Slovenia boasts a surprisingly diverse cultural scene, from urban happenings, traditional presentations to cosmopolitan festivals, all enveloped into authentic experience. Precious items in museums, galleries, skansens and other cultural objects point the way to Slovenia’s cultural heritage.
Culture is an important tourism asset, it differentiates one place from the next. Imagine one culture in the world! Every place would seem blandly the same. Without their different cultural heritages, therefore, places around the world would be dull and would have little to offer, today’s meeting planners and delegates crave for authentic cultural experiences.
Language is the cornerstone of Slovenian national identity. Slovenians are proud of their culture and language, which they regard as a great asset and part of the national identity. Protestantism laid the foundations of the Slovenian literary language and brought Slovenes the first printed Slovene-language books Katekizem (Catechism) and Abecednik (Elementary Reader), written by Primož Trubar in 1550.
Art and culture have always held a special place in the history of the Slovenian nation. Slovenia boasts a rather well developed network of cultural institutions, organisations and cultural associations comparable to the most developed European countries. There is a rich cultural life not only in the country’s major towns, but in virtually every corner of Slovenia. Just to mention a few – the Slovenian Philharmonic, one of the oldest orchestras in Europe, with a history of more than 300 years; or the newly restored National Gallery of Slovenia, the main art museum in Slovenia containing the largest visual arts collection from the late medieval period to including the twentieth century.
Another important aspect of Slovenian culture are diverse cultural events which are very well-attended. Slovenia annually hosts many cultural events that enjoy international recognition.
Among the most notable are the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts (which has gained a reputation as one of the greatest European visual art events), the annual Ljubljana Summer Festival, Festival Lent in Maribor, the Liffe film festival, the Exodos festival of dance arts in Ljubljana, the Ana Desetnica street theatre gathering, the PEN Writers’ Meeting in Bled, the Vilenica Writers’ Meeting in Sežana, and the Biennial of Industrial Design. Especially important in this respect is the Cankarjev dom cultural and congress centre in Ljubljana, a member of the network of the most prominent global cultural festivals, which is Slovenia’s window into the world in the field of exchange and cooperation of Slovenian and foreign artists.
The main web portal for culture in Slovenia www.kulturnik.si features cultural news and events aggregated from various Slovene digital sources and collections related to arts and culture.
Slovenia is an excitingly colorful country. Throughout its history it has resided at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Germanic and Slavic spheres of influence, which left a curious mark on today’s cultural climate of the nation. Even though Slovenia is one of Europe’s smallest countries, it possesses outstanding traditions in gastronomy and winegrowing, richly diverse regions, and folks who are naturally friendly and welcoming. Despite its modest size, the people of Slovenia’s various parts, like for example the Ljubljančani (inhabitants of Slovenia’s capital city), the primorci of the seaside region, the štajerci of old Styria around the city of Maribor or the Brici of Goriška Brda each preserve their own cultural identities grounded in history and folk tradition.
Stay tuned for more I Feel 25 stories!
[Partial sources: kulturnik.si, Slovenia Tourist Monograph, UKOM]
An interesting Slovenian cultural development is the Sonorous Theatre, a special form of aesthetic stage arts which uses light, sound and vibration as narrative elements.[/vc_toggle]
