Slovakia - the country of cultural monuments

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УДК 338.48((100)(075.8)

Slovakia - the country of cultural monuments

Eva Hvizdova, Department of Commerce,

International School of Management, Slovakia, Presov

Eva Hvizdova, Department of Marketing,

University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia

Katarina Radvanska, Department of Commerce,

International School of Management, Slovakia, Presov

Slovakia has had an enormous potential of cultural sites of different origin. To reach optimum exploitation of its potential and economic benefits, it is necessary to create competitiveness with surrounding states, to seek sustainable tourism focused on specific destinations and to create products through effective marketing tools. Since modern tourism is mainly based on small and medium enterprises, government support is needed as well as the use offunds from the EU projects. The demand for cultural tourism in the future will continue to grow as more and more people are comfortable with completing secondary education and the trend is to continue and complete at least the first level of higher education resulting in higher demands on the provision of tourism services. An important role in vacation planning will be played by history, culture, arts, education, or discovering something new. Consequently, there will grow demand for special products, which will cover various aspects. "In terms of development and prosperity of this industry is, therefore, as important not only the quality and complexity of tourism services provided by the private sector, but also the availability of the location, nature of the country, its natural, cultural potential, the overall level of general infrastructure, scope and quality of public services, etc. "(Mala&Netkova, 2002). The paper is based on theoretical knowledge defining the concepts of cultural heritage characteristics necessary for inclusion of the sights into cultural heritage. There are also selected cultural monuments analyzed from different aspects. Each country is trying to attract as many tourists as possiblan Slovakia cannot be an exception.

Key words: Tourism, cultural heritage, cultural tourism, reservoir of cultural and social monuments

In the daytime and at night, think about the sights of fathers, examine the origins of your nation, observe happening events and written documents, because vile thing is, when you feel like a stranger in your homeland.

Kasiodor National Historic Landmark is defined in Law no. 49/2002 Collection of laws as "movable or immovable property of cultural heritage value, which is declared a national monument for the sake of its protection. When it comes to archaeological findings, historical monument can also be uncovered movable object or uncovered immovable property. "(Slovak Act no. 49/2002 on the protection of monuments). In defining cultural heritage there must be taken into account the concepts (Figure 1) such as monuments fund, conservation value and protection of cultural heritage. The protection of monuments is made by the Slovak Ministry of Culture, Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic and the Regional Monuments Boards in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica, Kosice, Presov, Trencin, Trnava and Zilina.

Figure 1 Characteristics of the concepts of cultural heritage

High potential of cultural heritage for cultural activities is in area of Bratislava, Liptov, Horehronie, Pohronie, Spis, Saris and Kosice. In the district of Levoca there are located 796 cultural monuments, in the district of Kezmarok 761 monuments, in the district of Poprad 509 sights, and in Presov District 516 cultural monuments. On Figure 1, we see a high concentration of historical buildings currently in the region of Spis and Saris as the reason of the rich history. Records of national treasures are managed by Heritage Office in its central list. Landmarks are incorporated into four categories and their state by 1^st January 2012 was presented as: Register of movable cultural monuments - "historic nature of things unrelated to the ground solid foundation (sculptures and paintings, arts and crafts products, and the like)" (www.culture.gov.sk). The number of this cultural heritage to 1.1.2012 is 14,681 movable national cultural heritage objects. "The movable cultural monuments can be the statue of the saint patron of the village, in the interior there are coat of arms and seals (or objects that are displayed in the coat of arms of the municipality, especially if presented), General Chronicle and other documents (copies of documents) that bind to the creation of the municipality or to another major events and personalities of the village, guild objects and objects of significant associations that existed in the village, sports and other trophies won by sports clubs, as well as other clubs and rings (eg, singing, dance, drama, fire, wine, etc.) objects that village acquired as a friendship with another municipality at home or abroad, the most valuable items in the memorial room of the village (costumes, tools, furniture, etc.) "(www.culture.gov.sk).

