Bratislava, April 26 (CTK) – An exhibition about the history of former Czechoslovakia on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of its foundation, with some 2,000 exhibits, opened in Bratislava on Thursday, with Czech PM Andrej Babis and his Slovak counterpart Peter Pellegrini and Slovak President Andrej Kiska attending.
It is a joint project of the national museums of both countries.
“The exhibition has neither a Czech, nor a Slovak part. It was composed by a joint team of experts from both national museums and other cooperating museums. We tried to view how we were living in the state and how it was perceived by one and the other nation,” Czech National Museum director Michal Lukes said.
The display, extending on some 1,400 square metres in the Bratislava Castle, focuses on 15 themes covering areas such as art, politics, architecture and the military.
The visitors can see some rare exhibits, such as the original of the Munich Agreement from 1938, through which Czechoslovakia had to hand a part of its territory with mainly German inhabitants over to Germany, and other documents.
In his speech, Babis, born in Bratislava, appreciated the great relations of both countries and called for preservation of values and culture in Europe.
Kiska highlighted the benefit of Czechoslovakia for Slovakia.
“An agreement prevails that Czechoslovakia’s foundation brought about an overall rise of Slovakia, which saw an unseen cultural, educational and political development within an incredibly short period of 20 years,” Kiska said.
The exhibition, which contains also everyday objects and domestic appliances, is open until early September, when it is to move to Prague’s National Museum’s restored historical building, where it is due to open on October 28th, the day of the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia’s foundation.
