Culture

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini and his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel jointly visited the exhibition ‘Visit Czechoslovakia! The Stories of Czech and Slovak Travel Posters’ at the Czech Centre in New York.

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini (left) and Czech President Petr Pavel visiting an exhibition at the Czech Centre in New York (photo by TASR)

Bratislava/New York, 22 September (TASR-correspondent) – Czech President Petr Pavel welcomed Slovak President Peter Pellegrini at the Czech Centre in New York on Monday (21 September). They together viewed the exhibition ‘Visit Czechoslovakia! The Stories of Czech and Slovak Travel Posters’, which uses historical Czech and Slovak tourism posters to illustrate how Czechoslovakia was presented to domestic and international audiences, TASR has learnt from its special correspondent in New York.
        Pellegrini praised the exhibition for showcasing the shared Czech and Slovak history through culture. “It’s a wonderful exhibition, and I am absolutely delighted to have even found a poster promoting my hometown of Banska Bystrica,” said the Slovak president.
        Pavel described the exhibition as unique. He noted that the posters on display come from a private collection and cover the period from the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the present day.
        In return, Pellegrini invited his Czech counterpart, as well as Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen with his spouse to the evening concert at Lincoln Center.        
        Pellegrini said that he viewed the joint performance by Czech and Slovak artists before an American audience as a symbolic expression of Czech-Slovak brotherhood and friendship. “In this way, we are once again symbolically expressing our brotherhood and friendship, including through culture, right here in the United States,” he said.
        Both the exhibition and the concert were part of Pellegrini’s working visit to New York on the occasion of the general debate of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.