Register of immovable cultural monuments (Table 1) - "includes landmarks (land and buildings) with the ground solid foundation" (Makys, 2004)

Table 1- Register of immovable cultural monuments

Source: PU SR (Heritage Office of the Slovak Republic)

Register of conservation areas (Table 2) - is, according to Section 16 paragraph 1 of Act no. 49/2002 on the protection of cultural heritage, the area, with entire historic residential arrangement and a large concentration of cultural monuments or territory with groups of important archaeological findings and archaeological sites that can be topographically definable.

Table 2 - Register of conservation areas (CA)

Source: PUSR

Register of monument zones (Table 3) - is, according to Section 17 Paragraph 1 of Act no. 49/2002 on the protection of monuments, the historical territory of residential arrangement, the territory of the country with cultural heritage values or archaeological sites and archaeological sites that can be topographically definable

Tabel 3 - Register of monument zones

Conservation values of the area of intangible nature - constitute a separate category of cultural heritage, as they have an intangible nature. It is essentially a 'cultural values - genius loci, local topographic names (original title inventory of the main and important squares and streets), developmental importance (in urban history), historical tradition, Memorial Day of Foundation of municipality (if historically documented), further historical events (important meetings, visits of important persons, the status of important buildings), original (historic) street names, geographical and cadastral names pertaining to the history and personalities of the municipality, memorial day (birth, death) or other events (facts) pertaining to the natives, if there is not preserved birthplace, monument, memorial or any other property in the village. "(www.culture.gov.sk/vdoc/226/metodika-evidencie-pamatihodnosti-miest-a- obci).

Cultural monuments and sites placed on the list of unesco - jewel cultural heritage UNESCO monuments are understood as the heritage listed on the official list of World Heritage having outstanding universal value and whose preservation is of particular importance to the future of mankind declared by the international conventions and social concerns. On the territory of the Slovak Republic there can be found 2 natural sites and 5 cultural sites, which comprise a total world wealth only of 0.73% (Table 4). Locations of Banska Stiavnica, Spis Castle and Vlkolinec were placed on the list in 1993, the historic core of the city of Bardejov was placed on the list in 2000, the caves of the Slovak Karst were placed on the list in 1995 in a joint project with Hungary and final site listed were the beech forests in the Eastern Carpathians, as a joint project of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine.

Tabel 4 - Cultural and natural heritage in Slovakia

Source: www.muzeum.sk

Reservoir of socio-cultural monuments in Slovakia - the wellspring of knowledge

The main sources of social and cultural monuments in Slovakia are museums and galleries. These are defined as objects whose main "job is to preserve museum and gallery objects (originally fixed or spiritual document, which has the ability, directly or indirectly to be the evidence of the development of nature and society, and has got the enduring historical, cultural, artistic or scientific value) as part of Heritage also create conditions for their protection, use and disclosure so as to contribute to the dissemination of knowledge, scientific inquiry and learning of history, culture and nature in Slovakia "(§ 1, § 2, ods.1 and 2 of the Act no. 115 / 1998 Coll.). Medieval castles, manor houses, monasteries and archaeological sites are a great source of cultural heritage, where is also stored historical treasure reflecting the cultural history of our country. As a basis for educational tourism, they provide information on cultural events and they are also basis for social tourism, because they offer a wide range of activities. Such institutions include the wild - open-air museum of folk architecture. As in the case of museums and galleries, open-air museums of folk architecture offer traditional folk material and spiritual culture with a difference providing perspective on the creation and historical development of the residential environment, homes and way of living, family life, traditional work, crafts and production processes, materials, tools, etc. This type of museum in the countryside may be wooden churches, respectively original villages (Vlkolinec), water mills, the remains of the Roman camp in Bratislava and Komarno, Celtic camps in Havranok, agricultural or mining museums. At present there are 18 museum expositions in the countryside (open-air museums) presenting folk building culture, lives and ultimately the technical monuments and technologies that were previously used. The aim of these museums is to bring the atmosphere of life of people in the historic landscape. Each area has its own specifics, so in various museums we can meet with different structures and their various configurations. Tabel 5 shows the number, types and name of reservoirs of cultural and social heritage.

