Culture Day Celebrated across Slovenia
Festivities are being held around Slovenia on Thursday to mark Culture Day, a national holiday dedicated to the country's greatest poet France Preseren. While Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti hosted a traditional reception for the Preseren laureates in Ljubljana, the first Slovenian theatre gateway was launched at the website www.sigledal.org.
Minister Simoniti said Preseren's personality inspired the knowledge that turning points life and the arts came with special courage, which, coupled with talent, could bring forth timeless works of art.
While people often love simplicity and glittering mass delusions in the arts too, "genuine artists persevere as this is their life call, their fate, urgency," Simoniti said in his address to Preseren Prize winners.
The highest commendation in the arts, the Preseren Prize was conferred to composer Janez Maticic and actor Radko Polic-Rac at a state ceremony on Wednesday, while Preseren Fund Prizes for individual achievement went to architects Vesna and Matej Vozlic, composer Urska Pompe, author Suzana Tratnik, multimedia artist Marko Peljhan, ballet dancer Anton Bogov and painter Joze Slak-Djoka.
Culture Day is a work-free day in Slovenia and as such a chance for people to take time for the arts. Several museums and other cultural institutions opened their doors to visitors free of charge, while events are being held in major squares of towns and cities across the country.
In the northeast of the country, theatre actors gathered in front of the Ptuj theatre building to read poetry by Preseren and other authors, while director Samo M. Strelec launched his project, Slovenia's first theatre portal.
According to him, the website serves as a gateway to all Slovenian theatre companies, while it will also function as a forum as everyone will be able to make a contribution by way of comments or reviews.
Poetry by Preseren was also recited in Ljubljana, where a crowd gathered at the foot of the poet's monument in the square named after him to listen to interpretations by leading theatre actors.
The ceremony was also addressed by Mayor Zoran Jankovic, who said "Preseren is not just the pride we feel hearing the national anthem, not just art, but we also feel him in our pockets." The mayor referred to the two-euro coin, which features the poet.
France Preseren in fact pops up wherever you look. Slovenia adopted his "Toast", a poem that calls for friendship among nations and freedom for all peoples, for its national anthem when it gained independence in 1991.
A poet of the Romantic era, France Preseren (1800-1849) is celebrated for his contribution to Slovenia's national identity. Moreover, he is praised for having cultivated the Slovenian language as a poet.
The holiday is observed on the day of his death, 8 February, while festivities are traditionally held also on the day of his birth, 3 December, when cultural institutions hold open day.
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