France Prešeren

A park dedicated to the Slovenian anthem was inaugurated in Kranj on 1 June to celebrate both the national anthem and its precursor as well the authors of the lyrics France Prešeren and Simon Jenko.

Celebrating friendship among nations, Zdravljica (A Toast) was adopted as Slovenia's national anthem in 1989, less than two years before the country gained independence.

Ljubljana – The House of Experiments is hosting the 13th Znanstival, a festival promoting science, education and critical thinking, which will occupy the streets, squares and bridges of Ljubljana from Friday to Sunday to turn the capital in “one of the largest science centres in the world.”

Ljubljana – Composer and pianist Janez Matičič, one of Slovenia’s most notable contemporary composers, has died at the age of 95. His oeuvre was centred around piano music, which he himself performed as well. He received numerous awards for his work, including the Prešeren Prize for lifetime achievement.

Ljubljana – Culture Day, a public holiday marking the anniversary of the death of poet France Prešeren (1800-1849), will be celebrated in Slovenia on Tuesday in a limited form, as there will be no traditional event at Prešeren’s birth house in Vrba, and the recital of Prešeren’s poetry will be broadcast on the radio.

Ljubljana/Kranj/Vrba – Despite restrictions limiting gatherings and the cancellation of several long-standing events, Slovenians flocked to cultural institutions and points of interest on Tuesday to celebrate Culture Day, a public holiday in memory of the great Romantic poet France Prešeren.

Trieste – Slovenian literary historian and academician Boris Paternu died in the Italian city of Trieste at the age of 95 on Friday, the Primorski Dnevnik newspaper reported. His expertise was Slovenian literature of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, while he also extensively studied the poetry of Slovenia’s greatest poet France Prešeren.

Ljubljana – Organisers of weekly anti-government protests staged an alternative celebration of Statehood Day on Friday. The crowd filled Prešeren Square as speakers criticised political elites.

Ljubljana – President Borut Pahor hosted the annual Culture Day event in Presidential Palace on Monday, receiving this year’s Prešeren Prize and Prešeren Fund Prize recipients. Pahor called for culture of dialogue. Author Feri Lainšček, one of the laureates, meanwhile highlighted the role Slovenian culture played in the country’s independence efforts.

Kranj – Ahead of Culture Day the Gorenjska Museum released a comic book about Slovenia’s most prominent poet, France Prešeren (1800-1849), authored by the museum’s consultant Magda Zore and painter Jože Trobec.

The comic, titled Comic Book about Prešeren, captures the life of the acclaimed poet who elevated the Slovenian poetry to the heights of established Romantic verse.

Ljubljana – Feri Lainšček, a writer, poet, playwright and screenwriter from north-eastern Slovenia, who will receive the Prešeren Prize for lifetime-achievement, sees his work not as a job but as a way of life. He believes literary heroes are spiritual beings with lives of their own.