June 30, 2018

In 1889 the statue of the first Slovenian poet, Valentin Vodnik (1758 -1819), was shown to the world for the first time in front of the Ljubljana Lyceum.

This was a big event with tribunes being installed and tickets sold to the public. After the imperial headmaster Wiesthaler gave his key speech, the statue was unveiled with a cannon salvo rumbling from the Castle and a two-hundred-head choir singing “To Vodnik”, the ceremonial cantata of Ipavec and Funtke.

After the ceremony a banquet was held at the Reading Garden for more important guests, while the commoners from Šiška gathered at Vodnik’s birth house (Vodnikova domačija), where a folk party took place with a brass band, singers in folk costumes and acrobatic performers.

Six years later the Lyceum was damaged in the Ljubljana earthquake and eventually pulled down. Vodnik Square emerged in its place, and with it vegetable market of the Ljubljana Central Marketplace. In addition to the square, the man also gives his name to a nearby restaurant, Vodnikov Hram.

The papers take a dim view of the summit.

Frenetic garage rock, for one night only. 

New views of the city. 

STA, 29 June 2018 - A Slovenian battalion-sized battle group which failed a NATO combat readiness test in February improved its result in a test that took place this week. The battle group has been deemed combat ready by an evaluation team made up of Slovenian military testers and two officers of the Allied Land Command. 

STA, 29 June - A total of 14 former members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), including Slovenian MP Zmago Jelinčič, have been banned from the Council of Europe for life due to their engagement in corrupt activities with Azerbaijan. 

STA, 29 June 2018 - Slovenia's foreign trade continued its fast-paced growth in the first quarter of 2018, with external trade surplus reaching EUR 676m or 6.4% of GDP, the Statistics Office said on Friday. In the first three months of last year, it stood at EUR 566m or 5.7% of GDP. 

STA, 28 June 2018 - Slovenia has no intention of making any kind of bilateral agreement with Germany or any other country on accepting asylum seekers from those countries, Prime Minister Miro Cerar pointed out as he arrived at a summit on migrations starting in Brussels on Thursday. 

STA, 28 June 2018 - Parties conducting talks with the election runner-up Marjan Šarec of the LMŠ party agreed on Thursday that they would not draw up a coalition agreement but merely a list of projects they deem important for Slovenia. Coming out of the talks, Šarec said the next round of negotiations would be held on Friday.