BRATISLAVA, August 14, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovak national cultural heritage organization Matica Slovenska issued a statement on Saturday in defense of the recently unveiled statue of Svatopluk, the monarch of the Great Moravian Empire (870 to 894 A.D.). It claims that public attacks on the statue of King Svatopluk in the courtyard of the Bratislava castle and speculations about its possible removal are expressions of Slovak national nihilism. „It offends us that prevailing in the media debate on the statue of King Svatopluk are misleading and unprofessional positions, which proves immaturity of the historical awareness of some journalists and politicians. Establishing a commission [by speaker of parliament] to issue an opinion on the statue is clearly a refusal to accept responsibility for a barbaric act, a [potential] decision to remove the statue. Removing statues is traumatic and humiliating to a cultural nation,“ claims Matica Slovenska in a statement it provided to SITA news agency.
According to Matica Slovenska, at this time in public there are a handful of public figures presenting various controversial, anti-cultural, and non-historic views, instead of seeking for historical sources on lives of our ancestors and their leading personalities. The statement points out the emergence and development of the tradition of Saints Cyril and Methodius is intimately connected to this territory. It is the backbone of our national-cultural-spiritual and literary identity. However, it has a wider dimension. „Our ancestors were Christians before the arrival of brothers from Thessaloniki and our entire culture remained oriented westwards. It is unreasonable place the tradition of Cyril and Methodius into a contradiction with the tradition of Svatopluk, because both traditions have already been brought together in the national revival movement into a single Slovak national tradition. King Svatopluk’s pro-Western orientation has proved as more natural and unavoidable from the geopolitical point of view,“ statement claims.
King Svatopluk I, as a symbol, has a timeless significance for the Slovak nation according to Matica Slovenska, not only as sovereign ruler of our ancestors, who have continuously lived in this area for nearly 1500 years, but mainly as a driving force of our national revival, national-emancipating ideology of Slovaks. „Those who lay their hands on these symbols have only one goal — they seek to weaken national pride and erase the historic memory of Slovaks,“ Matica Slovenska concludes.
The mounted statue of Svatopluk was unveiled on June 7, five days before parliamentary elections in Slovakia, in front of the Bratislava Castle in the presence of three highest constitutional officials of the Slovak Republic and invited guests. In his address, President Ivan Gasparovic said he believes the bronze statue expresses “our roots and essence.“ Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paska (SMER-SD) highlighted Svatopluk as a symbol of unity and togetherness. He rejected whatever doubts about appropriateness of locating the statue at the Bratislava Castle. He described all people who question everything great that history gave to Slovakia, such as Juraj Janosik [legendary medieval robber who ‘took from the rich and gave to the poor’ — editor’s note] or Alexander Dubcek [leader of a defeated Communist reform movement in 1968 — editor’s note] as national nihilists „driven by envy, anger, and hatred “. Robert Fico, then Prime Minister and now opposition leader, said that historically, Svatopluk reigned here long before Saint Stephen or Saint Wenceslas, „which proves that we have continuously lived on this territory for fifteen centuries“.
SITA