations, which is something that can never be forgotten.