Matica slovenská
Matica Slovenská (en. Slovak Matica) is a Slovak national, cultural and scientific organization headquartered in Martin, Slovakia. It was founded in 1863 and revived in 1919. The organisation has facilities in the Slovak Republic as well as abroad. Slovak Matica is a public institution that operates as a national scientific and cultural centre. Slovak Matica works to develop and protect the national rights, identity, and development of Slovak culture and the Slovak nation. Headquarters. First building. The first historical residential building of Slovak Matica is called Národná svetlica (National flare). Its construction began in 1864 and the project  was run by Karol Harrer and supported by Ján Nepomuk Bobula, to whom Harrer entrusted the construction of the property. The foundation stone in the center of Martin was laid on April 6, 1864, and its solemn tapping was performed by the then acting first vice-chairman of the Slovak Matica, Karol Kuzmány, an Evangelical priest and superintendent. The partially completed building was ceremoniously opened on August 8, 1865, as the House of the Slovak Matica and its second stage of construction was completed in 1869. In 1875, it fell in favour of the Hungarian state. The building was completed  between 1899 and 1900. However, it got simultaneously adapted exclusively for the administrative needs of the Hungarian state authorities. After the revival of Slovak Matica on Jan. 1, 1919, the original seat was restored by the Czechoslovak government through the Ministry with a power of attorney for the administration of Slovakia. The Czechoslovak state authorities operated in it this time, and the capacity development plan of the maticas association was not sufficient. In August 1919, the idea arose to build a new, larger and more modern Maticas building, which came true in 1926, when the first historic building ceased to  be the seat of the Slovak Matica. It was declared a cultural monument in 1963 and is currently a national cultural monument. Today, the building houses a permanent exhibition of the history of Slovak literature, exhibition spaces, deposits and specialized workplaces of the Literary Museum of the Slovak National Library. Second building. The second building of Slovak Matica is currently the central seat of the institution on Pavel Mudroň Street in the wider centre of Martin. Its architect was the Martin builder Ján Palkovič and the construction work was carried out by the builder Stanislav Zachar from Vrútok. The foundation  stone of the building was laid on August 13, 1924, during the August mother festivities. Construction took place from the autumn of 1924 to February 1926. The grand opening of the building took place on August 29, 1926. A monument to the famous Slovak nationalist and writer Svetozár Hurban-Vajanský was unveiled in the courtyard in front of the building. In 1965, he was replaced by the allegorical statue of Slovak Matica by the academic sculptor Ján Kulich, while the monument to Svetozár Hurban-Vajanský moved to the first mother building. In terms of architecture, the second building of the  Slovak Matica belongs to the representative buildings of the city of Martin. Characteristic elements of the building such as high columns, portico, tympanums and strict symmetry make it a work of neoclassical architecture. Due to its societal significance, it was declared a cultural monument in 1963, and since 2002, it has been a national cultural monument. In addition to the administrative part, this also applies to the fencing, the garden park and the memorial plaque to the 48 tortured participants in the Slovak National Uprising of 1944. In the garden area, in the Park of St. Cyril and Methodius, there  is a representative pantheon of busts of important national and mother actors. The first bust was unveiled on October 2, 2012, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the codifier of standard Slovak, Anton Bernolák. By the end of 2020, a total of fourteen busts of national actors were discovered in the area, which was installed in the following order: Third building. The ceremonial laying of the foundation stone for the new, third building of the Slovak Matica on Hostihora (Martin) took place during the celebrations of the Slovak Matica centuries on August 4, 1963. After  the adoption of the Library Act of May 2000, the Slovak National Library in Slovak Matica was separated from the Slovak Matica in July 2000 and became an independent legal entity, which acquired its registered office on Hostihora. Paradoxically, by law it was excluded from the Matica's structure, except the third, also the first historical building of the Slovak Matica. The third building became the seat of the Slovak National Library and the Slovak Matica office returned to the second parent building. References. Category:Science and technology in Slovakia Category:Slovak culture Category:Martin, Slovakia Category:1919 establishments in Slovakia  Category:Organisations based in Slovakia Category:Historiography of Slovakia