Tabel 5 - Reservoirs of cultural and social heritage of Slovakia

Source: Muzeum.sk, Zamky.sk

In the Slovak Register of museums and galleries there are listed 92 museums and 26 art galleries. Reservoirs of processed book culture are provided by 44 libraries registered on our territory. Of these 33 are for scholars as university libraries and 3 State Scientific Libraries in Presov, Kosice and Bratislava.

Potential of areas (regions)

An incredible cultural richness is stored in Slovakia and its potential must be use, disclosed to others and protected. Due to the diversity of districts and regions of Slovakia, the accessibility and openness of the institutions is either limited or inaccessible. For this reason in the following tables (Table 6 and 7) here are mapped regions - areas that are suitable for exploring the cultural heritage via visiting museums, castles, manor houses and art galleries.

Tabel 6 - Potential of areas

Source: Strategy of tourism development in the Slovak Republic until 2013

Tabel 7 - Potential of area

Source: Strategy of tourism development in the Slovak Republic until 2013

Caves as natural gems in Slovakia

Caves are real natural treasures. Some caves are interesting for their rich and unique decor, others for archeological discoveries. You will be amazed by cave structure such as: stalactites, stalagmites, waterfalls. Slovakia is very rich in caves. There are 5,450 known caves in Slovakia and new caves are appearing constantly. Most of them are located in the Slovak Karst, the Low Tatras and in the Spis - Gemer Karst (Slovak Paradise and Muran Plateau), the Great Fatra, Western, Eastern and Belanske Tatras. There is no other concentration of caves with such high value found in karst areas of temperate climate like in Slovakia. There are accessible 12 caves to the public in Slovakia including: "Belianska, Bystrianska Cave, Demanovska Cave of Freedom, Demanovska ice cave, Dobsina ice cave, Domica cave, Gombasecka Cave, Cave Harmanecka, Jasovska Cave, Ochtinska aragonite cave. Thirty caves are freely accessible to the public, but they do not have a guide service. Six caves are under control of private organisations, such example is a Zla diera (Bad Hole) Cave near Presov. Vazecka cave is one of the two caves, which are available in western Slovakia. Dead Bats Cave, as it is called, is one of the world's rarities. Ranking in attendance this cave is in the 9^th place with a total attendance of 282,770 visitors since 2000-2012. Cave of Freedom is the largest (34 km) cave system located in the Low Tatras. Its visit is the largest among all the caves. From 2000-2012 it was visited by 1,894,793 people. Aragonite Cave is known for its wonderful decoration. It belongs among

Slovakia - the country of cultural monumentonly three open aragonite caves in the world, with a total attendance of 392,969 in 2000-2012 and it achieved the 6^th place in the visitors ranking. The least visited cave in Slovakia is Gombasecka cave with only 162,261 visitors for a given period "(www.ssj.sk).

Figure 2 Number of visitors in Slovak Caves in the years 2000-2012 Sourcej: own processing

Cultural and social events - an authentic picture of our ancestors - living culture

Some Slovak caves open to the public have been declared as national natural heritage of UNESCO. Such cave complexes include Ochtinska Aragonite Cave, Cave Domica, Gombasecka cave and Jasov cave, which are the part of the world heritage list since 1995. Dobsinska ice cave was listed there in 2000. Overall, from 2000-2012, 7,991,151 visitors visited the Slovak caves (Figure 3). (1^st place - Demanovska cave of Freedom - 1, 894, 793; 2^nd place - Belianska Cave- 1,516,771; 3^rd place - Demanovska ice cave - 1, 167, 534; 4^th place - Dobsinska ice cave - 1, 077, 967; 5^th place - Drina - 429 705, 6^th place - Ochtinska Aragonite Cave - 392, 969; 7^th place - Domica - 350, 662; 8^th place - Bystrianska Cave - 297, 701; 9^th place - Vazecka Cave - 282, 770; 10^th place - Jasovska Cave - 209, 770; 11^th place - Harmanecka Cave - 208,948; 12^th place Gombasecka Cave - 162,261 visitors).

The Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic has established UEUV as state subsidized organization that is under applicable law an executor for development and protection of Folk Art Production as part of the cultural heritage. Citizens and visitors of the Slovak Republic have throughout the year a lot of options where to visit socio-cultural events with an interesting programme of domestic and international character. In Slovakia there are several kinds of cultural and social events, which we can mention such as "European Folk Crafts Festival in Kezmarok, which is traditionally held every year. Kezmarok has been known for ages for its unique artists, writers, poets, merchants, but also excellent craftsmen. Since 1991, the handicraft festival called European Folk Crafts takes place in Kezmarok "(liptov.sk / Slovakia). This festival is currently very popular international cultural and social event. During the summer month of July for three days Kezmarok town turns into a crafts market. It starts with the opening ceremony like in ancient time, which is provided by market mayor and townspeople. Totally about 200 craftsmen and folk artists from abroad and Slovakia present and show several kinds of crafts to public. During the event there are born wood products, products from wicker, straw, corn husk, leather, clay, metal, glass and other materials, which can be purchased on the spot. During the event, the visitors can enjoy rich programme focused on children, youth and adults. Another event is also called vintage or grape harvest, which is generally ended by the feast. We include Pezinske vintage among the most famous vintages. It is grape harvest feast, which offers its visitors the opportunity to gourmet dishes and culinary delights and is associated with a cultural programme. The first vintage took place in the 13^th century. It is usually held in the third weekend of September from Friday to Sunday. This year the vintage will be from 20^th to 22^nd September 2013.

Tabel 8 - Organization of vintages in 2013

Folklore belongs among the most precious folk artistic creations, which we have in Slovakia. It is transmitted from generation to generation by word of mouth and imitation. Gradually, the modernization of society has its impact on folklore as normal speech lifestyle and expression of feelings of ordinary people and has led to its minimization. However, some manifestations of social life of our ancestors have become a cultural heritage on a regional or national basis. Dissemination of old traditions in the form of dancing and singing is provided by artistic and amateur folk groups. Festival, which presents the old music, is called Festival of Ancient Music and this festival takes place in the summer months. Another festival of contemporary and classical music, called Convergence festival, is held in Kosice and Bratislava.

The most important folk festivals with a long tradition include Folklore Festival on Pofana mountain in Detva, Folk Festival in Vychodna, Janosik days in Terchova, Ponicka fujarka in Ponicka Lehotka, Festival of arts, crafts and entertainment in Banska Stiavnica Zamagursky Folk Festival in Cerveny Klastor, International Folklore Festival in Myjava, Horehronske days of singing and dancing in the Helpa, Podrohacsky folk Festival in Zuberec, Hontianska parada in Hrusov. In 2012 there were held 52 folk festivals, 22 folk competitions and 65 folk events presenting culture and traditions, and 10 dance and music workshops associated with dance classes.

For the development of cultural tourism in Slovakia, it is necessary, first of all, to maintain full quality of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage and a vibrant folk culture. In this sense, focus has been put on sustainable development of small and medium enterprises and its support from the state and local governments. Integral part of the support is the existence and activities of a state- sponsored national marketing organization called Slovenska agentura pre cestovny ruch (Slovak Tourism Agency).

Based on the statistical data, the paper provides a detailed register of movable and immovable cultural monuments, conservation areas, heritage areas as well as a separate category of conservation values of the area of intangible nature. In the development of cultural tourism, an important role is played by reservoirs of cultural and social heritage of Slovakia, the potential of individual regions, caves as natural wonders, cultural and social events of authentic picture of our ancestors. The most prized cultural monuments of Slovakia are on the list of UNESCO and are characterized by universal value which preservation is of utmost importance for the future of humanity. Therefore, we can conclude that all these facts without any doubt meet all the conditions to ensure that the cultural tourism in Slovakia could develop favourably and bring businesses operating in the tourism sector profitability, which will be reflected in the growth of the gross domestic product of the Slovak national economy. This assumption can be made only if the consumer's participation in cultural tourism will be connected with his/her benefit, this means that quality services will be provided for the corresponding price that the consumer is willing to accept.

slovakia tourism cultural heritage

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